Finlay’s Duty: The Victorian Highlanders Book 2

by St. Clair, Ellie

  22

  Kyla was embarrassed by the amount of care she took in dressing the next morning. Really, Finlay had seen her in all sorts of attire—and none at all on more than one occasion. What did it matter what she looked like today? However, she couldn’t help herself, and brushed her hair and rouged her cheeks to look her best.

  She picked up the papers she had carefully crafted outlining her proposal and slipped them in the saddlebag before mounting Cadarn to leave for Galbury.

  It felt good to finally be back on her horse—truly back on her horse. She had been for a short ride yesterday to make sure she didn’t feel any dizziness or lightheadedness while riding, but she seemed to be perfectly fine.

  The air was damp, the day gray, but the morning mist was beautiful as she rode through the forests and then along the water’s edge. Her heart was beating fast as she anticipated the morning’s meeting. Would Finlay be quiet and hard to read? Angry? She couldn’t see him being particularly pleasant.

  And would he agree to her plan? That was another factor she wasn’t sure of. The more she thought of it, she couldn’t see many advantages for him. Perhaps they could work together to implement some of the ideas she had discussed with him, but beyond that, he had his brothers and Peggy to help him—provided they all stayed and didn’t head west to join Callum.

  Her father and Rory had already agreed to the plan, so long as they received funds and Darfield remained their home. It was a good deal for them, which they had realized from the start. But how would Finlay feel about it?

  She was a ball of nerves by the time she reached Galbury.

  As she rode into the yard, Peggy came running out the door, enveloping her in an embrace once she dismounted.

  “Kyla!” she exclaimed. “I trust you are well, since you’ve ridden here on your own, although I would like to have seen someone accompanying you in case anything should have happened. I’ve so missed you since you left. We all have—especially Finlay.”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Kyla, you are both daft. He loves you. You must know that.”

  “Peggy, you’re sweet, but you know that he doesn’t love me—not the way I need him to.”

  Peggy dismissed her words with a wave of her hand.

  “Talk to him. Tell him how you feel. It’s why you came, is it not?”

  “No,” Kyla responded quickly. Too quickly, she realized. “I came to talk about the lands.”

  “Mm, hmm,” Peggy raised her eyebrows as she led Kyla into the castle once a groom took Cadarn. She turned back to Kyla.

  “Do you know he sat by your side for two days straight? He didn’t eat. He barely drank, he barely slept, and when he did, it was beside you, watching for any type of movement from you. It nearly destroyed him.”

  Kyla stared at her in wonder. What was she going on about? Finlay hadn’t been there when she woke up.

  “But when I woke only your mother was with me,” she countered, “and then my father said—”

  “You believed your father?” Peggy interjected. “Kyla, he came and incited Finlay to go with Rory to find the man that did this to you. That’s where he was at the time. Rory likely would have killed the man had Finlay not been there. Finlay returned just minutes after you left that night. He has been devastated.”

  Kyla shook her head. That couldn’t be true. Could it?

  “Why did no one tell me?”

  “My mother and I regret we didna say anything. She was afraid of upsetting you so soon after you woke as she wasn’t sure what Finlay had done in his anger. She wishes now we would have said something. We had thought once Finlay returned all would be well but you left so quickly. It appears your father and brother took advantage of the fact that you wanted to leave.”

  Kyla opened her mouth to deny Peggy’s statement, but then closed it firmly once more as she realized the truth of Peggy’s words. With her return, her family would retain the association with the McDougalls through marriage yet have her at home to manage their lands.

  She exhaled loudly as she placed her head in her hands.

  She had been so stupid. What to do now?

  * * *

  Finlay raised his head when he heard the steps at the door, followed by a soft knock.

  He stood and opened the door, his gaze on Kyla, who stood on the other side. They looked at one another, unmoving as the silence stretched between them. Finally, he ushered her into his study and pulled out a chair for her, but she didn’t sit. She just stood steps within the doorway, staring at him.

  “It’s good to see you,” he said, stiltedly. “You look well.”

  “Finlay, I…”

  “I just want you to know that I understand why you left. You fulfilled your end of the bargain, and I was not the man you wanted me to be. I will not hold it against you in our future business relationship.”

  He was proud that he had managed to say it all without emotion.

  “Did you—”

  “I said it was fine.”

  “Let me finish, damn it,” she finally snapped out as he somehow seemed to have sparked her ire with his quick dismissal of her words. “I am asking you a question. Did you stay with me the entire time I was asleep?”

  He stared at her as he leaned back against the table, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

  “Yes, of course I did,” he muttered.

  “But didn’t you have other matters to attend to?”

  “They weren’t as important.”

