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“And I’ve had fair cause to use ’em over the years, thanks to Grant and his brothers. Why I could tell ye some stories—”
“You have, Grandda,” Grant interrupted. “Repeatedly, over the last four days.”
“I like Mr. MacDonald’s stories,” Jeannie said. “They’re fun. I’ve never been allowed to have fun like that.”
Angus had done his best to while away the tedious hours of travel with outrageous tales about the Kendrick brothers, especially the twins. Kathleen suspected there was a fair amount of poetic exaggeration involved, at least when it came to Grant. It was well-nigh impossible to believe that the calm, perfectly proper gentleman sitting opposite her was, in fact, the young hellion his grandfather made him out to be.
That Grant was a thoughtful and decent man was beyond doubt. But Kathleen simply could not envision him tumbling from one madcap escapade to the next.
He gave Jeannie a smile. As always, Kathleen couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful smile he had. Unfortunately, she rarely saw it. Grant was so carefully polite with her that she was beginning to find it annoying.
“My brother and I never asked anyone’s permission, so there wasn’t muchallowinggoing on,” he said. “Nor was it always fun, despite what my grandfather claims.”
“Of course ye had fun, ye jinglebrains,” Angus scoffed. “I remember one time—”
When they lurched through a particularly large pothole, Kathleen bounced several inches off her seat. When she landed, it took her stomach a few seconds to catch up. She braced a hand on the seat and swallowed hard.
“Miss Calvert,” Grant said, “we can easily stop. There’s plenty of daylight left, so we’ll arrive in good time, regardless.”
“Thank you, but the sooner we conclude this journey, the better.”
It wasn’t just the usual bother of travel that was twisting up her insides. Word of their scandal was bound to have reached their parents by now, and there was no predicting their reaction. Papa could easily squash Kathleen’s plan to return to Ireland, and God only knew what he and Helen would do about Jeannie.
God only knew whatshewould do about Jeannie, too. Right now, the prospect of keeping her little sister out of trouble for the next three months seemed daunting in the extreme.
Grant reached inside his greatcoat and extracted a small twist of paper. “I’ve got one more ginger lozenge. I thought I’d keep it in case of emergency.”
She gratefully accepted the small packet. “I’m sorry to be so much trouble for everyone.”
Angus waved a dismissive hand. “Och, we’re just right sorry ye’ve had such a hard time of it.”
“Thankfully, your suffering is almost at an end.” Grant took out his pocket watch and flipped it open. “We should be at Lochnagar well within the hour.”
His suffering was almost at an end, too. Grant was clearly itching to return to Glasgow, and Kathleen had little doubt he’d be back on the road within a few days. She couldn’t blame him. If she were Grant Kendrick, she would have run screaming for the hills by the end of their first day of travel.
The trip had started off badly for her, thanks to a massive headache induced by a late night of packing and, well, drinking. Gillian had insisted that they celebrate their last evening together by polishing off the brandy. Their packing session had turned into quite a lot of fun, thanks to Gillian, and had been an excellent way to bring their time in Glasgow to a close.
But when morning came too soon, Kathleen awoke to the realization that she’d made an epic mistake. When she’d gingerly climbed into the traveling coach an hour later, Grant had taken one look at her and let out a small sigh.
At the stop for their midday meal—which she’d not been able to eat—Grant had disappeared. When he finally returned, he had stomach powders from an apothecary and ginger lozenges from a sweet shop.
For the rest of the trip, he’d gone to every effort to make her comfortable. He’d ordered warm bricks for her feet, installed her in the quietest room at every inn, and rustled up meals that were simple and bland. Even more importantly, he’d kept a close eye on Jeannie. In doing so, he’d relieved Kathleen of her greatest worry.
While Grant Kendrick might not be the most exciting man she’d ever met, he was certainly the nicest. Given even the slightest encouragement, a girl could easily fall in love with him.
Fall in love with Grant?
It was such a startling thought that she couldn’t help frowning. Yes, she liked him, quite a lot as it turned out. But the idea of falling in—
“Miss Calvert, are you all right?”
Grant’s deep voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
“Oh, ah, yes,” she stammered.
“Kath, are you getting a fever?” Jeannie asked. “Your face is like fire.”
“I’m perfectly—”
