The evening meal was prepared specifically for the arrival of Gavin’s betrothed. The oval table in the dining room was set with a lovely linen cloth and the finest china and crystal. There was a vase of flowers from the garden on the old oak sideboard and the plush Turkish carpet covered most of the floor. Shimmering candlelight bathed the room.
Everything was so beautiful and perfect. Robbie was sorry she didn’t have something equally as exquisite to wear, but she wore what she had, an out-of-fashion, yellow cotton, princess dress that had taken her nearly a half an hour to button.
She was seated next to one of Gavin’s friends whose name was Dr. Colin Innes. Dr. Innes, it seemed, often came to stay at Erskine House; he had one of the small apartments, which he called his own.
He gazed at her, his amber eyes filled with mirth. “And now, Miss Fleming, how do you think you’ll enjoy Erskine House? Sorry you have to wed this scholarly rascal, but in time you may come to find him a little agreeable.”
Robbie enjoyed the banter. “I can’t imagine anything more rewarding than living in this fine house, Dr. Innes. And, as for the master of the house,” she said, tossing Gavin a coy smile, “I think I can abide his company from time to time. But what about you? Where do you practice medicine?”
Dr. Innes cleared his throat. “To be honest, Miss Fleming, I haven’t practiced since I had my accident.”
Of course Robbie had noticed his face, which was badly disfigured. A long, jagged, puckering scar ran from his forehead, over his nose, and across his right cheek, where the skin was scaly and pink. It looked well healed. In spite of it, Robbie could tell that before the accident he had been a very handsome man. His hair was dark and thick and wavy, and he had a powerful physique. Since he brought up the subject of his accident, she ventured, “What happened?”
“I dared come between a street cur and his dinner. Of course the cur won.” His voice was flat.
Robbie brought her hand to her chest. “Why was it so important to rescue the animal’s dinner?”
“Because it was a bairn in a carriage, unattended.”
Robbie gasped. “Oh, my goodness. Did he…was the bairn…”
“I rescued the bairn, but not before the dog had bitten through his abdomen. Then he came after me. Fair exchange, I have always felt, except that I couldn’t save the bairn’s life; infection from the bite set in immediately.”
Robbie expressed an honest sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Innes.”
He took a sip of wine, then looked at her over the rim of his glass. “I haven’t treated a patient since.”
He said the words matter-of-factly, but Robbie detected pain in his eyes. She had also noticed that Gavin had been very quiet during her exchange with the doctor.
They had just finished the soup, a fine scotch broth, and were now being served the main course, which was crisp duckling in orange sauce and roasted root vegetables.
Robbie tried very hard to curb her enthusiasm; she hadn’t tasted food like this since she left home. Perhaps not even then! Actually, her stomach sent up some warnings that it wasn’t prepared to handle such richness, which made Robbie eat slowly in spite of her hunger. Knowing that she may be hungry later, she stealthily slipped a jam tart into her pocket.
After dinner, Robbie announced, “The journey has truly tired me out, gentlemen. I believe I will excuse myself and go to my room. Goodnight.”
Dr. Innes bent low over her hand. “Have a good night, Miss Fleming; I’m so happy we will be friends.”
“As am I,” she answered, waiting subtly for Gavin to speak.
Gavin, too, took her hand and bent low over it. “Good night, Robbie, I’ll see you in the morning.”
Disappointed by his lack of enthusiasm, she merely nodded and escaped to her room.
Colin and Gavin retired to the library for their brandy.
“She’s delightful. Although, not the red-haired siren you had described.” Colin accepted the brandy and settled into a wingback chair by the fireplace. Gavin studied his drink, swirling the amber liquid around in the glass.
Finally he answered, “Yes. She is a delightful person.”
“Then what’s ailing you, man? She’s bright and charming and engaging. Quite pretty, really, if not exactly beautiful, and she has magnificent hair, although, again, not red.”
After a long and painful moment, Gavin said, “She’s the wrong sister.”
Colin frowned, his drink halfway to his mouth. He processed Gavin’s answer and finally replied, “You mean to say you wrote and asked the wrong sister to marry you?”
