Out of the corner of her eye, Mary saw her father’s jaw stiffen and for good reason—the Queen was devoutly Catholic and they were puritans. Her father would not like it if she mixed with those who they termed heretics.
“I’ll…consider that,” Mary said cautiously with her eye on her father. “so, I suppose the only thing I can tell you is safe travels.”
She stood as the lord did and took his hand. “Send me word on your safe arrival.”
His chin jiggled when he shook her hand and plopped his hat on his head. “I will see you soon, Miss Thompson, and you have my regards, Lord Harlington.”
Stepping aside to let a footman usher the lord to the door, she waited until he came back with the report that Lord Blackmore was in his carriage and was off.
When he was dismissed, she turned to her father and said, “When were you going to tell me about the marriage day, Father? I believed we had much more time than this.”
“That was my doing,” Lady Harlington said from the doorway. “I thought it best to have you married quickly.” The lady came in, the skirts of her dark dress brushing on the carpet. “You’re young, Mary, I think there is little time for you to bear a child with this man.”
Bear a child? God forbid!
“Mother…” Mary said quietly, “I will not marry this man.”
Her mother stared at her then calmly said. “Pardon?”
Nerves began trembling her spine at her mother’s calm tone, but she carried on, “I will not marry that man. He is odious and has a bland personality. I will suffocate if I marry him.”
Her mother came closer and gently took Mary’s chin. Her smile was soft, “You are so young, Mary. I understand your fear, but no one is better for you. He is safe, has a good income, and you will have an easy life.”
“An easy life? Mother!” Mary exclaimed. “What about a life I would want to live; one I can be happy with a man I love?”
“Love?” Lady Harlington’s tone dipped to a warning and hint of scorn, “This has nothing to do with love, dear. This is about your future, your life, and your well-being.”
“Well-being?” Mary said askance, “The man spoke for over an hour on the way silk is made. I’d die for boredom under his well-being!” Shooting a desperate look to her silent father, she said, “And why not love? You married father because you loved him? Why can’t I do the same?”
“The situations where your Mother and I met were different,” her father finally interjected, his tone still and stern. “Our parents were dear friends and we were raised closely. We did fall in love along the way but we chose to raise you differently. We did not want you to be mingled with men folk too early.”
“You mean not at all,” Mary said stiffly, “so, you felt comfortable with making me lose any contact with a man who might love me just because of your selfishness.”
Her mother yanked her hand away and her face darkened, “Go to your room and get on your knees. Repent to God for your disrespect and beg his mercy. Do it now! You will not leave this house for three days. How can you be so insolent?”
“Father?” Mary cried. “You must see my point.”
“Your Mother is right,” her father said as he came to stand by her mother, “Go to your room and pray.”
Looking between the two, she did not see any waiver in their gazes and so spun and hurried to her room. She did not want to disrespect her parents but could they not see that they were being unfair? She would die if her life was linked to that man. She needed what any other woman would want, the chance to meet the man who completed her and who she could love until the day he parted this life.
Lord Blackmore could only offer her a life that slowly dwindled to the death of her soul. She got to the room and shut the door behind her forcefully. Looking around through tearful eyes, she decided with grief in her heart, if they won’t save me from that life…I will save myself.
2
Lenichton, Scotland
The grim faces of those that hurried past by Leith Balloch, as he came into the great hall of his ancestral home, had him grimacing. He was already tired from days of tracking and overtaking the last set of thieves who had made away with his village’s goats and calves, but now he felt utterly drained.
On the way back home, he had envisioned a calm night, a warm bath and some good food, but sadly he was not going to have that. He unlatched his sword and handed it off to a boy and instructed him to run to his rooms and place it there.
He then took the stairs to his parents’ rooms but from the corridor, he could hear his father yelling. “Get away from me! I know ye, wench! Get ye me wife!”
Leith could bet his last shilling that wench his father, Aaron Balloch, the Laird of Lenichton, was yelling to was his wife, but he did not recognize her. The sole son of the pair knew that his mother, Sarah Balloch, was nearing the end of her rope with his father. For the last six months, he was acting very bad tempered, suspicious and hostile accusing everyone within ten feet of him of being a traitor.
His mother never raised her voice and was a thin wisp of a woman, looking more like a reed when compared to his father who was thick in all forms. Aaron Balloch had been confined to his rooms with two hefty guards,
