Marblestone Mansion 01 - Scandalous Duchess

at least not obvious to him.
    Hannish still went to the kitchen each morning for tea and occasionally ate breakfast with the servants, especially if McKenna was not yet awake. His loneliness was becoming more and more unbearable, and breakfast with Sassy and the others seemed his only comfort. Cathleen had a few stories of her own to tell, most involving practical jokes Sassy played on Old Mrs. Forthright, and Hannish often found himself smiling about them later in the day. Yet their eyes only met occasionally, he dared not touch Sassy no matter how much he longed to, and the war between his heart and his mind raged on.
    He reminded himself of his pledge to Olivia nearly as often as Sassy reminded herself he loved his wife. It was maddening for her to be in the same house and not be able to feel his arms around her. It would never happen, she knew, and once they had enough saved, she and Cathleen planned to move away. It was the only way to quiet her aching heart, so she took to reading the newspapers after McKenna finished with them.
    There had to be someplace for them to go, even if she could not imagine life anywhere else.

    “ Oh, McKenna, what am I to do?” Abigail asked, nearly out of breath as she rushed into the small sitting room on the first floor. She paused just long enough for Alistair to finish delivering her and walk away.
    “ What is wrong, Abigail?”
    “ Charles has fallen in love with the worst possible woman.” She quickly sat on the edge of a chair.
    “ Oh no, how dreadful.”
    “ It is worse than dreadful: she has been arrested in Paris by a detective from Scotland Yard.”
    McKenna’s eyes widened. “Arrested for what?”
    “ I do not think I can even say it.” Abigail put her hand on her chest and shook her head.
    “ I shall ring for tea.” McKenna got up, rang the bell and sat back down.
    “ Bigamy,” Abigail muttered.
    “ What?”
    “ She has been charged with bigamy, can you believe it?”
    “ Bigamy? I am truly shocked.”
    “ I can scarcely believe it myself.”
    “ Has Charles married her?” McKenna asked.
    “ He will not say, but McKenna, I think he has. He has gone to London to see about getting her out of jail. Of course, he needs more money and Claymore might not send him any. We think Charles should come home now.”
    “ That might be best.”
    Abigail scooted back in the chair, watched Ronan bring the tea tray in and begin to serve them. “Charlotte and her brother have left town finally. They did not say where they were going, back to Denver, I suppose.”
    “ I cannae say I am sorry to hear that.”
    “ Neither am I. Oh, I do hope Charles has not married her. What will we do if he has? What on earth will we do if he has married a bigamist?”
    No one was expediting it when Donnel did not wake up one morning, least of all her sister Blanka and Donnel’s sons, Dugan and Ronan. She seemed in perfect health the night before, although she complained of a slight headache and went to bed early.
    The doctor was called, but Donnel’s flesh was cold and there was no denying she had been gone for several hours. Of all the women in the house, Cathleen was the most upset and Egan, the one who escorted her to America from Scotland, seemed to be the only one who could console her. He sat beside her, held her hand just as he had on the train and let her cry on his shoulder.
    The undertaker brought a casket to the mansion and waited until Blanka, Sarah and McKenna finished dressing Donnel in her best dress. With the help of her sons, he carefully laid the body in the burial box and then the men carried the casket into the parlor.
    The footman brought in extra chairs from the dining room and when they were ready, Donnel’s family and friends sat in a circle around the body. It was a time of remembrance, and for quite a while, no one spoke.
    At last, Hannish said, “She thought to kill me once?”
    “ I remember that,” said McKenna. “What was it you took without permission?”
    “ The liniment for her knee. I had a sore shoulder and I thought it would help,” Hannish explained.
    “ Aye,” said Blanka, “but you might have mentioned it. She looked high and low for that liniment and never thought to look in the barn.”
    Hannish shrugged. “By then, she’d been yellin’ so long I was afraid to come out. I was only ten and I’d spilled most of it.”
    “ What did she do to you?” Sassy asked.
    “ She made me scrub the kitchen floor on my hands and knees