  “But—”

  “What do you want from me, Kyla?” he finally burst out, unable to keep it all contained any longer as he flung his arms wide. “Do you want me to profess my undying love for you? Well, aye, I love you. I love you more than anything in this world, more than my own life or anything else in it. I would do anything for you, to make you happy, to see you smile. When I thought ye were going to die, I wanted to die with you. Since you’ve left me, I’ve been nearly destroyed, but if leaving me makes ye happier, then so be it. Stay with your father. But stop asking me about this, about how I feel for you. What does it help knowing? Why do you want to see me in pain? Just know that you are the only woman for me. You always have been and always will be.”

  He stopped as abruptly as he’d begun, as if shocked that the words had come from his own lips.

  Kyla stared at him, her mouth agape.

  “You—”

  “Leave it. You know now, but please let it stay at that. You dinna have to say anything in return.”

  “Finlay McDougall,” she stood and walked over to him, a perplexing smile beginning to form as a tear ran down her face. “I love you, too. I love you just as much and do not want to spend another day—or another night—without you. You are stubborn, you are serious, and you annoy the hell out of me. But you are also caring, you are loving, you are kind. You take the weight of the world and carry it around on your shoulders because you want things to be better for everyone else. Once you commit to something, you are dedicated to it, for better or worse. So I want to hold you to that. You’ve committed to me—as your wife. When we married, you told me, ‘Above and beyond this, I will cherish and honor you through this life and into the next.’ You have me, now and forever.”

  She smiled up at him as disbelief flooded through him. Was this a joke? Could she truly mean such a thing? He leaned into her and gathered her face in his hands.

  “Truly?”

  “Aye,” she said with a smile, “I am not letting you go.”

  He kissed her with all the passion, all the love he felt for her from the core of his soul. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she entangled her fingers in his hair, drawing him even closer. Their mouths met in a play of love, and tears began to fall down Kyla’s cheeks in earnest.

  This was more than he ever could have asked for, more than he had ever dreamt of for himself. When he finally pulled back, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

  “Now,” he said with a grin, “you have busine
ss to discuss?”

  * * *

  Finlay poured over her proposal, trying to concentrate on the words in front of him as she sat on his knee, explaining it to him. She should have taken the chair next to him, she really should have, but at this moment they didn’t want to let go of one another.

  He nodded as she explained to him what she was thinking.

  “Have you spoken with your father about this? With Rory?”

  She nodded. “They are more than happy to agree to it, as long as they receive their monthly stipend. We will manage the lands together, and one day, should we be lucky enough to have children,” she blushed at that, “they will inherit all of the lands.”

  “It’s a long road ahead,” he mused. “But I’m up for it, if you are.”

  “I am,” she said resolutely.

  “As for children,” he said with eyebrows raised, “we should probably start working on that, should we not?”

  “I think, husband,” she answered with a sly smile, “that is a wonderful idea.”

  They started for the stairs, lost in one another. When they reached the bedroom, she smiled as she threw off her overcoat and turned toward him.

  “I love you, Finlay McDougall,” she said.

  “And I love you, Kyla McDougall,” he responded. “You are the sunlight in my life. When I am dreary, you are uplifting. When I am angry, you are reason. And when I am stubborn, you are yielding. You are my soul, my other half. Through this life, and into the next.”

  He kissed her again, and they promised themselves to one another, for now, and forever.

  Epilogue

  Two years later

  “You can lead them tomorrow, Roderick.”

  “I will not, Fin, I did the last bunch. You do it.”

  “They like you. Humor them, will you?”

  “What about Adam?”

  “He—”

  “I’ll do it.”

  Finlay and his brothers stopped arguing when a feminine voice filled the room—a voice that never failed to capture his attention, no matter when and where they were.

  “You’re not leading the hunt, Kyla,” Finlay said gruffly, turning from her back to the pages of paper in front of him—pages that outlined the schedule for the upcoming month. Pages he had to focus on and, hence, the reason he could no longer stare at his wife.

  She had always been beautiful, true, but now… now she seemed to have an ethereal glow about her, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

  “Why ever not?” she asked, walking further into the room and taking a seat at the table with the brothers. “In fact, why was I not invited to this meeting?”

  Finlay and his brothers shared a guilty look. He was trying to think of the best words to use when Roderick bestowed his most charming grin upon her.

  “We didn’t want to disturb you, Ky,” he said, and Finlay nodded in agreement. “We were told not to cause you any undue stress, so we thought we would look after things until… well, for now.”

  Kyla arched one of those beautiful eyebrows.

  “So you are telling me,” she looked around the table at the three of them, and somehow Finlay had the feeling they were being chastised like schoolchildren, “that you believe I am incapable of thinking coherently because of my current condition?”

  “Well…” Finlay began as they all began talking over one another in an attempt to placate her, but she held up a hand.

  “Stop!” she commanded them. “That is enough. I am perfectly capable of using my mind, just as I always have. In fact, I would welcome the opportunity. Secondly, there is no risk in me plodding along with Cadarn leading a bunch of Lowlanders around.”

