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“I was the soul of patience, ye ken. A veritable saint.”
“More like the soul of idiocy.” Grant splashed whisky into Gillian’s glass and then poured himself a hefty one. “I suspect you were getting ready to drub Trim with a cricket bat before I arrived.”
Angus let out a disgusted snort. “Och, I didna even think of usin’ the cricket bat, more’s the shame.”
“Losing your touch, Grandda?” Royal teased.
“No sass from you, laddie boy.”
Nick, who was sitting across the room reading a letter, finally gave up trying to ignore the discussion. “I’m extremely disappointed that the men in this family were not able to protect our guests from such a ridiculous scene. Especially you, Angus. You should have immediately taken the ladies into the house. Instead, you displayed not one whit of common sense.”
Grant snorted. “Nick, have you actually ever met our grandfather?”
His brother’s gaze narrowed to glittering shards of blue ice. “And you, Grant. Where were you when this window breaking was going on? You were to be looking out for the ladies, as well. I specifically asked you to do so.”
“I’m not a babysitter,” he protested.
“You’re a terrible one if you are,” Gillian airily commented. “You’ve all but abandoned us, alas and alack.”
“Exactly my point,” Nick said.
“Idohave a job,” Grant retorted. “And I pulled everyone’s arse out of the fire today, I might add. If not for me, this sorry lot would have been spending the night in the clink.”
“Och, nae,” Angus said. “I had everythin’ under control.”
Kade rolled his eyes. “No, you didn’t, Grandda. None of us did, I’m sorry to say.”
Grant smiled at his little brother. “As far as I could tell, you and Will were the only ones trying to calm things down, unlike certain other participants.”
Gillian raised a hand. “Guilty as charged. Seriously though, Grant, you did a splendid job managing a difficult situation once you arrived.”
After escorting Kathleen and Jeannie home, Grant had taken up Kade’s unwelcome but sensible suggestion to visit Mrs. Buchanan. Unsurprisingly, the old gal had been properly shocked by the antics in the park. Having both excellent vision and hearing, she’d seen and heard everything, including Gillian’s threat to gut boneheaded Matthew Trim.
Not that a little gossip would hurt the Duchess of Leverton. But Kathleen and Jeanniewerevulnerable. The on-dits would no doubt spread to London, because even if old Trim didn’t write to Lady Gorey, somebody else would. There were twenty houses that lined their little square, and a fair number of residents had observed the ridiculous scene. One wouldn’t have to exaggerate the details much at all when the Duchess of Leverton was part of the mix. The scandal sheets practically wrote themselves.
Thanks to a silly game of cricket and one errant ball, Kathleen and Jeannie were now waist-deep in pig manure. And since the scandal had happened on Kendrick watch, the chief of Clan Kendrick would naturally see it as the family’s duty to sort it out.
As did Grant. He felt responsible for Kathleen, and for her scapegrace little sister. If he’d been there to keep an eye on the two lasses, as Nick had asked, none of this would have happened.
Granthadbeen avoiding Kathleen these last few days, and that had been both stupid and selfish. The truth was that Kathleen Calvert made him feel a hell of a lot of emotions he’d rather not have to face at the moment. Their time together at Mugdock had made that crystal clear. He was starting to tumble for the lass, which was massively inconvenient given the current state of his life.
Tumbling for her was also pointless, since the fair colleen was obviously determined to return home to the old sod. Grant didn’t need to be a genius to figure that out.
Vicky entered the room and plunked down next to Gillian on the chaise, heaving a sigh. “This situation is my fault. I should have known that having a cricket match in the square was tempting fate. Iwillcall on the Trims tomorrow. I should have gone this evening, but Matthew Trim is such a prissy bore that my nerve quite failed me.”
Nick crossed the room and leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of Vicky’s head. “It’s not your fault, love. Apparently, we cannot expect either our family or our guests to conduct themselves like rational adults.”
“You should just blame everything on me, Nicholas,” Gillian cheerfully said. “No one will question that in the least.”
“I’m sure we can all agree that there’s more than enough blame to go around.” Nick stared pointedly at Angus. “Some in larger measures than others.”
“I was the soul of brevity,” Angus indignantly replied.
“Grandda, that makes no sense,” Royal said.
“Fah,” their grandfather replied with a dismissive wave.
“Regardless of who is to blame,” said Gillian, “I feel perfectly dreadful about having to rush off tomorrow. But I’m afraid it cannot be helped. My husband’s letter made that pointquiteclearly.”
