And, indeed, she was rewarded with a small smile.
“I am,” he said. “And I do enjoy the work, though there are some downsides as well. Just before ye and yer sisters arrivedyesterday, I was amidst a meeting about this year’s distillation, in which some of the clan elders had… ideas.”
She pursed her lips against her smile. He saidideasthe way another man might saya basketful of poisonous asps.
“Well then,” she said tartly, before she remembered their uncertain ground. “Perhaps you ought to be thanking me for coming when I did.”
She worried he wouldn’t take it well, but he grinned at her.
“Aye, you timed it well,” he agreed.
“Tell me what you do down there,” she said, nodding toward the distillery.
He spoke at length, then, words that had only fleeting significance to Ailsa but which obviously Ewan had considered a great deal, words likemashanddunningandnew caskandfeints. She didn’t much care that she scarcely followed what he was describing, as she was too enthralled in just watching him speak with such passion. He was alight with it, aflame.
“I’ve been nattering on forever,” he said suddenly, making her blink back into awareness and turn away with a blush. She had beenstaring, properlystaring.
“Oh, dinnae fash,” she said. “‘Twas interesting.”
“Well, they do say that turnabout is fair play. Tell me about the horses ye breed at Castle Dubh-Gheal. I can see how fine yer own mount is; are ye much involved in the business?”
“A bit,” she said, before offering her own likely-too-long explanation.
To his credit, Ewan listened attentively. He asked sensitive, clever questions. He was, on the whole, as decent as he ever was—and far more so than most men would be in listening to a woman discussing business.
“So ye know the lineage of yer mount, then, I take it,” he teased when she paused.
“I do,” she confirmed. “It was somethin’ of a sign ye were getting older, as far as my Da was concerned.”
She mentioned her father without thinking; it was only after she spoke of him that it registered in her mind.
Her father was dead.Dead.
“Aye?” It was a gentle probe, a rope thrown to stop her from drowning in the sea of her grief.
“Aye,” she said, her tone a little wet. She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue. “Aye. Once he’d determined that we’d learned enough to make a good decision, he would take us down to the stables after a new foaling season. Then, we’d be given our choice. T’was up to us to raise and train the colts all on our own, to decide on gelding or leaving intact, to decide when to stud or not.” She chuckled, albeit a bit sadly. “There was some guidance, of course. If ye made the wrong decision, either Da or Graham would give ye thisfrown.”
“I’ve seen Graham make that face,” Ewan said with a smile.
The look they exchanged was colored by their mutual reminiscences. It felt intimate, and Ailsa could bear it only for a moment.
How was it possible that this stranger should know her, know her past, know her family? How did she reconcile the Ewan she’d once known with the man before her? He was the same in many ways and yet…
And yet, she did not know him. And her actions, long since past, meant she likely never would.
She nudged Geal forward into a walk. Ewan’s mount followed at his own master’s command.
“In any case, the stables havenae been as busy the past several years as they had been in the past,” Ailsa observed, doing her best to act unaffected by her future husband’s presence. “But I’d like to see it come back to its height. Geal here is a youngstallion with lots of life in him.” She patted her horse’s neck affectionately. “He would be happy to help.”
“And your sisters’ horses?”
“Davina and Eilidh both have mares,” she said. “Solas and Grian. Solas has given us a colt once, and Grian should be ready this coming year. Vaila’s Sgàil is gelded.”
“Geal. Sgàil. Solas. And?—”
“Grian,” she answered. “Aye. Shadows and light.”
“Solas anns an Dorchadas,” he murmured. “Light in the darkness.”
