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“I suppose all the expense and trouble will be worth it if it buries the grudge between the Crown and the Scottish people,” Royal said. “It’s time to move on.”
“Not for me, laddie,” Angus retorted.
Graeme ignored his grandfather. “You’re right, Royal. That’s why this little jaunt needs to go off without a hitch. If anything goes wrong, the political consequences could be dire.”
“The consequences for you, too, I imagine,” said Royal with a wry smile.
“Don’t worry. If I go down, I’m taking the rest of you lot with me.”
“What . . . what in the name of all that’s holy . . .” Angus jabbed a finger at dockhands unloading crates of live poultry. “Does the daftSassenachnot think we have chickens in Scotland?”
“Yes, but we have Scottish chickens, Grandda,” Graeme sardonically replied. “Not nearly as tasty as British chickens.”
“I’ll nae be havin’ ye insultin’ our chickens,” Angus blustered.
The idiocy of it all was giving Graeme a headache.
“There’s a young woman on the boat,” Royal said, elbowing Graeme. “And she seems to know you.”
Graeme moved out of the way of two dockhands struggling with an enormous trunk. “Where? I can’t see anything with all these bloody crates.”
Royal pointed toward the front of the boat. “There she is, ordering those poor cargo fellows about. Don’t you see her?”
Oh, now Graeme saw her, all right. The biggest headache he’d ever encountered had just disembarked. She shook out her incongruously bright yellow skirts and headed directly toward him.
Royal glanced at Graeme. “I presume you do know her.”
Still trying to recover from the sensation that an anvil had dropped on top of his skull, Graeme simply nodded.
“Who is she?” Angus asked.
“More trouble than ye can imagine,” Graeme growled.
Lady Sabrina Bell marched up to them. “Good afternoon, Mr. Kendrick. Captain St. George informed me that you would be meeting the boat.”
She flashed him a smile so joyful and dazzling it almost knocked Graeme off the pier. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, sir. And I cannot tell you howthrilledI am to be here in Scotland.”
Chapter Nine
While not a man easily surprised, by Graeme’s horrified expression it was clear Sabrina had accomplished just that. One could hardly blame him for his shock at her sudden appearance, especially after that mortifying series of events at the Pan Theater. Graeme had likely assumed, considering her father’s excruciatingly rude behavior, that he’d never see her again. Sabrina had been hoping he’d been as disappointed by that prospect as she’d been.
She just wished Graeme would say something, since the silence between them was now growing rather fraught.
His companions also seemed perplexed by the situation. They exchanged meaningful glances before the younger man pointedly cleared his throat. “Graeme, are you going to introduce us to the young lady?”
“If I do, then I’ll have to acknowledge that this is actually happening,” Graeme replied.
Drat.This was going to be harder than she thought—and she’d already had to workquitehard to get this far.
To cover up her embarrassment, Sabrina began to rummage in her reticule. “Mr. Kendrick, I have a—”
“What the hell are you doing here?” he interrupted, scowling.
The older man, dressed in a kilt and an old tam crammed onto a generous quantity of frizzy white hair, clucked with disapproval. “Lad, that’s nae way to speak to such a bonny lady.”
“That’s because you don’t know her.”
The other man elbowed Graeme in the ribs. “Mind your manners, lad.” Then he bowed to Sabrina. “Ma’am, I’m Royal Kendrick. I’m this sorry specimen’s brother.”
