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

make any
difference.”
    “I didn’t mean she had to give me her answer straightaway,”
Ross said. “I merely wanted to know her initial response.”
    “Shock,” Maggie said, her face white as paper. “I dinna ken
what to say.”
    “Is the idea of marriage to my brother repulsive to you?”
Ross asked.
    Maggie stared at him helplessly, then she smiled. “I said I
was stunned, Ross, not stupid.”
    “I think I can safely say Adrian has a more sensitive nature
than Ross… Aye, a goat is more sensitive,” Bella said, giving her
husband a quelling look.
    Ross cleared his throat. “Now, Maggie, I didn’t mean to
scare you with my offer, but…well, what I meant to say was…” He looked helplessly
at Annabella. “Perhaps you can put it better than I can, love,” he said.
    Annabella laughed, giving him a hug. “A two-year-old could
do better,” she said. Then, turning to Maggie, she added, “The Mackinnon men
aren’t known for their ability to express themselves.”
    Annabella went on to tell Maggie about Adrian Mackinnon,
saying, when she finished, “And so you can see how it would make sense for a
man in his position to enlist his brother’s help in finding himself a wife,”
she said at last.
    “Adrian is quite capable of giving you everything you could
ever want,” Ross said. “A bright future for your children, a grand
home—anything you want.”
    Except love , Maggie thought, her heart softening
toward Ross. How like a man to think in terms of money and possessions, when
what she wanted was the things money could not buy. The kinds of things she had
with Bruce. “It’s true, I dinna have a very bright future as things now stand,
and I did hope to remarry. I’ve had one offer already…”
    “Your father told me,” Ross said. “He said you had an offer
from a man too old for you.”
    “Aye, he was too old,” she said, “in his dotage, but I canna
marry solely for money. I canna.”
    “Of course you can’t,” Annabella said, coming to sit beside
Maggie and putting her arms around her. “That’s why we felt Adrian would be the
perfect man for you. He’s young, and yes, it’s true he is well off financially,
as well as being handsome and quite the catch his brother was. But more
importantly, he is a sensitive, caring man, capable of great depth in loving.”
    Ross raised his brows, but said nothing.
    At last Maggie shook her head and said, “Marriage by proxy.
I’ve never heard of such.”
    But before the duke and duchess ended their three-day stay,
Maggie had not only heard of such, she had agreed to it.
    The morning they were scheduled to leave, Maggie joined them
in her father’s study, going over details for the proxy wedding and the
subsequent trip to San Francisco.
    By this time, Ross was convinced Maggie was the woman for
his brother. He felt he and Annabella had done a bang-up job convincing Maggie
that she was making the right decision, but it wasn’t in Ross’ nature to be
devious or manipulating, and he was certainly not one given to cheating. For
these reasons, he laid his cards plainly on the table.
    “As strongly as I feel you are the perfect woman for
Adrian,” he said, “I feel I must be completely honest with you, Maggie. To put
it simply, you’ve got your work cut out for you. My brother isn’t an easy man
to live with. He’s opinionated and moody, and cynical as they come, but his
bark is worse than his bite. He’s thirty-one years old and has never been
married. He’s wealthy, lonely, and bitter. He needs a woman like you in his
life, someone to make him smile again.”
    At this last comment, Maggie glanced from Ross to Annabella.
“The love of his life married his twin brother,” Bella said. “Adrian never got
over it.”
    “Don’t let Bella mislead you. Katherine was Adrian’s
sweetheart in Adrian’s mind only. She never had eyes for anyone but his twin
brother, Alex. After Katherine and Alex married, Adrian replaced the need for
women with a