A Highland Folly (13 page)

“Nor will I.” With a sigh, she said, “Neilli, I
am
trying to do what I think is best for the glen and this family. That is why I cannot even consider going to London now.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Anice, how can you be so unfeeling?”

“Next year—”

“Next year may be too late. By then I may be on the shelf.” She jumped to her feet and ran out of the room.

Anice sighed as she closed the door behind her volatile cousin. Neilli could not see beyond her own desires. Nothing but her dream of a titled husband mattered, not her brother's heart, not even the heart of the glen.

Or Anice's.

Pushing herself away from the door, Anice went to pick up her book. She should forget all her concerns while she enjoyed the rest of this story of a maiden being pursued by an evil magician. She placed the book back on the table. It was difficult to care about the hero's attempts to rescue his beloved when her mind was brimming with other thoughts.

She wrapped her arms around herself but pulled them back when she realized she was imagining Lucais's arms embracing her. No wonder Neilli had not believed her protests. Lucais was too often on her mind, cluttering up her usually logical thoughts.

Going to the window that gave her a view of the village and the hill rising up from it, she leaned her head against the square mullions in the glass. She loved this glen as it was, but she could see the advantages the road and bridge would bring to Killiebige. Mr. McNab's ferry might be put out of business. That would happen soon anyhow, because the old man was ready to retire. He would have stopped crossing the river years before if he could have found someone else to take over the onerous task of pulling the ferry back and forth by the rope tied to both shores.

A bright spark caught her eye. A star? No, she realized when the glint came again. It was much closer to the earth. She gripped the edge of the sill. Someone must be up near the old castle. At night? That was insane. With all the broken stone and open wells, it could be a death trap.

Who would be so unthinking?

With a moan, she recalled Lucais mentioning how his men had seen lights near Dhùin Liath. This must not be the first visit to the ruins, or the last, for on the morrow she must go up there and see what the trespassers might have left behind to identify them. She feared whatever she found would bring only more trouble.

Nine

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” called Lucais as he came around the back of the cottage. Dust dimmed the polish on his boots, warning that he had been working hard. Pushing his hat back on his head, he grinned at Anice as he bent to pet Pippy's head.

She understood why he was amused. His loose shirt and patched breeches were almost identical to what she wore to climb up to the old castle. This visit had been postponed for several days because she had found it impossible to slip away. Today everyone had been busy, giving her a chance to sneak out of Ardkinloch.

Anice smiled. “I didn't expect to see you today.”

“I am glad to see you, too, Anice. Egad, that may mean that I have come to prefer your sharp words to the sycophantic groveling from the work crew.”

“So you walked up here for a dose of common sense? With the hours you must be working to leave those gray arcs under your eyes, common sense would state that you are the only one responsible for your well-being. You look as bad as Parlan.”

He pounced on her question. “Why? Has he been out all night?”

“Are you still having trouble at the camp?”

“Not just the camp. The site where the bridge embankments are being set now seems to be a target as well.”

“What has happened?”

His jaw tightened. “Enough.”

“Parlan has always gone out at night with his friends. Not just since you brought your crew into the valley. Now he seems to have found someone to court, although he is being reticent on telling us her name.” Eager to change the subject, she asked, “Where are you going?”

“With you. Where are you going?”

“To visit my grandmother's grave.” She did not add that she had intended to talk over her consternation with her grandmother before she went up to the castle. She wished she had had the chance to know her grandmother, who had been so respected here in the glen. Mayhap her grandmother would have been able to advise her how to overcome her aversion to the road camp that had kept her from hurrying there to tell Lucais about the unexplained lights at the castle.

Whom was she trying to bamblusterate? She had not hesitated because she wanted to avoid the rough men in the camp. She had hesitated because she was unsure what would happen when she saw Lucais. Now he was here, and they were as polite as strangers.

Lucais's voice lost its strained cheerfulness. “How long has your grandmother been dead?”

“For me, forever. I do not recall her at all. My parents left Scotland within days of when I was born.”

“But she left Ardkinloch to you.”

“My father was my grandfather's heir, and I was his.”

“But rumor says that your grandmother named you head of the family, something that does not always go with the family's title.”

“I have yet to decide if I should be grateful for that or not.”

“Mayhap she believed you would be a breath of fresh air in the Kinloch clan.”

“And change things?” She gestured toward the river. “You are doing that much more effectively than I could have.” She laughed.

“Or mayhap she hoped you would be so unfamiliar with the long-standing traditions here that you would put an end to the quarrels and infighting that have plagued these glens for so long.”

“You give me a great deal of credit, when I cannot even please a single member of my family.”

“I wonder how often your grandmother pleased them.”

Anice stared at him. “I never thought of that.”

“Something you should consider.”

“I shall.” She added nothing else as they climbed the hill.

Why had Lucais come up here to talk with her in the middle of the day? If he had seen the lights at Dhùin Liath as well, he should have mentioned it. Curiosity teased her, but she remained silent as she looked at the sheep on the green fields that were crisscrossed by the stone fences. She savored this moment of peace beneath the blue sky edged by the endless parade of mountains. The hushed sound of a rivulet raced along the stones on the far side of Dhùin Liath. There was something about this place that was home as nowhere else in the world had been.

When they neared the graveyard, a squirrel chattered from the top of the wall separating the cemetery from the grazing land. It scampered away when she lifted the latch on the gate.

Lucais watched Anice walk to her grandmother's gravestone. He smiled as he admired the slender line of her profile. The sunlight silhouetted her body against her shirt, reminding him of her soft curves when he drew her to him. Her hair fell in a cinnamon cloud about her shoulders, refusing to be contained in its chignon.

