She blew out a breath. “That’s a damned long way to drag this bloody trunk,” she said aloud.
“Pardon me, madam, but is that a copy of Grayson’s Exploration of Scientific Discoveries?” a man’s voice asked.
Vanessa looked up to find an attractive and well-groomed man standing over her. “It most certainly is.”
“Do you mind?” he asked, pointing at the book. “I have been trying to locate a copy of this for some time.”
“No, of course not,” she said. “You’re English.”
He smiled. “Yes, I am.” He was a tall gentleman, though not as tall as Graeme had been, not that he was the standard by which she would measure all men. She shook her head to rid her mind of him. The gentleman opened up her book ever so gently, clearly a lover of the written word as well, and thumbed through some pages. “Excellent illustrations,” he remarked. He was fair in complexion and features, with light-blond hair that waved against his scalp and warm brown eyes.
“Yes, the drawings are quite good. Overall, the text is wonderful, though I’ve been told Mr. Grayson is a bit of a prig,” Vanessa said.
He chuckled and met her gaze. “Oh, where are my manners? I am Niall Ludley, Earl of Camden. I’m a scientist, here working on a project.”
Vanessa’s heart beat faster. “Indeed? I am a scientist as well. And my name is Vanessa Pembrooke.” She held her hand out, and they shook. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to pay Graeme’s family after all. This gentleman could certainly point her in the right direction for appropriate lodgings. “Might I inquire as to where you have found lodging? I am having a terrible time of it.”
The man smiled warmly. “I work here in Loch Ness so often, I actually own an estate in this area,” he said.
Her heart sank. “I see.” But if she were willing to pay Graeme’s family, why not offer this gentleman the very same deal? He was an aristocrat, more than likely from London. And she felt safe in his presence. It wasn’t quite the same feeling she’d experienced with Graeme; she doubted this gentleman could have saved her from those men last night. But she also doubted he would ever treat her disrespectfully. She took a deep breath. “Lord Camden, I don’t suppose you have a room you would be willing to rent to me?”
She could tell her request surprised him, and for a moment, she thought he might decline. But then his features softened and he nodded. “Allow me to rescue you, then, fair lady. I would be most pleased if you agreed to join me, and no boarding is required. You would simply be my guest.”
She had asked, and he’d agreed, and yet she felt a slight moment of hesitation. Her reputation could be sullied, that was true. But was it not already irreparably damaged simply from her taking this trip? She was damaged goods now. Nothing she did would change that.
“I would consider it a great honor to assist you, a fellow scientist,” he continued. “People around here are not too keen on men of science.” Then he smiled warmly. “Or women of science, as the case would be.”
The fact that he so readily accepted her as a scientist despite her sex made her trust him all the more. Not since she’d met Jeremy had she found that kind of reception in a fellow researcher. Perhaps this man was the answer to her worries. She eyed the inn down the hill and then rose to her feet. “I really do appreciate your hospitality.”
“I even have a carriage waiting. Come along.” He held his arm out to her. “I’ll send a footman down here to retrieve your trunk.”
They walked back up the hill to the waiting carriage. It was a shiny black landau with his family crest emblazoned on the side, just as she’d find in London.
“I do hope you’ll allow me to peruse that book of yours for a longer period of time. I really have been searching for a copy for such a long while.”
CHAPTER 5
Graeme stepped through the back doorway of his mother’s house. The kitchen area was empty, but he was fortunate enough to find leftover breakfast still sitting on the table. He dropped into a chair and grabbed a hunk of bread and some fruit preserves. He chewed thoughtfully, wondering—as he’d done the entire walk home—if he’d done the right thing for Vanessa. Of course, there was no place for her here in Scotland. She was far too refined, far too delicate, to survive without a chaperone or guardian, and he certainly didn’t have time for such a task. He’d even slipped the train attendant some additional monetary compensation to keep an eye on the chit while she waited.
His mother walked into the room and right up to him. Without so much as a good morning, she slapped him on the back of his head.
“If you’re going to keep doing that, I’m going to start wearing hats made of iron,” Graeme said, rubbing the abused spot.
“Do you know what I heard this morning in town?” she asked.
“How am I supposed to know?” Graeme frowned at her and set his bread back down on the plate.
Moira shoved his plate to the middle of the table. “A handfasting ceremony? In a bloody pub?” she asked, her voice rising in volume with every word. “And then you don’t have the decency to tell me that that charming woman is my new daughter-in-law?” But she didn’t pause long enough to allow him to answer. “How do you think,” she asked, jabbing him in the shoulder with every word, “it makes me feel to hear that my eldest son has gotten himself a new wife and doesna even tell me?
“And I had to hear it from Mary McDonald.” Moira made a sound that resembled a growl. “Mary McDonald. How embarrassing. You’re lucky your grandmother wasn’t with me. She’d have done more than smack your head.”
“Mother, calm down. It was nothing. We’re not really married,” Graeme said. “It was a foolish ceremony in the pub, not even overseen by a priest.” Frankly he didn’t want to be reminded of how he’d succumbed to Angus and the rest of those men ribbing him. He should have taken a stand and rescued the girl without allowing them to bully him into an unwanted marriage.
He’d rescued the chit, and first Vanessa herself had ridiculed him about it, and now his mother. Would they have felt better about the situation had he stayed out of it, minded his own affairs, and looked the other way as those brutes molested her? He doubted that. No, he’d done the right thing.
“Where is the girl now?”
Graeme shrugged and pulled his plate back to him. “I dropped her off at the train station. She should be heading back to London very soon.” He sopped up some preserves, then popped the bite in his mouth, but he tasted nothing.