‘It will be if we create one hell of a distraction, my laird. And I know just what will put Laird Stewart at odds.’
‘Oh?’
‘He has a love for good horseflesh according to his men, so if the barn doors were to be left adrift and his favourite stallions and mares sent loose, well, that would turn his head.’
‘You believe he would leave his home and go in search of his animals with his guests during the last few hours of his tournament where he hopes to secure a husband for his daughter? I cannot imagine him to be such a man.’
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ Angus answered with a full smile, revealing the gap between his front teeth.
‘And if you’re wrong?’
‘We’ll create an even bigger distraction.’
‘Such as?’
‘Ye will know it when ye see it. Bid the lady be ready at the front of the castle in an hour. Hopefully she can pack quickly. I’m off to enlist the servants’ aid in liberating the laird’s animals.’ Angus winked and hurried off before Rory could ask any more.
Rory scribbled the time and place on the letter and folded it over before handing it back to Mrs Fraser’s lady’s maid, who waited just outside the chamber door.
She bobbed a curtsey and disappeared down the long corridor in haste. Rory hoped an hour would be long enough for Mrs Fraser to prepare for a rather hasty and most likely permanent departure.
Rory shouldn’t have doubted Mrs Fraser’s readiness to leave Glenhaven. She stood at the top of the castle steps holding a single embroidered bag in her hands staring out at the drive awaiting his arrival. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought her awaiting a carriage after a ball. She was poised, quiet and certain—all qualities he failed to possess at the moment.
As he approached, her shoulders rose as if she sensed him from behind without even seeing him. He stopped by her side and smiled down at her. ‘So far, so good,’ he whispered. ‘Where is everyone?’
It was quiet. No servants were afoot and no carriages, except for his own, were stationed in the drive that made a smooth arc before the castle steps.
She turned to face him. ‘It looks as if someone left the barn door ajar. Horses are on the loose and livestock is everywhere.Tsk. Tsk.Only we remain. Everyone else is out assisting my father in hopes of securing greater favour. Well, except for us.’ She chuckled. ‘Quite a ploy, my laird. I almost find myself enjoying such a ruse.’
‘Shall we?’ he asked, offering his arm, uncertainty banking in his gut. They had come this far, but doubt still courted him. Was he doing right by her? Did he have the right to let her make this choice? Choosing him and running off in such a way would damage her relationship with her family. One she would need to depend on when he was gone.
Guilt wracked his body.
She released a breath, tucked her arm through his own and smiled. ‘Aye. I am.’
‘Sister!’ Ewan called from behind them, panting.
Confound it.
Rory clenched his jaw. They’d been so close. A few more moments and they would have been on their way without incident.
Moira paused. Her arm went rigid in his own, and Rory held his breath.
‘Aye, brother?’ Her words were high and brittle, but her face held no emotion.
‘Where are you going?’ His breath came out in spurts as if he had traversed the whole meadow in a sprint. Perhaps he had spied them while out looking for those escaped animals.
Her gaze flitted to Rory, her brother and back to him again.
‘With me,’ Rory answered. His words were far more cool and even than he felt, which he was grateful for.
Ewan balked and made a sour face. ‘Why?’
‘I have proposed to her, and she has accepted.’
Ewan’s crinkled brow eased. ‘Then stay. Let us celebrate together.’ He gestured back to the castle.
‘Brother, Father will not allow us to marry, you know that. I either leave now and we elope, or I continue to be prisoner in these walls and married off to another. And I choose the former.’
