After giving instructions to his steward and his sister, Alexander spent the remainder of the afternoon tracking down Gordon, who was one of the elder crofters who knew these woods and hills better than anyone.
“You’re a hard man to track down.”
The elder man whose beard had grown to almost his waist didn’t look up from his whittling and merely replied, “A clever man is only found when he wants to be.” Then with a grin, he added, “What can I do for you, wee lad?”
The endearment was always welcome to Alexander’s ears. For he’d known Gordon all his life and considered him with the highest respect. The first time the man called him my lord after his elevation in status, Alexander corrected him, and the topic was never broached again.
“I have made some new friends,” he said.
“Aye, aye, I have heard about the hustle and bustle at the castle. Och, sure you’ve the king himself down there these days.”
“Aye, I do, and they have an interest in the old monk’s tales.”
This perked Gordon’s attention fully then. He met Alexander’s gaze and grinned. “And that they should. Those are our stories, and they should be told properly.”
“I was thinking the exact same thing,” he said. “So ye will come by after dark and tell them proper, then?”
“Aye, aye,” he said and went back to his whittling. “Will there be ale?”
“There will be ale.”
“Then I’ll see ye after dark, wee lad.”
Alexander’s heart lifted as he left the man to his task. Gordon was a well-loved fixture in the village near Inverary Castle and Alexander could not imagine a better person to paint a picture of what their lives were like in the west Highlands. Surely Marion would find life here different than in the lowlands, but he was determined to shareeverything he loved about his home with her and hopefully she would feel the same way.
He took his time making his way back to the castle and thought about how close they had become in so short a time. They seemed to possess a like-minded way of thinking and maybe that was why they had connected so quickly. But the passion that arose in him was surprising coming from an innocent. It was as though she’d had training or some such thing. Though he knew that to be impossible, it was difficult for him to push those thoughts away entirely. She’d ensnarled him completely and that had never happened to him before. So, what was it about her that pulled him into her graces? He would need a tremendous amount of willpower to keep her at arm’s length and his hands off her until such time as they were to become married. As much as he wanted her—and oh, aye, he wanted her—he would do nothing to taint her reputation as he had already taken liberties he had no business taking.
As he approached the stable, his brother Thomas was waiting for him.
“All well there, brother?”
Thomas looked concerned, but then he always had something devastating on his mind.
“All is as well as it can be.”
“Och, what does that mean?”
“Everyone saw you kiss that lady’s hand. So, are ye betrothed now? Will ye toss her aside like ye did poor Eileen?”
Alexander was sick to his back teeth of Thomas’s judgment in the matter of Eileen and in any matter where he didn’t agree with decisions that had been made without his consult.
“Lady Marion and I are courting at this moment in time, Thomas, not that I need explain myself to you.”
“I was just asking, brother. The rest of us have to bear the brunt of your mistakes.”
“Really,” Alexander said as he stopped to square off with Thomas. He wasn’t in the mood for this juvenile behavior in one who should more than know how to behave like a man. “And exactly how have you been harmed by decisions that I have made?”
Alexander was a good four inches taller than Thomas and had rarely stood this closely to him so as to emphasize the fact, but today and while they had guests, he’d put him in his place.
“I just mean, brother,” Thomas said as he stepped back, “that after you discarded Eileen, some of the staff and villagers commented to me that they thought it was cruel of you.”
“And why did they or you withhold this information until now? Why would you bring up a circumstance you do not understand which occurred nearly two years ago, now when I am considering a decision that only affects my future happiness? Really, Thomas, you have always been a maker of trouble, and I am here to tell you to drop this.”
“Or what? What will you do if I reveal your true nature to your new lady? Does she know that after Eileen was forced to marry that man that she took her own life?”
Alexander grabbed Thomas by the scruff of his neck then and shook him. “Now you listen to me. If you cannot find it in your trouble making mind to stay out of my business, I will have you removed from this place permanently, and you know I can do it.”
“I would like to see you try,” he said and pulled out of Alexander’s grasp. “Jean would never let you send me away.”