  “And Englishmen,” Adam added in disgust.

  “I think I can even manage the Englishmen,” she said with laughter in her voice. “If you lot can do it, can’t anyone?”

  “That’s not very nice,” Roderick said with mock pain on his face, and Finlay finally chuckled lowly.

  “Very well,” he said with a sigh, giving into his wife, as he always did. “We will make sure that, from now on, we include you in these meetings. But Kyla,” he said, holding up a finger, “you must know that you shouldn’t be riding anymore.”

  “Finlay,” she said, staring at him, her eyes turning serious, “I must ride. To give up riding would be akin to giving up breathing.”

  “Not forever,” he said, holding his hands up, “just for now. Until the baby comes.”

  “I can walk,” she countered, as Finlay’s brothers’ heads bobbed back and forth with their words.

  “What if Cadarn is spooked?”

  “Cadarn is never spooked,” she said, shaking her head adamantly.

  “Fine,” he said, not missing Roderick’s grin when he gave in once more. “Walk your horse. But as for the guides—”

  “It will be fine,” she said, rising with her tea in hand, before Finlay could further argue his point. “One of you can come with me, if that makes you feel any better.”

  “I would do it tomorrow, but I have to meet with the crofters already,” Finlay said, looking to his brothers. “One of you still has to agree to go with her.”

  “Fine,” Adam said reluctantly. “I’ll go. But only for Kyla, not for any of the damn hunters.”

  “Look, Adam, none of us like the English being here, but—”

  “I hate the English being here,” Adam said, showing far more emotion than was typical of him—especially such animosity. “Besides, I have other things that are much more pressing.”

  “Like what?” Roderick said, raising an eyebrow. “Your inventions?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes,” Adam said, though he refused to say anything more on whatever it was he was working on in his little shed across the yard.

  Roderick rolled his eyes as he rose from the table as well. “Well, thank you for agreeing, Adam,” he said. “I have business myself tomorrow.”

  “Like what?” It was Finlay’s turn to ask the question, but Roderick just shrugged and began to whistle as he waltzed out of the room.

  Kyla stepped up beside him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

  “What do you think he’s gotten into now?” she asked, and Finlay sighed as he shook his head.

  “I’m not sure I want to know,” he said. “Roderick’s bored. I know he still has it in his head to get out of here, to go see Callum, but…. I only hope the family is enough to keep him here. I had hoped he would find a local woman…I had hoped they both would, to be honest, and settle down, but neither has yet to show any interest.”

  “Well, whatever happens,” Kyla said, rubbing a hand over his back, “we must remember that the McDougalls—and the MacTavishes—will look out for each other no matter what. Together we stand, remember?” she said, repeating back the words he always said to his clan.

  “Together we stand.”

  * * *

  THE END

  * * *

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  Adam’s Call

  Preview Adam and Rebecca’s story, book 3 of The Victorian Highlanders…

  A sneak peek…

  Rebecca dressed in her favorite walking gown, one without a bustle or a train and made of fairly light fabric for the midday walk. She looked through the armoire where she had hung her clothes the previous night, and decided to take her parasol as well as a bonnet to keep the sun off her face. It was a pretty bonnet, one she had bought the day before leaving London, when it had caught her eye in one of her favorite shops.

  When she descended the stairs for breakfast, she felt her cheeks warm as many eyes turned toward her — the twenty or so from her own party, as well as the Scots who were serving breakfast. She sat next to two of the women she had befr
iended on the train. Neither were planning on attending the hike, though women were invited to join in this particular outing.

  “Is something amiss with my appearance?” she asked, looking around self-consciously.

  “You look lovely, dear,” said the first woman, Mrs. Taylor. “Though certainly different than the other woman of these parts.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked as she poured herself a cup of tea.

  “She means that women of the Highlands do not have the same access, nor interest, in fashion as those of us from London,” said the second woman, Lady Chadwick. Her husband was a baron, who adored hunting. It was now Lady Chadwick’s third visit to the Highlands. Mrs. Taylor had told Rebecca in a private conversation that she felt it was not so much that Lady Chadwick wished to see Scotland, but that she traveled with her husband due to the fact she did not want him to be alone anywhere there were other women.

  Rebecca did not respond to Lady Chadwick’s words regarding the Highland women. She found her rather nasty, and instead concentrated on the bowl of oats that had been placed in front of her. For as terrible as they looked, they were actually rather tasty, and she surprised herself by finishing her bowl before the Scot — Rory, she believed his name was — called for all who would be joining in the hike to meet him in the yard of the keep.

  Her father caught her arm as she made for the door.

  “You cannot think to be joining us, Rebecca,” he said as he released his tight grip.

  “Of course I am,” she replied. “Why ever not? I have come all this way. I should like to actually see this place I am visiting.”