Gavin placed his drink on the table beside him and put his face in his hands. “Their names are so alike. Roberta. Robena. If you were to compare one of them to a bright, exotic bird, wouldn’t it be Robena, as in a robin?”
“Or Roberta, as in a bird,” Colin countered. He expelled a low whistle. “My God, man, you are a menace to society. Everyone who knows you realizes how terrible you are with names of people living. I could probably ask you to name the obscure Scottish poet who was called ‘Ettrick Shepherd’ of the Borders, you’d undoubtedly know it.”
“James Hogg.”
Colin threw up his hands in exasperation.
“It was all so spur of the moment,” Gavin explained. “I’m not usually like that, but when I get an idea into my head, I act on it. I was so certain.”
He lifted his head and looked at his friend, briefly recalling how well Robbie handled Colin’s disfigurement. Because he and Colin were close friends, he’d become accustomed to it. Before the accident, Colin had been a fanciful playboy. Now women shunned him. Gavin’s friend Faith barely spoke to him, and when she did, she refused to look at him. Gavin didn’t know what it would take to make Colin want to practice medicine again.
Gavin thought back to the dinner conversation. Robbie had not even flinched when she and Colin were introduced. How would Birdie have reacted?
“What are you going to do?” Colin broke into his thoughts.
“Faith asked me the same thing.”
“So that’s where you rushed off to so quickly.” Colin snorted. “I’m sure she did. She’s probably dancing a lively jig right now over your mistake.”
Gavin shook his head. “She’s not like that; she just a friend, nothing more.”
“Says you,” Colin replied. “I’d like to be a fly on the wall of the coffeehouse about now and see what she’s thinking…and planning.”
“You think everyone has a motive, don’t you?”
Colin cocked his head. “Don’t they?”
“I disagree about Faith. We’re just friends, always have been.”
“You mean to say you’re not attracted to her?”
“In that way?” He shook his head. “She isn’t my type.”
Gavin was quiet a moment, and then said, “Roberta, or Birdie, is married.”
“Well, that solves one problem, doesn’t it?”
“From what Robbie said, Birdie married Robbie’s beau.”
Colin shook his head. “She sounds like a real keeper,” he said with sarcasm. “It looks to me like you’ve made the most intelligent mistake of your life.”
• • •
Robbie had fallen asleep immediately, but awoke when moonlight streamed into the room, over her pillow. Feeling refreshed, she slid from the wonderful bedding, checked her father’s timepiece, and noted that it was nearly three in the morning.
She lit the lamp beside her, went to her valise, and rummaged through it to find her writing materials. Noting there was another lamp on the desk near the window, she lit it and settled down to write an episode that was due shortly.
Lady Perlina, dressed up in her short maid’s outfit, lifted the breakfast tray and entered the Baron Von Klippen’s bedroom. The baron was in bed lounging against lush pillows, reading. His eyeglasses were perched on the end of his nose and his nightshirt was open at the neck, revealing a thicket of black hair that made Perlina’s loins tingle.
He looked up. “Ach, fräulein; you bring the baron breakfast, jawohl?”
Perlina gave him a demure smile. “And much, much more.” She put the tray beside the bed, leaning over so he could gaze at her ample bosom, which nearly popped from the top of her uniform. His gaze lingered there, and he licked his lips. Perlina noticed movement beneath the covers. Pretending to lose her balance, she fell against him, feeling his hardness.
“Oh, baron,” she exclaimed, moving about as if trying to regain her balance, arousing herself and hoping to arouse him further, “I’m so sorry…”
The baron took her wrist and pulled her toward him. “I am not sorry, fräulein.” He reached beneath her short skirt and touched her; she was already quite sopping wet, indeed.
Suddenly he threw the covers back, revealing his manly length, long, hard, and pink with its purple bulbous head twitching in her direction. “Sit,” he instructed.
Lady Perlina straddled him and thus began breakfast with the baron.
