Kilgannon by Kathleen Givens

What more fitting place to ensure my reputation than a shipload of men?"
    He frowned, his disappointment obvious. "Yer right. I canna take ye there." He glanced around. "Well, I'm hungry. Surely there's a place we can eat without me having to marry ye first."
    "We wouldn't want that." "Not before I eat."
    "Let's go toward Westminster," I suggested, "At the worst you can get something from one of the street vendors."
    He grinned as we walked away. "Aye, that should impress ye fully, no? We could stand on the side of the street and eat with our hands. Yer fine Robert Campbell would do the same, no doubt."
    "Alex, he's not my Robert Campbell, and I don't need to be further impressed. You are quite impressive as is."
    "Oh, aye? Well ..." For once he was speechless, and I laughed as we threaded our way through the crowded streets.
    "I did it to you," I said.
    "What? What did ye do?"
    "Made you speechless. You do it to me all the time."
    He grinned. "It's fun, no? I like to see yer eyes widen and ye start to speak and then get all red."
    "Makes me sound lovely." "Ye are, Mary. With yer dark hair and pale skin it is quite lovely to watch ye change color. I could watch ye all day." He fought his smile. "Or all night." I felt my cheeks redden, and he roared. I shook my head at him with a smile.
    We wandered through the streets without direction. I could not think of another man with whom I had been so relaxed. Will, of course, but he was my brother. At one point a carriage came closer than it should have, and Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me into a doorway next to him. Except for that moment he did not touch me at all, but we were comfortable together. We bypassed the chocolate houses where someone might know me and found a small inn that looked respectable. Alex had his food at last and I had tea. I watched the girl pour and looked through the steam at him.
    "How exactly am I to explain this to Louisa?"
    "Well," he said, tearing a piece of bread off the loaf between us. "Given a wee bit of luck, ye'11 have little explaining to do."
    "What does that mean?"
    "It means that supposedly Will took ye off and the two of ye will return home together. He'll have more explaining to Betty than ye'll have to Louisa."
    "And Will agreed to this?"
    "Obviously." He looked at me over his cup as he drank. "Of course, he did threaten to kill me if I touched ye, so ye'll please tell him I dinna overstep myself." I tried not to smile.
    And failed. "Aye. Ye laugh, but I respect that. I'd do the same to any man coming after my sister."
    "I see." I laughed at him.
    "I doubt that ye do, but never mind that now. I've got yer company for an hour or two and I'm content."
    "And I yours."
    He leaned back in his chair and watched me. "Is that good?"
    "Alex, I've sacrificed my reputation for two hours with you."
    "I'm worth the sacrifice." He grinned and I laughed again.
    "So you say. Now, tell me, when you stuck your head in the landscaper's door, did you say you were my brother?"
    "No, I said ye were leaving with yer brother and to please tell the Countess." He took another piece of bread.
    "You were masquerading as Will?"
    "No." He shook his head. "I doubt that anyone would take me for yer brother. I was masquerading as yer brother's messenger."
    "And when Louisa discovers the messenger was a man wearing a hat with eagle feathers, she'll have no idea who it could be."
    "The girl dinna even notice me." "Oh, no. Tall blond Scotsmen wearing Highland clothes are an everyday occurrence at a London landscaper's office."
    He frowned. "Details. And it's not a hat. It's a bonnet."
    "It's a hat." I picked it up from the chair between us.
    "Bonnet," he said, and took another bite of bread.
    "It matches your plaid."
    "This isfeileadh beag." he said.
    "Same thing."
    "No, nine feet different." At my expression he laughed. "A feileadh mor is a plaid. Eighteen feet long. Ye pleat it about yer waist and throw the rest over yer shoulder. And when it's cold or it rains ye put it