Border Storm by Amanda Scott Page A

past when maidservants sang and laughed while they went about their work, when the castle had gleamed from the cellars to the ramparts. But the maidservants had departed soon after his sister had gone. Even the ones who only came in daily had stayed away, commanded to do so by husbands or fathers who believed it was unsuitable for them to work in what had perforce become an all-male household.
    He had suffered from their departure for only a few weeks, however, before Jock’s Meggie had arrived to take over the cooking and supervise the housekeeping.
    Meggie, a widow with five small children, had moved her family into the kitchen quarters at Brackengill rather than go to her own people when Hugh had installed his captain, Ned Rowan, to look after her late husband’s tenant farm. Rowan had a fond eye for Meggie, and Hugh had hoped they might marry, but Meggie had refused.
    Hugh was under no illusions about Meggie’s loyalty to him, either. He knew that, having refused to marry Rowan or to go to her parents, and with five children to rear, Meggie had chosen life at Brackengill as her least objectionable alternative. If she was loyal to anyone, it was to his sister, Janet. The only one at Brackengill more loyal to Janet than Meggie was Meggie’s nine-year-old son, Andrew.
    With her children underfoot all day, Meggie was not as efficient as Janet had been, but at least she knew her place, and Hugh did not miss his frequent battles with his sister. Growing up alongside him at Brackengill, Janet had shared his lessons simply by demanding of his mild-mannered tutor that she be allowed to do so. Despite the combined efforts of the tutor and Hugh’s uncle Brampton, during his annual visits, to teach her to submit to Hugh’s authority, neither they nor Hugh had succeeded to any extent that he could discern.
    Because Janet had taken control of the household when she was little older than Meggie’s Nancy was now, she had come in time to wield her authority as housekeeper as if it were equal to her brother’s authority as master of Brackengill. Her temper was certainly equal to Hugh’s, and their battles had been loud.
    It occurred to him that Lady Marjory might well return things to the more comfortable way they had been before, and without the quarreling. She might even prove to be a better housekeeper than Janet.
    Perhaps Thaddeus was right and he was judging his aunt too hastily. She was clearly a kind and considerate woman. He could do worse than to let her have the run of Brackengill.
    Logic told him that such a city-loving woman would not long be content in Border country, but as long as she wanted to stay, he would be churlish not to welcome her.
    Having made this decision, he decided that what had first seemed a penance would soon prove a boon. Then, in a much better mood, he finished dressing and went downstairs, prepared to enjoy his supper and be polite to his new housekeeper.

Seven
    False Sir John a wooing came
    To a maid of beauty fair…
    I T WAS CUSTOMARY ON evenings when Sir William’s family dined without company, for his daughters to retire soon after supper, so that they could be up and about their duties early each morning. It was not dark yet, however, nor would it be for two more hours, and despite her busy day, Laurie was not the least bit sleepy.
    The maidservant Bridget served all three daughters of the household. Since Blanche would keep her occupied for a short time, and since Bridget favored May over Sir William’s other daughters, Laurie knew she might well have a full hour to herself before the maid would come to her.
    There was no fire in her fireplace, because Blanche did not approve of wasting wood during the summer months when she believed that fires were not necessary to warm bedchambers other than her own. Laurie’s bed curtains were plain blue damask, decorated only with simple embroidery that she had worked herself at the age of thirteen. The chamber was bleak, but she was used to