Robbie checked the time. It was nearly five, too early to get up and disrupt the household and too late to go back to bed. But she was craving a cup of tea, and since she and Mrs. Murray had taken tea the day before, Robbie knew exactly where to find what she needed. Pulling on her shabby robe over her nightgown, she pocketed her purloined jam tart, blew out the lamps, and left her room.
• • •
Colin had raided the kitchen and made himself a snack of cold duck between two slices of the cook’s excellent bread. A lamp was lit on the table. He heard a sound behind him, and turned to find Robbie standing there, surprised to find anyone else up, no doubt.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I was going to fix myself a cup of tea, but I can…”
“Yes, do,” Colin answered. “I could use the company.” He looked at her, her fine, wavy brown hair cascading over her shoulders, making her desirable and delicate at the same time. “Couldn’t sleep, either?”
Robbie went about making her tea. “Oh, I slept hard for enough hours. Before this, I never got this kind of rest. Either the wind nearly blew my door down or my neighbor’s snoring almost cracked my window.” She tossed him a warm glance. “It wasn’t exactly quiet where I lived.”
Colin was interested. “And just where did Gavin find you, anyway?”
“I’m surprised he found me at all, truth to tell.” Robbie smiled. “Actually, I had finished university in Edinburgh and, well, had a small, inconsequential job, after which I would go to a clinic and help a friend with her patients.”
“Ah, a Florence Nightingale.”
Robbie laughed. “Not even close.” She brought her teacup to the table, pulled a jam tart—one he’d seen her pinch from the dinner table—from her pocket and sat across from him. “There are so many young women and girls, even, who roam the streets of Edinburgh, bait for all the criminals who prey on the weak and the lonely.” She shrugged. “I just like to help.”
Colin was all too aware of the appalling conditions of parts of Edinburgh. “And you grew up with a twin sister, is that right?”
Robbie nibbled on her tart, closed her eyes, and made a sound of satisfaction in her throat, then studied her tea. “That’s where I met Gavin. My sister and I shared a tutor with him.”
Gleaning interesting information from a willing participant, Colin continued. “And your sister?”
“Fraternal. We look and act nothing alike.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Colin asked, his tone teasing.
At this, Robbie chuckled. “I used to think it wasn’t fair that my sister got the beautiful red curls and deep dimples, making it likely that every boy on the island would trip over himself trying to get her attention.”
“And now?”
“Oh, Birdie and I have always had our differences, but she is my sister, after all, and I love her in spite of herself!” This she said with a warm laugh.
“And what became of your sister, Birdie?” Colin knew this as well.
Robbie finished the tart and brushed crumbs from her mouth. “She got married and moved to Glasgow.”
“And here you are, going to be married as well,” he added.
Robbie glowed. Colin could see that she was very much in love with Gavin, and his heart ached for her.
“I can’t tell you what wonderful timing Gavin had. I don’t like to dwell on this, but I was two days away from being put out into the street because my landlady claimed my room for her nephew.”
Colin narrowed his eyes. “You mean you wouldn’t have had a place to stay?”
Robbie shook her head, still glowing. “It’s a miracle that this all is happening to me. I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
Colin took a chance. “This morning Gavin has a meeting in Melrose and I’m going in to Galashiels to pick up my mail. Would you care to ride along?”
Her face lit up. “I’d like that. There are a few things I should probably purchase.”
Colin considered her gown. His sister sewed fashionable clothing for ladies in Edinburgh, and he’d seen the shabby cloth of last night’s outfit, as well as the shoes, worn nearly to the sole. She probably had few funds. He wanted to take Gavin out and give him a whipping.
“That reminds me,” he said. “Gavin said I was to take you to the dressmaker and have a few gowns sewn for you.” He winked at her. “A little wedding gift, I presume.”
“Oh, how wonderful!” She looked a bit sheepish. “I must admit I came here with very little. I didn’t know if he would notice.”
Colin knew the owner of the dress shop well enough to tell her to put the items on an account under Gavin’s name. Still, he wondered what in the bloody hell Gavin was going to do in the long run. And, Colin had better have someone ride ahead to the dressmaker’s shop and make sure they were aware of their visitor in the morning.