Page 20 of Highlander’s Sloth

His mind made up, Callum went to look for Kirsty. He found her in the stables, speaking to the head groom about which was the best ointment to put on a saddle sore.

She turned when he came in but said nothing, simply going back to what she had been saying and ignoring him.

Callum bowed.“Good morrow, Wife, I trust ye slept well? Would ye do me the kindness of walking awhile with me?”

She said nothing, but after telling the groom to buy some whale oil the next time he rode to Pitlochry, Kirsty curtsied to her husband and began to walk demurely beside him.

He got straight to the point. “I ken ye love to travel and have an eye to discovering the lands hereabouts. How would ye like to accompany me to Northumberland across the border?”

Kirsty’s eyes widened with delight.

“Aye, I do have a yearning to see what lies to the south, Cal! Me brither and sister-in-law would take us there—to Edinburgh to meet with whichever visiting dignitaries were there—but he would have me travel there bundled up in a coach. Of all things, the most abominable way to take a journey!”

He smiled, watching her delighted countenance with approval. “Well, then, lass, make yerself ready. I have some business to transact in Northumberland, and we must make all haste to get there. Brock will follow on behind us with our baggage, so pack light—‘tis but a three-day pony ride.”

With the heather flecked Cairngorm mountains on her left and the dark Loch Lochy waters on her right, Kirsty rode out south with her husband by her side the following day. It was exactly what she needed; no more setting the house in order or dealing with recalcitrant servants. Kirsty had the road stretching out in front of her as far as the eye could see.

She forgot to hold herself aloof from Callum with all the excitement, turning to say to him after ten miles or so, “Me faither used to travel with me afore he became too ill to continue. I was naught but a wee slip of a girl, but it was such a treat when he would ask the groom to saddle up the smallest pony and allow me to ride with him.”

Callum grinned. “I hope it’s no’ a fatherly light in which ye regard me, Kirsty, but I am relieved to hear ye enjoy riding as much as I do.”

She blushed but replied, with a naughty twinkle in her eyes, “Ye’re only ten years older than I, when all’s said an’ done, Cal...more of an uncle, wouldnae ye say?”

He shouted with laughter and pretended to try and push her off the saddle, saying, “Ye wee minx, ye’ve led the household in a merry dance since ye’ve arrived. Why can ye no’ be like other lasses, more than happy to sit back and spend the gold and leave the heavy chore of running the lodge to others?”

She brought her pony back beside his stallion and seemed prepared to try and answer his question honestly.

“I cannae abide slovenly behavior, Cal. It started when I wouldnae allow the grooms at Mac an Goill to leave sweepin’ out the horse stalls and brushin’ down ponies’ coats. I wanted them to do it every day. And when they balked at doing their daily chores, I would step in and do it for them. It made the men so ashamed when I did so that it forced them to do as I bid.”

Callum scoffed, “I ken ye have a very forceful spirit when it comes to getting yer own way and organizing things to be as ye like it, lass.”

She looked sideways at him to see if he was in an ill-humor about it but saw he was smiling down at her.

Relieved, Kirsty continued. “Aye, that I am, and me brither encouraged it—when it suited him—but then he wanted the castle to be his alone, so he wanted me gone.”

Callum opened his mouth as if to commiserate with her, but she stopped him. “I ken what ye’re about to say—that it must’ve been hard to leave me home. But the truth is, Cal, that me brither and I have always disagreed on what we each consider to be right an’ proper. He wanted me to take over running the stables while still acting the lady! ‘Twas nae possible, ye realize.”

He nodded and replied, “Aye, I hear ye, lass. Me faither is the same. He wants me to do every little thing on his behalf, and yet does nae yet trust me with the whisky receipt!”

She risked an opinion. “D’ye nae think that wiser? After all, ye have only recently returned from Paris and taken on a few of the duties of husband and laird. Maybe he wants to see a more significant sign of yer willingness to change.”

Callum thought back to the elegant French gaming salons; waking after noon and then only to decide what elaborately embroidered waistcoat he was to wear that day; riding along the leafy boulevards; making love to femininely attractive court ladies, all willing to do whatever he desired in the bedchamber with no complaint, only the faint fluttering of their eyelashes.

Then he looked over at his wife. The light dusting of pale golden freckles that burnished her pert nose and cheeks; her cropped hair, ringlets bouncing in the breeze...yes, she was fully as beautiful as the most acclaimed French beauties, but so far, Kirsty had proved to be a real handful.

What with nipping his hand, setting the household on its ear, and refusing to bow down and accept his favorite pastimes, she was enough to make Callum want to run back to Paris.

But all he said out loud was, “Me faither should trust me with the receipt, Kirsty. It’s no’ state secrets when all is said an’ done.”