Elaine Coffman - [MacKinnon 04] by So This is Love

would be a better match for him? Kate McNamara? Maura MacGregor? Jeanne
Morris?”
    Ross shook his head, shuddering more with each name she
called.
    “You see what I mean? She’s too good to be true. If it
weren’t for her dire circumstances, I suspect Maggie would never even consider
accepting such an offer, but desperate situations call for desperate measures.
You know yourself, Maggie needs him as much as he needs her. California would
be the perfect place for her, away from all the sorrow and pain she’s faced
here. It would be a new life, a new beginning. Can you just imagine what her
life here would be like…how she would always be worried if that horrid Adair
Ramsay would do something harmful to Fletcher?”
    “I still don’t know,” Ross said. “I have a feeling Adrian
would gag at the thought of having a wife who had been married before. And one
with children would probably anger him enough to commit murder.”
    “Well, you’re far enough away that his anger would have
cooled by the time he got here,” said Annabella. “If not, you could always hide
behind my skirts,” she said, laughing at her husband’s expression.
    Annabella began straightening the lapels of Ross’ coat.
“Maggie Ramsay is right for him, and you know it. It’s almost as if Fate put
the two of them together. Praise be.” She gave his lapels a final pat. “And as
for the children, don’t be forgetting Adrian did say he wanted them…”
    “Bella, he wants to sire children, not get them
ready-made.”
    “What if we picked a woman who was barren? Wouldn’t that be
a fine kettle of pumpkins.”
    “A fine kettle of fish,” Ross said, amused by the way
Annabella bungled his familiar expressions in the most delightful manner.
    “Well, whatever,” she said. “Now, let’s don’t argue about
this any further. We need to put our differences behind us and think about
convincing Margaret Ramsay to marry your brother.”
    “Why do I feel like a lamb being led to slaughter?” asked
Ross.
    “I’m sure I don’t know,” Annabella said, raising her brows.
“I thought we merely agreed to put our disagreements behind us and join
forces.”
    “I don’t remember doing that,” Ross said, “but I have a
feeling you’ll convince me it was my idea in a minute or two.”
    Knowing when he was out-flanked, out-maneuvered, and
out-talked, Ross didn’t say anything else. When he looked at his wife, she was
smiling.

Chapter Four
     
    Two weeks later, the Duke and Duchess of Dunford, seated in
their new traveling coach, bounced and rattled their way north, covering miles
and miles of heather-covered moor, barely stopping to give their horses a rest,
until they arrived at the home of Margaret Ramsay’s father, the Earl of
Caithness. Immediately upon their arrival, they made Maggie Ramsay an offer she
couldn’t refuse.
    Her mouth open in astonishment, Maggie was too stunned to do
more than stare at them. “Marriage?” she said at last. “By proxy?” She shook
her head, the words of her friend Ross clamoring in her mind like a blast from
the church organ.
    The way Ross had spoken, it sounded as if he were offering a
toast. I would like to propose a marriage between you and my brother in
California…a marriage by proxy…
    Ross’ brother was quite wealthy, she knew, and marriage to a
man of means would be a godsend to any woman in straits as dire as hers, but
marriage to a man she had never met? Marry an American and leave Scotland?
    Ross frowned. “Well, Maggie, what do you say?”
    She stared at Ross helplessly. “I…I’m not sure. I’m stunned.
Speechless.”
    “A speechless woman,” Ross said, then turning to Bella, he
said, “You were right, love, she is the perfect wife.”
    “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Ross, give her time to breathe.
You’ve just sprung the question. She needs time to think.”
    Then to Maggie she said, “Take all the time you need. Adrian
has been a bachelor for over thirty years. A few days won’t