Page 19 of The Widow Wore Plaid

“Thank you, m’lord.” The shoot captain took a deep breath and began. “I checked as quickly as I could. I asked Mr. Henry, all the beaters and the pickers-up, but none of them had seen a stranger out in the brush.”

Truly puzzled, Gareth stared out at the grouse moor. “Thank you, Mac. We can proceed with the shoot now.”

“You’re continuing with the shoot?” The astonishment on Wrotham’s face made Gareth smile.

“I’ve sustained no grave hurt.” He motioned toward his cheek. “I don’t mean to pamper myself over a mere scratch.”

“I wasn’t suggesting you would, Kinellan.” Wrotham shook his head. “I merely supposed you’d suspend the shoot until you could discover who fired the shot.”

“It’s hardly a matter of enough importance to suspend the shoot and disappoint my guests.” Gareth shot a glance at Lathbury. “Nor do I wish to forfeit my wager just because some lad with his father’s gun took aim at a rabbit and missed.”

“True enough, if that’s all it is.” Wrotham gave him a piercing look before heading to his position on the left side of the shooting butt.

“What did he mean by that?” The day was turning out to be much more disconcerting than Gareth would have believed. He picked up his gun and returned it to the crook of his arm.

“No telling, but I wouldn’t worry over much.” Lathbury retrieved his flask and tucked it in his coat pocket. He took up his position next to Gareth. “I may just back you instead in that wager, Kinellan. Your luck seems to be in today.”

“How sportsmanlike of you, Lathbury.” A dull ache had settled into Gareth’s cheek. He could have used another pull from that flask to steady him. Insisting on making the wager now could be disastrous for him after that stray shot. However, Granger might be shaken as well and off his mark this afternoon. Gareth would continue and hope for the best.

“One must take every advantage one is given. Granger might even lose on purpose in sympathy for your ordeal.” Lathbury grinned.

“Forever looking on the bright side?”

“Exactly.” To his relief, Lathbury pulled out the flask again and took a sip. “I’d even wager your wound leaves a scar that will drive Jane wild with desire whenever she looks at it.”

“Hah.” Nipping the flask from his friend’s hand, Gareth contemplated Jane’s reaction to his close call. He would have to downplay it quite a bit. “If Jane is any more desirous of me tonight I won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”

“Walking is too highly rated as exercise when there are so many other, more interesting ways to take healthful exercise.”

At Lathbury’s lecherous look, Gareth burst out laughing. “You’ll be the death of me.”

He then gave the signal to Mac and the beaters commenced flushing the birds into the air. Immediately the quiet afternoon was filled with the noisy banging of the guns and the frenzied fluttering of wings.

Sighting carefully, Gareth pulled the trigger, bringing down his first grouse. His loader handed him another gun and he continued to shoot time and again and his count rose substantially. Still, his thoughts inexplicably kept returning to Wrotham’s enigmatic statement. What the devil had the man meant by saying, “If that’s all it is?”

Chapter Nine

The great hall at Castle Kinellan was redolent of beeswax from hundreds of candles that engulfed the entire chamber in a warm glow. Food and wine had flowed freely all evening, course after succulent course and bottle after delicious bottle of Gareth’s favorite French vintage. He now leaned back in his chair, sated and completely content with the week’s concluding banquet. Everyone had completed the final course or was still picking at the cheese and fruit set out on the tables, their gazes trained on him as one, hoping for the signal to adjourn to the bonfire and the other types of merriment set to follow it.

There was, however, one additional announcement before they would be dismissed. He grasped Jane’s hand and kissed it. She’d been placed beside him tonight, so anyone who was surprised by the coming announcement had not been paying attention at all. With a squeeze of her fingers, he rose and lifted his glass. “As the Laird Kinellan, and holder of the title and estates of the Marquessate of Kinellan, I bid you all thanks for your presence at this annual gathering of Clan Seton of Kinellan. This gathering is held to pay honor to our ancestors and to renew our fealty to Clan Seton. Hazard Yet Forward!”

As one, his guests raised their glasses and replied, “Hazard Yet Forward!”

After sipping some wine to complete the toast, Gareth raised his voice once more to silence the chatterers. “At our gathering this year I have the additional pleasure of introducing to you the lady you see by my side. Many of you know her as Lady John Tarkington. What you may not know is that she was born Lady Jane Munro, of Clan Munro. This year, at long last”—he gazed down at her, his heart swelling with love—“I have convinced her to put off the red and black of Clan Munro, and take up the red and green of the Seton when she becomes my wife.”

A roar of cheers and whistles and thunderous applause met his announcement. Gareth leaned over to Jane and whispered in her ear so she could hear him, “I hope you realize you are truly stuck with me. They’ll never let you take it back now.”

Jane laughed and whispered back, “I could say the same thing for you, my love. You’ve publicly claimed me, so there’s no getting rid of me.”

Across the room, Lathbury arose and raised his glass. “May you be blessed with happiness and health, with prosperity and long life, with a nursery full of children, and abiding love for one another. May that love for each other stretch throughout time, until death and death alone parts you. To Lord Kinellan and Lady John Tarkington!”

The company raised their glasses again and toasted once more before regaining their seats.

“Did you put Lathbury up to that, Kinellan?” Jane raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. “Much too pretty a speech to be impromptu.”

Trying to catch the eye of someone to interrupt them didn’t work. “I might have suggested something of the sort to him.”

She snorted. “I might have known.”