“Then don’t believe it,” Lady Margaret snapped. “Do what everyone else does, and ignore my feelings entirely.”

Her manner unsettled him. He had assumed, when she ran off, that she had been overwhelmed by the occasion. It was an extremely foolish thing to do, and his only thoughts, at first, had been for her reputation and for her parents’ dignity. Fear for her well-being had then taken priority, and relief had given way to anger once he had ascertained she was unharmed. Her lack of repentance puzzled him, forcing him to reconsider the situation. This was a case not of mere nerves but of genuinely heartfelt distress, which was even more of a puzzle.

“Are you seriously saying that you do not wish this marriage to go ahead? The Earl of Killin is a most respected gentleman.”

“I beg you not to recite his many qualities. I am perfectly well aware of them.”

“If that is the case,” Donald said, struggling to keep pace with her volatile emotions, “then why humiliate the man in such a way?”

“I didn’t humiliate him.”

“You left him standing high and dry between your parents in front of an audience of his peers in anticipation of the announcement of his betrothal. Short of jilting him at the altar I can think of nothing more humiliating.”

“Really? How about being used as the makeweight in a deal to supply sheep for wool making?”

“Oh, come now—it’s the kind of arrangement families such as yours have been making for centuries. It’s the reason you are here in London, for heaven’s sake.”

“I know that!”

Donald looked at her helplessly. “Then why did you run away? I cannot believe your parents were forcing you into a union which was distasteful to you.”

“And to Killin. He can scarcely bring himself to touch me.”

“You are very young,” Donald said, at a loss as to what to make of this revelation. “He probably doesn’t want to alarm you by being overzealous.”

Lady Margaret gave a most unladylike snort. “When I tried to explain to Mr. Scott what had happened—”

“You confided in a complete stranger!”

“And even more astonishing, he actually listened,” she retorted. “You will be pleased to know that he agreed with you, Lochiel, that I should not have humiliated Killin. But he didn’t try to persuade me to marry him.”

“I do find Killin at times a little humourless,” Donald confessed, deciding she deserved more than mere platitudes. “If he is passionate about anything, I would say it is about having his own way. He is a fiercely ambitious man—not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

“It’s his ambition which makes him so determined to marry me.”

“It is a very natural thing to wish to better oneself, and your father is a uniquely powerful ally.”

“If only Killin could cut to the chase and marry Papa!”