Marblestone Mansion 01 - Scandalous Duchess

through the trees and alerted everyone. Just as they had before, the servants lined up outside, only this time they were grinning with wild anticipation.
    Something was amiss.
    Alistair was seated in the wagon instead of being inside the carriage and everyone’s heart stop. Could it be…was it possible the duchess was back? Hannish did not look pleased when he climbed out of the carriage and there was definitely someone else inside. He held out his hand, a woman put her hand in his and began to step down. First, her black skirt appeared, then her apron…and then her face.
    For days Hannish waited to see it, and when Sassy caught her breath and grabbed McKenna’s arm, her happiness was a sight well worth waiting for. A cry of joy escaped her lips and with tears in her eyes, Sassy ran to Cathleen and threw her arms around her little sister.
    They both cried and clung to each other for a long moment before Cathleen finally wiped her tears and complained, “Leesil, you are about to knock me over.”
    Sassy giggled, let go and watched as Cathleen got a good look at the imposing mansion.
    “ You put up here?” Cathleen asked.
    “ And so shall you,” said Hannish, ‘if you’ll have us, that is.”
    Cathleen smiled at the tall stranger. “I’ll have you and be glad of it.”
    With tears of joy in her own eyes, McKenna finally turned to greet Dugan’s cousin. “Am I ever glad to see you again, Egan.”
    “ Not as glad as I am to see you,” he said. The youngest of the men, Egan was also the shortest, with a stocky build and blond hair. “Mr. Cameron MacGreagor pleased me to see to Cathleen and keep her safe all the way to Colorado. She’s a mite fearful of most things and cried when the train crossed the mighty Mississippi River, but I held her hand. I hope ‘twas allowed.”
    “ Of course it was. I am in your debt, Egan. Are you hungry? Jessie baked cookies this morning.”
    Egan rubbed his belly. “Jessie’s cookies? Yum.”

    CHAPTER 9

    Hannish leaned against the wall in the kitchen and smiled. Most of his loyal Scottish servants were there now, plus two orphans and the Americans. What’s more, Sassy was talking a mile a minute again, delighting everyone with her interpretation of life in the mansion. She still had not let go of her sister’s hand. “You shall sleep in a bed all your own, and you can have a bath everyday if you like, in a tub with clean water and no one else in it.”
    “ No,” Cathleen gasped. Her hair was a lighter auburn than Sassy’s with more red showing through, but her eyes were the same color of blue.
    At last, Hannish took pity on a wide-eyed Cathleen and interrupted, “Alistair, did you manage to get my wife on the ship?”
    “ Aye, Sir.” He raised an eyebrow and looked at Sarah. “She could not find her brush, and demanded I get off the train to buy her a new one in Kansas City. You’d not know what happened to it, would you?”
    “ We need it for firewood this winter,” Sarah proudly announced. “I intend to burn it myself.” She grinned at him and watched Alistair’s frown turn to a smile. It was good to have him back, very good indeed.
    “ We saw her,” said Egan.
    “ Saw who?” Hannish asked.
    “ The duchess. Her ship was sailing just as we were coming to port.”
    “ They came a day early,” Alistair explained. “Twas a good thing I checked before we left the dock.”
    “ Did Olivia see you, Egan?” Hannish asked.
    Egan nodded. “It began to snow and Cathleen wanted to be out in it, so we stood along the railing. The duchess saw me through a window in her ship and she looked none too happy about it.”
    “ I don’t suppose she did.” Hannish thought for a moment. “It matters not, she’ll be a little forewarned, perhaps, but she’ll not guess what is to come.”
    “ Forewarned of what?” McKenna asked.
    His smile was wide when he answered, “I have abdicated.”
    Alistair’s mouth dropped. “You are no longer a duke?”
    “ Indeed not, I passed it to my brother.”
    “ Then the duchess is not…” Alistair began to grin.
    “ Not any longer.”
    Alistair deeply bowed. “You have my greatest admiration, Sir.”
    Cathleen had no idea what they were talking about and leaned a little closer to Sassy. “The constable come and took Old Mrs. Forthright away for stealin’. And after that, people brought food and they vowed not to let us be hungry ever again. I seen clean clothing comin’ too, though I left afore I could get