Her Highland Protector. Ann Lethbridge

door bound in iron.

      ‘Enter.’

      A man of around fifty-five, Carrick was still in his prime apart from a little extra fat under his chin and on his belly. The man had a pleasant hail-fellow-well-met look about him, until you looked into his pewter-coloured eyes. They had the power to strip a weaker man’s inner thoughts bare.

      Niall met his gaze steadily. ‘You sent for me, Lord Carrick.’

      His lordship lowered his brow. ‘Ah, Gilvry. Niall, isn’t it?’

      ‘Yes, sir.’ Niall kept his expression neutrally respectful.

      ‘Sit down.’ The older man leaned forwards in his chair. ‘I understand you met my ward on the road today?’

      So much for keeping it a secret. He’d known it wouldn’t work. ‘Yes, sir, I did.’

      ‘And dealt handily with a pack of ruffians, too. You have my thanks.’

      How did he know all this? ‘The roads can be dangerous, sir, but Lady Jenna swore she would not go out again without an escort.’ Now why was he trying to defend her?

      Carrick sat up, his eyes sharpening with interest. ‘Did she now? And how did you extract that promise?’

      By making one of his own, which was clearly futile. He winced. ‘I pointed out the error of her ways.’

      Damnation, that sounded pompous, even if true.

      ‘And here I’ve been thinking a good switching would do her some good.’

      Niall’s shoulders tightened at the thought of anyone laying a hand on the girl. He concentrated on not clenching his fists.

      ‘Is that how you keep order with your students?’ Carrick continued. ‘Appealing to their reason?’

      ‘In part, my lord. Occasionally I resort to the removal of privileges.’

      Carrick’s face brightened. ‘An interesting idea.’ He drummed the fingers of one hand on the desk, his face in a frown as if pondering a difficult decision.

      Niall waited, holding his impatience in check.

      The drumming stopped and the hand clasped the one beside it. ‘I’m called away to London on urgent business.’

      Niall’s stomach dipped. Would he then have no need of extra help? He stood silent, waiting for the axe to fall, wondering where he would go next. He certainly would not return to Dunross. Perhaps he’d find work in Edinburgh while he looked for a lawyer willing to take him on.

      ‘I need someone to stand in my place during my absence. You seem like the man for the job.’

      Niall felt his jaw drop. Carrick was jesting. Had to be. ‘My lord—’

      Carrick put up a hand. ‘With Lady Jenna. She needs a firm hand. Someone to keep a close eye on her.’

      ‘I don’t think—’

      ‘With my wife at my daughter’s lying-in, there is no one else I can ask.’

      He swallowed. ‘I’m not sure I have the right qualifications for such a role, my lord. Lady Jenna is no schoolgirl.’

      Carrick raised a hand. ‘No, she’s not. But as my closest relative presently on hand, you will do as well as anyone.’ His last words stung. It was the same thing Ian had said about him being the teacher at the school.

      ‘Relative is too strong a word, my lord.’

      ‘Then you will do it because your chief commands it.’

      And that was that. ‘As you wish.’ He winced at how grudging he sounded, but he had a strong feeling that Lady Jenna was not going to like this any better than he did.

      Carrick rose and went for the bell. A footman appeared within moments. ‘Fetch Lady Jenna,’ Carrick said.

      The footman disappeared.

      ‘I’ll grant you it is not ideal,’ Carrick said, looking at Niall from under his brows. ‘But her companion, Mrs Preston, is as useful as a knife with no blade. Gilvry, if you managed to get the Lady Jenna to agree to anything, you have my undying admiration. She is a determined young lady, as you will discover.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘And you’ll not let me down or your brother can go hang next time he needs cargo space in one of my ships.’

      Niall stiffened at the threat, but kept his face impassive. Carrick didn’t really know him. But as Ian would attest, having taken on a task, he saw it through to the end. Which was part of why he’d stayed so long as teacher at the school.

      The door opened. ‘Cousin. You asked for me?’

      Lady Jenna. Niall rose to his feet, turning to face her. His heart stilled. She looked more ethereal than she had on the road. Or was it the way the sunlight drifted through the window and set flames dancing in her hair that stole his breath? Or the way the emerald gown clung to her figure and skimmed the tops of her breasts? Or simply a case of unrequited lust? Ah, definitely not a thought he should be having when he was about to stand in loco parentis to the young woman. That really would betray Carrick’s trust.

      Her eyes widened as she took him in. She swallowed and looked at Lord Carrick, who had half risen and then sunk back down into his seat. ‘I apologise. I did not realise you had company.’

      ‘Lady Jenna,’ Carrick said heartily—too heartily. ‘I know you had the good fortune to meet Mr Gilvry on the road today. A fortunate occurrence for you, I understand. Since I must travel on business, he will stand in my place as your guardian during my absence. You will defer to his decisions as you would to mine.’

      ‘What?’ She stared at Niall in surprise before turning her gaze to Carrick. ‘How can this be?’

      Carrick frowned. ‘He is a cousin on my mother’s side. There is no one else.’

      Her expression shuttered. She lifted her chin with a smile that chilled. ‘I see you have made yourself indispensable already, Mr Gilvry. You are to be congratulated.’

      The words had the ring of a compliment, but in truth he knew them to be an accusation. She assumed he had broken his promise to further his own ends. Anything he might say would likely only make things worse. So he did the only thing possible. He bowed as if he took her words at face value and had the doubtful pleasure of seeing hauteur in her expression and a healthy dose of dislike.

      As if dismissing him from her thoughts, she turned to Carrick with a bright smile. ‘I had no idea you were planning a journey, Cousin.’

      Carrick raised a brow as if to ask why she should be privy to his plans. ‘Since Mrs Preston is apparently indisposed at the moment, would you please make the necessary arrangements for Mr Gilvry to join us at dinner?’ He glanced at Niall. ‘The family dines at five. It will be an opportunity for us to become better acquainted before I leave. That will be all, Jenna.’

      She stiffened at the dismissal, then dipped a curtsy. ‘As you wish, my lord.’ But the glance she shot at Niall from beneath her lowered lashes before she left in a soft swirl of fabric and light pattering steps was a far cry from the friendly glances she’d given him earlier. He felt the loss as the soft scent of something spicy lingered in the air. Complex, like her. All bright sharp edges underpinned by subtle femininity.

      He didn’t want the job of guardian. It was not what he had been offered. He had been hoping to learn things that would stand him and his family in good stead for the future. Matters of business. And perhaps even of the law. Things that might set his feet on the path to a better future.

      ‘How did you hear of my meeting with Lady Jenna?’ he asked.

      ‘One of the lasses hired in from the town was on her way home when she saw a fight on the road and raised the alarm. By the time the message reached me, the pair of you were at the gate.’ He gestured to the window. ‘I watched ye come through.’

      The