Page 84 of The Scottish Duke's Deal

“I do not understand a word you say!”

“You’re simply too vain to admit your hearing is going!”

He froze.

Lady Fraser, his grandmother, stood by the fireplace in full tartan and a scandalously feathered bonnet, nose turned up like a hawk about to strike. Opposite her was Lady Mulberry, adorned in lavender lace, a ridiculous plume rising from her curls like a peacock mid-preen.

“I arrived first,” Lady Mulberry was saying, her chin high, voice cutting.

“I was announced like a poor tax collector,” Lady Fraser barked, throwing her shawl onto the nearest chair like it had personally offended her. “No bagpipes. No bannocks. No whisky. And you have the decency to complain?”

Lady Mulberry gasped. “This ismygranddaughter’s home. If anyone deserves a proper welcome, it’s me.”

“Your granddaughter?” Lady Fraser scoffed. “My grandson owns the damn house. You’re aguest.”

“I’mfamily,” Lady Mulberry shot back. “And I was invited indefinitely. I can come as I please.”

“Was I not?” his grandmother thundered. “Am I not blood? And yet I find out my only grandson was married through a bloodyletter.I could havedied.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Iamdramatic! I can be as dramatic as I’d like to be! I’m Scottish.”

Lady Mulberry sniffed. “Well, I’m English andmortified.Imagine coming all this way and being greeted by amaidwho offered meginger biscuits.”

“Those biscuits werehomemade,you dried-up crone.”

“Grandmother,” Ramsay snapped, cutting through the din, his voice hard enough to slice through tartan. He heard Eleanor stifle a laugh beside him. “Lady Mulberry.”

Both women turned. Lady Fraser’s face broke into a grin.

“Ah! There’s my savage boy!” she declared. “You’ve finally married and didn’t think to inform your own grandmother?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Lady Mulberry hissed at her. “I was not as involved in the wedding as I’d have liked to be!”

“That’s because no onelikesyou.”

“I’ll have you know, I received a personal invitation?—”

“From whom, your dressmaker?”

“Ladies,” Eleanor said swiftly, stepping in. “Please, allow us to explain?—”

“Eleanor, I see you’re already neglecting your duties as lady of the house,” Lady Mulberry cut in, nose wrinkling.

Lady Fraser arched a brow. “And what duties would those be, exactly?”

Ramsay groaned and stepped forward, placing himself squarely between Eleanor and the two women. “Lady Mulberry. Lady Fraser. You willbothcalm down and listen to me for a moment.”

They both stiffened.

“Grandmother,” he said again, slower this time, “you were not invited because I did not expect you to come to England. You made it very clear you were staying in Scotland for the Season.”

Lady Fraser didn’t blink. “Plans change,” she said curtly, chin lifting with Highland pride, as though her mere presence in this foreign place ought to be treated like a royal visit. “I’d have come if I knew you were getting married.”

He exhaled hard through his nose, turning then to the other woman. “Lady Mulberry, you… have no reason to complain. You were at the wedding. And you arrived at this house to find the door open, the staff waiting.”

Lay Mulberry placed a hand to her chest like he’d struck her. “I did not get the treatment I deserved,” she said, aghast.