Marblestone Mansion 01 - Scandalous Duchess

together. “Abigail, I believe they are going to sing for us.”
    “ How delightful,” said Claymore.
    The room quieted and people stopped to watch just as Shepard struck a cord on his violin and the four began to sing. This time they sang a song familiar to both the Scots and the Americans: Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond. The applause had not yet stopped before they began to sing, Sweet Rosie O'Grady and I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen . They finished with Battle Hymn of the Republic and that song took more than one breath away.
    Hannish said, “So that’s where they get off to, they’ve been practicing.”
    “ They wanted to surprise us, it seems,” McKenna said.
    “ They certainly have done that.”
    “ MacGreagor,” the mayor interrupted, “We shall expect your boys to sing for us at the annual picnic next month.”
    Hannish shook the Mayor’s hand. “I shall ask them.”
    “ Tell them if they do not come, I’ll send the sheriff to fetch them.” The mayor smiled, nodded and walked away.
    When the doorbell rang and Alistair opened it, the room abruptly quieted and several mouths dropped.
    “ Alistair,” said Charlotte, nodding her greeting.
    Hannish hurried into the foyer with Claymore right behind him. “What are you doing here?”
    “ I was invited by my brother, Mr. Wells.”
    Hannish narrowed his eyes. “Please leave, I do not wish to…”
    “ Charlotte,” Claymore interrupted. “I remind you I have influence with the Office of Education. Do not make me recommend you find a position somewhere else.”
    Charlotte spotted Sassy, glared at her for a moment and then glanced at the stern look on Claymore’s face. “I will leave, though I find your threat terribly unfair, Mr. Whitfield. I was invited, the same as anyone.”
    “ Please go,” Hannish said. “Dinna make me throw you out.”
    “ It would not be the first time.” At last, she turned and walked back out the door.
    “ Of all the audacity,” Claymore muttered, going back to his wife and McKenna.
    Hannish turned around and looked for Amos. “Alistair, I wish to have a word with Mr. Wells. Ask him to come speak to me.”
    Sassy saw Hannish send Charlotte away and a few minutes later, when the two men finished talking, it was obvious Mr. Wells was being sent away too. Hannish turned around and looked directly at her, but Sassy lowered her eyes and went back to work.

    “ Mr. Wells wanted to take her to the ball?” Hannish asked after he finished seeing the last of their guests out. “Why did no one tell me?”
    McKenna was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. “It was her place to tell you if she wanted you to know, not mine or anyone else’s.” She walked with him back into the parlor and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Sassy refused him because she has not yet learned how to dance, but she might not have the next time he asked.”
    “ He is not right for her.”
    “ True, but she is a grown woman capable of making her own decisions…and her own mistakes. You cannae protect her and you must not interfere in the lives of your employees.” She kissed his cheek, lifted the hem of her skirt and climbed the stairs.
    He stared after her for a long moment, before he too went up to bed.

    “ Mr. Wells is Charlotte’s brother?” Cathleen asked, exchanging her uniform for her nightshirt in the bedroom they shared on the third floor.
    “ Aye, Alistair told me so,” Sassy answered.
    “ Do you prefer Mr. Wells?”
    “ I do not prefer him, but it was pleasant to think he preferred me for a little while.” Sassy slipped her nightshirt over her head and pulled it down. “I wager he will not ask me to a ball again.”
    “ I’d not let you go with him at any rate. He is Charlotte’s brother and probably believes her. He most likely thinks you are willing.”
    Sassy was shocked. “Willing?” She crawled into bed and then sighed. “You are right; I shall have nothing more to do with Mr. Wells. I did want to see what a ball was like, though.”
    As soon as Cathleen was in her own bed and the dog made himself comfortable at the foot of it, Sassy turned off their new table lamp and tried to go to sleep. Yet, she kept thinking about the way Hannish looked right at her after he sent Mr. Wells away, and sleep was a long time coming. What did that look mean exactly?

    CHAPTER 11

    Several days passed before Hannish went to talk to Sassy. He found her in the newly furnished library admiring the