Free Indiscretion by Jillian Hunter Page B

said quietly. "Lead on, Auntie Nellwyn."
    Anne had assembled her small staff in the Great Hall, which smelled of beeswax from a quick cleaning and a lingering hint of must from months of being dosed off. The carpet had been swept with wet ashes, and a hasty log fire lit in the vast stone hearth. Billows of smoke began to circulate and curl around the hammer-beam rafters.
    "I appreciate your loyalty to both me and my late husband in remaining here during my prolonged absence," Anne began, her slim figure silhouetted by the firelight. "The lodge appears to have been beautifully tended as always."
    Patrick leaned up against the rough stone wall as she gave the hearten ing aristocrat-pats-peasant-on- the-head speech. He wondered where in this gloomy tower she was going to sleep, whether she had slept with David every night, how often they had made love.
    He knew that if he had been her husband, he wouldn't have been able to keep his hands off her for an hour straight. They would never have left the bedroom. Weeds would probably have grown high enough to choke the windows. The tower could fall apart, stone by stone, and their finances could be in ruins, but Patrick would be a happy man if he woke up every morning with her in his arms.
    He shifted, raising his brooding gaze from the floor to hear her voice ringing across the hall.
    "Snap to it, man."
    He sighed, his expression bored as he gazed around the room wondering who she was speaking to in such an uncharacteristically rude way.
    "Did you hear me, Sutherland?" she said.
    Sutherland. Oh, hell.
    He straightened, embarrassed, as every eye in the hall turned to observe his reaction to her ladyship's sharp reprimand. Anne was not known for her sarcasm.
    "Gathering wool, Sutherland?" she said, with that gloating smile that made him want to spank and kiss her at the same time.
    He bowed, his face a mask of dark irony. "Forgive me, madam. I had my mind on other matters."
    "A woman, no doubt," she said under her breath.
    "How did you guess?"
    "I want you to meet my most loyal and dedicated staff, Sutherlan d," she said, beckoning him for ward. And to the curious servants waiting to catch a glimpse of their new leader, she explained, "Sutherland isn't usually this much of a wallflower."
    "A wallflower," he said.
    "Goodness," she said in mock dismay. "He isn't wearing his knee breeches either."
    "Well, good heavens." He looked down at his Bond-Street tailor-made trousers. "I wonder how that happened."
    Entranced, the staff of Balgeldie watched this rather unconventional exchange between mistress and servant. Their support would unquestionably go to her ladyship's side. This new butler was an unproven entity in their social equation, and since Anne had always treated her staff with kindness and generosity, any intruder would have to prove himself before being enfolded into the bosom of the domestic family.
    "A bit on the stubborn side," whispered Mrs. Forbes the housekeeper, to G racie, the upper cham bermaid.
    "A rebel," said Sandy, the head gardener. "I've seen his sort. He willna last the year."
    "He's a braw fine-lookin' mannie," said the kitchen maid to Fergus the footman.
    The footman grun ted, eyeing Patrick's muscular le gs and enormous shoulders. "If you like giants waitin' on you."
    "I could learn to," the kitchen maid retorted, gig gling.
    Mrs. Forbes gave the gossiping group a loud harrumph of disappr oval and shouldered her way for ward. "Welcome to our staff, Mr. Sutherland," she said with dignified warmth. "A good man is hard to find."
    "So is a good woman," he said without thinking.
    This comment, unexpected from a servant, brought comp lete silence to the hall. Anne cl osed her eyes in exasperation and Nellwyn, sitting at the table with a glass of port, let out a chortle of amusement.
    "What I meant," Patrick said, "is —"
    "Never mind what you meant," Anne said briskly. "See about t he supper arrangements. I'm fam ished."
    "Supper?" he said bleakly.
    She edged up beside