Never Been Bit Read Free Page A

animal.
    “There you are, milady.” The groom took a step backward and smiled at Maddie. “Don’t go too far. You know how Her Grace worries.”
    “Thank you, Johnny.” Maddie urged her bay closer to Sorcha. “But there’s no need for concern. Miss Ferguson and I will be careful.”
    The lad nodded and then started back for the stables.
    Maddie’s green eyes twinkled when they landed on Sorcha. “I know you heard me. Am I to take from your silence that you don’t wish to discuss your handsome neighbor?”
    Sorcha looked down at her reins and shook her head. “It was nothin’ important, Maddie. Mr. MacQuarrie and I simply doona see eye ta eye about the Marquess of Eynsford.”
    That, at least, was the truth.
    Despite Alec’s assertion that she had lost her mind, Sorcha felt a tug of guilt in her heart. She hadn’t meant to blurt out Eynsford’s name, and she couldn’t quite forget the look of pure torture that had flashed across Alec’s face when the name left her lips. If she could have snatched the words back, she would have done so. Poor Alec had been devastated when Cait chose Eynsford over him.
    They started toward the west side of the property at a slow trot, and Maddie sent Sorcha a sidelong glance. “Your neighbor is in good company then. Grandmamma is a bit wary of the marquess as well. He was quite estranged from his father before the old man’s passing. Did you know?”
    Yes, Sorcha was quite aware of Eynsford’s rift with his father, or at least the man all of society believed to be his father; but that was neither here nor there. She shrugged her response. “Many men choose paths their fathers do not agree with.”
    Maddie agreed with a nod. “True. Papa has been quite put out with Nathaniel and Robert most of their lives. What about your Mr. MacQuarrie?”
    “ My Mr. MacQuarrie?” Sorcha somehow managed to keep from tumbling from her seat. She’d never thought of Alec in those terms before.
    Maddie giggled. “Does he follow his father’s path? Or is he more the rebellious sort like my brothers?”
    She’d heard quite the scandalous tales about the Earl of Bexley and Lord Robert Hayburn ever since she’d befriended Maddie, always in very hushed tones, however, to keep anyone else from hearing. Their exploits certainly didn’t sound like Alec, at least not the man she’d once known. “He always pleased his father who, alas, has since passed on,” Sorcha replied.
    “Hmm,” Maddie mused. “I simply cannot understand his arrival at Castle Hythe.”
    What was there to understand? Hadn’t the duchess invited more than a dozen eligible gentlemen for Maddie to meet? “For ye ta become acquainted with, I’m certain.”
    “No.” Maddie shook her head. “He’s not one of those gentlemen.”
    Her friend had Sorcha’s complete attention. “Why do ye say that?”
    Maddie shrugged as though the answer was clear.
    “Because, you goose, he’s not titled.”
    Not titled? That was hardly a deterrent as far as Alec was concerned. Sorcha gaped at her friend. “I assure ye, his fortune is one of the grandest in all of Scotland.” Not to mention he was one of the most handsome men of Sorcha’s acquaintance. And kind and generous.
    Maddie certainly shouldn’t discount him so easily simply because of his lack of a title. No, the better reason to discount Alec would be that he was incapable of loving anyone other than Cait. But most marriages weren’t love matches, and he was admirable in every other way, even for a vampyre.
    Maddie grinned. “I’m sure it is, Sorcha. That’s not what I meant. It’s only that Grandmamma has been adamant that I’ll marry a peer. All the others either already possess their titles or are their fathers’ heirs apparent.”
    Sorcha hadn’t realized that. How had that fact escaped her? She frowned. “Well, I doona ken then, Maddie. Perhaps Mr. MacQuarrie has other business with yer grandmother.”
    “Perhaps,” her friend agreed, and then she cocked