“Do I look worried?” Lachlan replied, glaring down at the young clansman with a pungent rancor he could not suppress.
“Aye, you look about ready to burst through that door swinging your claymore.”
Lachlan inhaled sharply and looked toward the horizon. “That’s about the best idea I’ve heard all day.”
Alex sat down on the step. Lachlan decided he needed to relax, so he joined Alex, pulled the dirk out of his boot, and sat for a long time, turning it over in his hands, watching the sun reflect off the blade.
“It’s obvious,” Alex carefully said, “that you have feelings for Lady Catherine. I can hardly blame you, sir. She’s a treasure, that one, and she cares for you, too. It’s plain as day. Do you know what you’re going to do about it?”
Lachlan turned his eyes toward the young Highlander, who continually surprised him. “I’m going to do nothing, Alex. We come from different worlds. She’s a Lowlander under the guardianship of a cousin who detests Highlanders, and she’s an heiress on top of it. And things have not gone…smoothlybetween us.”
Besides that, he had already lost one wife. He could not bear to lose another.
“Ach.…” Alex waved a dismissive hand through the air. “What should any of that matter if you love each other? She’s old enough to make her own choices, is she not?”
Lachlan considered that. “Aye, but she’s not stupid, either. She knows I’m not the right sort, and she’s made that abundantly clear. So haveyou.And now, with Raonaid in there, filling her head with all kinds of unflattering stories about me…”
Alex shrugged. “Maybe Lady Catherine will see the truth in it, and choose you over her sister.”
Lachlan slipped the dirk back into his boot. “I doubt it. You know what they say about blood and water.”
“Aye, one’s thicker than the other, but does that apply when the sister is a witch?”
Lachlan inclined his head. “She’s not a witch, Alex. She’s an oracle.”
“That’s just splittin’ hairs. Either way, she’s evil. Isn’t she?” He tipped his head back to let the sun warm his face, then opened one eye to squint at Lachlan. “Or am I wrong?”
The front door opened, and Catherine stepped outside. Lachlan and Alex quickly rose to their feet.
“I’ve made a decision,” she said. “I have been discussing my memory loss with Raonaid, and she has explained to me that she always had her strongest visions at the stone circle at Callanais, not far from where she grew up. I told her about the standing stones at Drumloch, and how I, too, have been drawn to them since my return. We wish to go there together. It is my hope that she will experience a vision there, and perhaps see the missing years of my life.”
Lachlan could not hide his misgivings. “You intend to introduce her to your family?” It would create a scandal like no other.
“Yes. I know that it will not be easy—especially with my grandmother—but we both deserve to know the truth.”
Lachlan lowered his voice and moved closer to speak in her ear. “If that is your decision, lass, I will honor it. But are you certain you can trust her? What about your inheritance?”
“She is my sister, Lachlan,” she whispered in return. “And a Montgomery. I am prepared to share my fortune with her, once it is transferred to me.”
He shook his head when what he really wanted to do was shake some sense into her. “Are you sure that’s wise? You only just met her. Have you told her this yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Then, don’t,” he implored, keeping his voice to a hush. “Wait until we reach Drumloch. Take some time to think on it. That’s all I ask.”
A shadow of concern passed over her features as she looked up at him under the shaded portico. “Are you afraid she will give it to Murdoch, to support the Jacobite cause?”
“Among other things,” he replied, for there were a dozen things that worried him. Just delivering them both to Drumloch without incident was enough to keep him on the alert.
Catherine glanced over her shoulder. “I must go back inside. Can we leave in the morning? She will need time to collect her belongings, and say good-bye to Murdoch.”
“No,” he replied. “She can say nothing to Murdoch. God only knows what they might plot together if he finds out the Drumloch heiress is his lover’s twin. Tell her we are leaving now; otherwise she’ll have to find her own way. I’ll not risk your safety by spending another night here.”
Catherine hesitated, but in the end she agreed. “Fine, but if you could allow her a few minutes to prepare.”
She entered the house and was about to shut the door behind her when Lachlan stopped it with his boot.
“I’ll need to make sure she doesn’t leave some sort of letter behind. And tell her to summon the housekeeper. I want to speak to her, too, about what she saw here this morning.”
