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Without going into every detail, Keir explained how Grandma Edie had planned a feigned kidnapping the night before Sarah’s wedding and how he, Keir, had been assigned the role of kidnapper.
Amused laughter echoed through his grandmother’s salon, and Keir shook his head, remembering his own thoughts, his own disbelief at having agreed to such a ludicrous plan. Yet everything had worked out for the best, had it not?
“We remained hidden in the woods for about a fortnight, waiting for Lord Blackmore to pay the ransom, which, in turn, was then used to free Sarah’s father of his gambling debts.”
Keir’s cousin Hamish frowned. “But how did that prevent her marriage? If, in fact, Lord Blackmore paid to have her returned to him?”
“She cried off afterward,” Keir explained, remembering how Sarah had spoken to him of that moment. Lord Blackmore had been furious, and only because of Loki’s as well as Grandma Edie’s interference, had he been unable to unleash said fury upon Sarah.
Magnus’s forehead remained furrowed. “But if she simply cried off, could she not have done so before? Why the kidnapping?”
Their grandmother chortled, a glimmer of anger coming to her eyes. “Because it would not have stopped her parents from seeing her betrothed again. After all, there are still those who seek a young bride of the peerage in order to elevate their own status.” Her gaze looked around their small circle and then met Keir’s. “The kidnapping was to ensure she would be utterly ruined, was it not? To prevent her parents from ever selling her off again?” Her brows rose questioningly.
Keir heaved a deep breath, then nodded. “Aye.”
The right corner of his grandmother’s mouth twitched in amusement. “So, you did not simply take on the role of kidnapper, but you were also the means of her ruination, were you not?”
Around Keir, jaws dropped and eyes widened as his family began to understand the implications of his grandmother’s words. He remembered the day he, himself, had asked that very question of Sarah. He also remembered how deeply she had blushed struggling to explain why the kidnapping had been necessary.
Indeed, no reputation could survive such implications, and upon her return to society, Sarah had been deemed unmarriageable.
“Then why did she have to cry off?” Magnus inquired, that thoughtful expression upon his face once more, that desire to understand shining in his eyes. “If that kidnapping ruined her, why would her fiancé still wish to see her made his bride?”
Keir gritted his teeth, for a part of him wondered at Lord Blackmore’s true motivation. “From what Grandma Edie said, it would have been impossible for him to cry off. A gentleman simply doesna do so. Just as he didna pay for Sarah’s return out of the goodness of his heart or his concern for her well-being, he could not refuse because thetonwould have crucified him for it. He did what he did to save his own reputation.”
His mother frowned at him, softly shaking her head. “’Tis an odd world, one with very confusing rules and traditions.” She looked up and met her husband’s eyes. “I must say I consider myself fortunate not to have been born into that world, able to marry for love and love alone.”
Keir’s father wrapped an arm around his wife and pulled her close. Then he looked up at his son. “I am proud, my son, that ye stood by someone who needed yer help, and yet it saddens me thatSarahdidna have a family to do that for her. After all, that is what family is for.” He smiled, looking at them all, and Keir knew that his father, like his mother, understood how precious their deep familial connection was.
His mother nodded in agreement. “However,” she continued, a chiding look in her eyes, “I would’ve liked for ye to inform us of yer decision in greater detail.” Her eyebrows rose challengingly as her lips curled upward into a smile. “We couldna quite make sense of why ye’d stayed in England all this time. Next time—should there be a next time!—please write back with more details, agreed?”
Keir chuckled. “Agreed!”
“I have another question,” Magnus remarked, lifting a hand to gain everyone’s attention, before he looked at Keir. “Why ye?” he asked simply.
Keir frowned. “Why me what?”
“Why did Grandma Edie send for ye in the first place? Was there truly no other man in all of England who could have done what ye did?”
Oh, Keir had asked himself that very question before! And deep down, he knew the answer. He had known it for a while.
His grandmother chortled. “Edie being Edie, I know she had a good reason for choosing Keir.” A wide grin came to her face as she regarded him curiously. “Would you not agree?”
Again, before Keir could think of any sort of reply, Magnus interrupted, his forehead still in a frown. “What do ye mean? What does she mean?”
Indeed, the only two who did not seem to understand were Magnus and Hamish. Everyone else nodded knowingly, amused expressions upon their faces as whispered words flew back and forth.
Duncan laughed a booming laugh. He sat a bit off to the side and had thus far remained quiet. Yet Keir knew his brother well and had often seen him stand back and observe before offering his opinion. “Are ye truly blind, little brother?” he demanded, slapping Magnus on the shoulder. “Can ye not see that Keir is quite taken with the lass?”
Keir felt an odd tingling as all eyes once more turn to him, regarding his face, his expression with such intensity, as though they wish to dig into his mind and heart.
Yet Magnus still frowned. “But how could Grandma Edie know he would… come to care for Sarah?” He looked from Duncan to his parents and then back to Keir. “She’d never even met ye? How would she know?”
A warm chuckle drifted from their grandmother’s lips. “Oh, she knew! Edie’s always been an excellent judge of character, and over the years, I’ve written to her of all of you.” She nodded, meeting his eyes. “She had an inkling, and as always, she acted upon it.”
For a moment, Keir felt utterly overwhelmed, thinking how close he had come to never even meeting Sarah. It was a dark thought that filled his heart with dread and sadness.
“And what of her sister?” Keir’s uncle Conall asked, changing the topic with a meaningful look in Keir’s direction. “The countess, how does she come to be here? What is her story?”
