Page 3 of The Tartan Trap

“It’s a guide to the ladies of the ton. I thought it might be helpful for you to see what you’re getting yourself into.”

Callum frowned, waiting for further explanation.

Ellis sighed and shoved a hand back through his blond curls. “Look, this may be hard for you to believe, but not everyone is as honorable and good as your parents.”

“I know that.” He tossed the booklet aside and rescued his tea, sipping it before it cooled too much to be palatable. “You act as if I’ve no experience amongst society.”

“I’m simply pointing out that I have more experience with ladies than you do.”

“A shocking assertion, to put it in such terms.” Callum grinned. “Besides, I’m not certain it’s ladies you’re speaking of. Women, perhaps, but not ladies.”

Ellis held up his hands. “All joking aside, I’m genuinely trying to help you. I know that I’m so rarely serious that it’s difficult to tell when I’m earnest about something. Please believe me when I say that your task of finding a good wife will be more difficult than you can possibly imagine.”

Callum studied him closely. It was true that perhaps ninety percent of the words from Ellis’s mouth were meant in jest; he was a happy, joking kind of fellow, which made him delightful company most of the time. But he certainly looked serious now—there were creases at the corners of his mouth and eyes.

“I didn’t—” Ellis stopped and sighed. “I didn’t tell you the whole truth of what happened two years ago. With Miss Michaels.”

Callum sipped his tea and waited.

His cousin appeared to gather his courage—his shoulders straightened, he took a deep breath. “Though I made light of it at the time, I beg you not to repeat any of this⁠—”

“I won’t.”

He nodded. “I know, which is why only you and my parents will know the full truth of it. From me, at least.”

He looked off toward the window. Callum had noticed that it was often easier for people to say difficult things when they weren’t looking another person in the eye.

“I loved her,” Ellis said simply. “I thought she loved me, too. When it came time to negotiate a contract and she found out how little I would bring to the marriage, financially speaking, she ended our attachment. She married a wealthy baron from Cumbria within the year.”

“I’m truly sorry, Ellis.” Callum’s voice was grave, his grip tight on his teacup.

His cousin gave him a sad smile. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I’m not sorry. Not anymore. It was an exceedingly painful experience, but it taught me that fortune hunters can be female. Though every gentleman knows that on some level, it’s hard to remember or suspect such motivations when a beautiful young lady is smiling up at you just so during a waltz.”

Callum frowned. His father had said much the same thing. He had taken seriously ill when Callum had just turned eighteen. Every evening, Callum would sit at his bedside, and his father would instruct and question him on all manner of things—from the planting of the fields closest to the river, all the way to how a man should treat his wife and raise his family.

Callum nodded toward the pamphlet as he finished off his tea. “And you’re saying that this guide will help me somehow?”

“That one’s a bit out of date, but it will give you an idea of what you’re up against.” Ellis shook his head and snagged another sandwich from the tray. “If you were the type of man who wanted a wife in the same way some gentlemen want them—as something pretty to put on your arm when you leave the house, something nice to look at across the dining table, and a way of getting heirs, then I wouldn’t caution you so. But I know you, Callum, and such a shallow arrangement would eventually make you miserable.”

It made Callum miserable to even consider such a thing. His father and mother had loved each other deeply. Not that they didn’t ever fight—they squabbled now and then—but they’d faced life side by side for nigh on twenty years.

Callum privately thought that if his mother had still been alive, his father’s heart would have lasted longer than it had; his father missed and mourned her every single day they’d been apart. Though Callum had witnessed the cost of that grief, he’d seen the love that had born it, as well.

He wanted that. It was why he was here.

“Very well.” He nodded. “I’ll read your little book. What other advice do you have to give me?”

“Do not, under any circumstances, be caught alone with a young lady. That is the easiest way for them to entrap you.”

Callum nearly rolled his eyes. “How old do you think I am, precisely?”

Ellis held his hands up. “I’m just trying to warn you.”

CHAPTER 2- MARGARET

“What do you think it will be like?” Lily leaned forward, the feathers on her bonnet ruffling with the gentle sway of the carriage.

Margaret Theodosia Preston sat on one side of the carriage, facing two of her sisters, Beatrice and Lily. It was a natural consequence of being the largest of her sisters—if there was the option to allow it, Margaret sat alone. The noise of the busy street they travelled was only slightly muffled by the elegant carriage. The calls of porters and the squeal of a crate being pried open filtered in over the steady cadence of the horses.