Closing the gate, he leaned his arm against the twists of wrought iron as he gazed down the ridge toward the river. From the castle above, the ancient Kinlochs had claimed the Abhainn an Uruisg for their own. Some still were, although the opinions of many of Anice's family seemed to change as swiftly as the swirling winds off the sea.

He clenched the ironwork, then cursed silently. Brushing bits of rust from his fingers, he edged around the stones to discover Anice picking up pieces of shattered ceramic.

“What happened to the vase?” he asked.

“It is broken. The blasting must have tipped it over against the stone.”

“Not night riders?”

Anice looked over her shoulder and found his shadow draped over her. Silhouetted against the sun, his face was hidden, but she guessed that his lips were taut with the frustration in his voice. “Night riders? Have your men seen them?”

“The navvies prefer sleeping to taking their turn guarding the camp, so that leaves me to tend to it. I can assure you that I haven't been staying awake nights mooning over a pretty redhead,” he retorted so sharply that she flinched. Before she could answer, he added, “Forgive me, Anice. I shouldn't blame you for this problem that I can't solve myself.”

Standing, she clapped dirt from her hands and faced him. “There is no need for apology. It's not as if I have never vented my rage upon you. But what are you going to do about this?”

He shrugged. “What more can I do? I cannot post guards along the whole route of the construction. I do not have that many men. Even if I did, men who have been awake all night cannot stay awake all day too. Of course, I would appreciate just one of them resisting the liquor bottle so they could keep from sleeping on duty. It is just that the vandals seem to know exactly where to strike and how to avoid us to slip away into the darkness.”

“Of course they know how to elude you. This is their home after all. No doubt you could escape from me if I tried to find you in London.”

“Mayhap.” He gave her a roguish smile. “I cannot imagine why I would want to hide from you.”

Anice slapped his arm as she walked to the gate and looked up the hill. “I may know where they are hiding.”

“Where?” he asked, suddenly somber.

“There is only one place.” She turned to see him still standing by her grandmother's grave. “A few nights ago I saw lights in the ruins.”

“A few nights ago? Why didn't you tell me before this?”

With a shiver she could not dampen, she said, “I wanted to check for myself first.”

“So you could warn your neighbors not to be so careless again?”

“Why do you act as if I am one of the vandals?”

He sighed. “Forgive me again, Anice. I know you are caught in the middle of this. I simply want to put an end to the damage being done.”

“The same thing they would say,” she retorted with a smile.

“I am sure you would prefer me not to ask how you know that.”

“'Tis nothing more than common sense.” She folded her arms in front of her but clutched her elbows to hold out the fear of what she might find in Dhùin Liath. “I want to know the truth.”

Lucais nodded. “Are there any places where someone could hide in the castle?”

“The keep is intact.”

“Is it safe?”

“Very. The keep will fall only when the winds and rain wash away the stone thousands of years from now. I am planning to check out my suspicions and let you know what I find.”

“You? Why not both of us?”

“No!” she gasped. “You cannot—I mean, I shouldn't—”

He laughed as he caught her hands in his. “If you have some great treasure hidden in Dhùin Liath, you need not worry about me pirating it away.”

“How did you know?” Raising her gaze to Dhùin Liath, she imagined, as she had so many times, how the castle must have appeared in its splendor. The wall would rise straight from the cliff to present an unscalable face to the enemies of the Kinlochs. That thick palisade was gone, cannibalized in part to build Ardkinloch when the old keep was no longer habitable.

“That there is a greedy man's dreams hidden in the old castle?” He chuckled again. “I doubt if there is a ruined castle in all of Europe that does not have that legend as part of its lore.”

“I do not hesitate because of that, Lucais.”

“Then, why?”

Anice drew her hands out of his. “If there is something to connect one of my family to these pranks, I want the chance to speak to that person before you confront them.”

“You are asking me to overlook a crime.”

“I am asking you to let me find out why this is happening. This is my family, and I want to—”

“Protect it?”

“No, not exactly.” She put her hands on his arms. “Lucais, I have never had a family beyond my mother and my stepfathers.”

“You don't know how fortunate you are. This kind of behavior that tears at you and threatens to rip apart the whole family is what a family is truly like.”

“Is that why you left the Highlands?”

For a moment he stared at her; then quietly he said, “No, I left of my own volition to find out what was beyond my family.”

“I am sorry.”

“Why?”

Instead of answering his question, she walked toward the gate and said, “Come with me.”

“All right.”

Anice faced him. “Just like that? No questions? That's not like you, Lucais.”

“It is like me when there is a threat to you.”

“To me?”

Taking her hand, he held the gate open. “You are putting yourself into jeopardy.”

“From whom? Whoever is causing this trouble must be my neighbor.”

“Or family, who will call you a traitor because you dared to seek out their hiding place and bring me with you.” He halted and turned her toward him. Standing on the steep slope, her eyes were even with his as his hands framed her face. “Sweet Anice, think before you do this. Once you lead me into Dhùin Liath, you are irrevocably throwing your lot in with me. Is that what you want?”

Her chin rose. “Dhùin Liath is an heirloom, an obligation for me to protect. I cannot protect it if it is being invaded by those who would cause trouble throughout the glen. It is an obligation that was passed to me from my grandmother. It is the soul of the Kinloch clan.”

When he applauded, Anice regarded him self-consciously. She started to apologize, but he said, “Nonsense! If everyone held to their beliefs so steadfastly, things might be simpler.”

“Do you think so? Isn't it because of how strongly we cling to our convictions here in Killiebige that you are encountering trouble?”

“No, Anice, it isn't that. 'Tis the bloody fools who change their opinions like a young miss changes gowns during the Season. First they agreed to have the road built and the river bridged; now they are uncertain.”