“Do ye have a minute, Alex?” McNeal asked.
“Och, ye cannae have him, Dr. McNeal.” Kieran waved a hand toward Alex. “I’ve come tae kidnap him and force him to eat a warm meal for once.”
Alex grimaced and checked the mantel clock. He would actually welcome the chance to talk with Kieran but, “I have a full slate this afternoon. McNeal knows I dinnae have time for a warm lunch—”
McNeal looked at the clock. “Nae, my words can wait. Ye have nothing for at least an hour, Alex. And if something comes up, I can cover for ye.” His partner snorted. “Go with yer friend. He has the right of it. I dinnae think ye’ve had a warm meal since my wedding.”
Once upon a time, Alex had shared his townhouse with his sister, Catriona, who ensured he had hot meals and a cozy fire in the sitting room. That was until the day, six months prior, when she announced that she and McNeal had fallen in love and were to marry.
Now when McNeal went home to his comfortable house, he had Catriona and all her warmth, too.
“Come along, Alex.” Kieran started for the door. “Ye need to stop measuring your life by your watch. Relax. Maybe even attend a ball. Dance with a bonny lass—”
“What would I ever do with a bonny lass?”
“What would ye do with a lass?!” Kieran gave a bark of shocked laughter. “If ye are asking me that, then you’re worse off than I thought.”
“Do ye need us to explain it tae ye?” McNeal shot Alex a ribald wink. “I’m sure I have a medical book with some helpful diagrams.”
Kieran laughed.
Alex sighed and went for his hat and coat, his friends’ teasing voices chasing him down the hallway.
His life was too frenetic to worry about courting a lady or, heaven forbid, marrying.
And now this business with the marquisate.
Och. It was all a mess.
But Kieran had returned—sober and smiling—and that was a bonnie thought.
“We’ve missed ye,” Alex said as he and Kieran left the surgery and turned left onto the bustling street. “Now tell me—where have ye been?”
“Glasgow and Bristol mostly. Asking questions.” Kieran shoved his hands into the pockets of his greatcoat. A few curls of his inky-dark hair slipped out from his hat, clinging to his temple.
“What kind of questions?” Alex asked.
“Questions about Jamie. About us all.”
Kieran continued to talk as they walked, detailing his travels.
Rain had begun to fall—typical for Scotland in October. No one bothered to carry an umbrella. In Edinburgh, rain tended to fall more sideways than down. Umbrellas were merely one more thing for the Scottish weather to wreak havoc upon.
Alex lifted his eyes to the battlements soaring above the rooftops. Edinburgh Castle seemed the only thing indifferent to the constant onslaught. Perched atop Castle Rock—a dramatic stone outcropping which jutted skyward in the middle of the city—the fortress loomed overhead just as it had for centuries. Impervious. Unmoving. Predictable.
Alex loved the castle for its constancy.
They reached a nearby public house and secured a secluded table. After ordering haggis and neeps-n-tatties, Kieran finished describing how he had spent the past three months.
“I have tae know exactly what happened to her . . . my Jamie. Ye ken that, right?” Kieran’s eyes pleaded for understanding.
Alex nodded, scrubbing a hand over his face.
He and Kieran were members of the Brotherhood of the Black Tartan, a group of five men who had met aboard the frigateThe Minervanearly six years ago.
Their trip began as a voyage of scientific discovery to the South Pacific but ended in tragedy—the Brotherhood being marooned on Vanuatu andThe Minervasinking a short time later, all hands going down, including Jamie Fyffe, Kieran’s bride.
Jamie had come aboardThe Minervadisguised as the carpenter’s mate, James Fyffe. But Jamie was actually Eilidh Fyffe, James’ older sister. Kieran had uncovered Jamie’s true gender—though the name, Jamie, had stuck—and the two had fallen deeply in love. They had married through a private handfasting ceremony in Sydney before the ship left for the New Hebrides. By the time they dropped anchor in Vanuatu, Jamie was increasing—a fact Alex found out much later.
