“Find interesting things?”
She shut her book so quickly that she dropped her pencil. He picked it up and handed it to her, then looked at her with a faint frown.
“Something wrong?”
“Nothing,” she croaked. “Jet lag.”
“Hmmm,” he said, studying her. “That does take some time to get over.”
“Do you travel much?” she asked, pushing herself to her feet.
“I have family in the States,” he said slowly, “so aye. More than I like.”
In New York?was almost out of her mouth before she had the good sense to keep her mouth shut.
“That’s a long trip,” she offered. She picked up the shopping bag, shook the rain off it, then tossed it in the trash. She looked at Nathaniel. “I’m ready if you are,” she said.
He hesitated. “If you want to take in a tourist sight, I daresay we have time.”
“That would be wonderful,” she said, grateful for any sort of distraction. “What do you suggest?”
He studied her thoughtfully. “If you haven’t seen the battlefield at Culloden, you should, but perhaps not today. Cawdor Castle is close. It’s been in the same family for centuries, so I understand.”
“That sounds unusual.”
“Some canny lads in that lot,” he said. “One of them desired a bit more room, then apparently convinced a few recalcitrant relations to sell him their land by burning a house belonging to one of them to the ground. And ’tis said the Scottish play is based on events that happened there.”
“Macbeth?” she asked.
“The very same, though I think that’s made up for the tourist value.” He lifted his eyebrows briefly. “We could go investigate.”
She looked at him seriously. “This is very kind of you.”
“’Tis Scotland, lass,” he said with a smile. “Hard not to be a wee bit fond of my native land.”
Well, there was definitely reason for him to be fond of it, so she nodded, then walked with him back to his Range Rover. She was happy to let him shut the door for her so she could take a couple of deep breaths before they got on the road.
Her trail was now cold for anyone who might or might not have been looking, she was headed toward a real, live castle, and she didn’t have to look at what she’d sketched until she was safely back in the house James MacLeod was loaning her.
Things were definitely looking up.
Chapter 8
Heneeded to get out of town more often.
Nathaniel nodded to himself at the thought as he drove through the outskirts of Inverness and headed toward Cawdor Castle. He had never been, as it happened, only because he’d never taken the time. First he’d had his hands full of school, then he’d been embroiled in business in Manhattan, then he’d been caught up in his ridiculous life in the Benmore forest. The thought of simply taking an afternoon and strolling about a castle and its gardens, even though those gardens had no doubt already been put to bed for the year, was a pleasant departure from his normal routine.
He soon realized that perhaps a pleasant departure from anything but the castle’s quite empty car park wasn’t going to be possible.
“It’s closed,” Emma said in surprise. “I didn’t think to check.”
“Well, the family does live here,” he offered, “so I can’t say I blame them. They likely need some time off from all the rabble tromping through and gaping at their rooms.”
“Too bad we don’t have any connections,” Emma said. “Apparently they do book private tours.”
Nathaniel started to suggest that perhaps they could book one of those for a different day when he saw what looked to him to be something of a private tour heading toward the front gates.
“Let’s see if we can fit in with that lot,” he suggested.
