My Scottish Summer

by Connie Brockway

  The fitting took only a few minutes, and then Maddie, Anne, and Sara took a ride down to Portree for floral supplies. They returned, laden with the things Anne needed for the party. Anne declined to join them for lunch at Duntober, saying she’d seen all the ruins in her life she ever wanted to and that she’d be much happier spending the day among her flowers.

  Duntober Castle was alive with workmen. Maddie was surprised to see the crews of men manning big machines that were hauling rocks and dirt away. What a far cry from the lonely castle she’d visited the day before, she thought, looking at the men cheerfully calling to each other. The day had warmed considerably, and many had abandoned their shirts to work bare-chested in the sun. Several of the men called greetings to Sara as she and Maddie hauled the tote bags with their lunch up the stairs to the Great Hall, and Sara stopped to introduce Maddie. Most were local men, pleased at the chance to work on the project, but Magnus had hired a well-known restoration expert to oversee it all, Sara said, then gave Maddie a sidelong glance and laughed.

  Magnus looked up with a smile from a set of plans spread across a folding table in the center of the Great Hall. “Ah, here ye are! I was just wondering when the two most beautiful girls on the island would be arriving.”

  “Just on Skye, Granddad? We must be slipping.” Sara gave him a kiss. Maddie followed suit, and Magnus helped them set the tote bags next to another table set in the middle of the huge arched window that overlooked the bay.

  “Perfect spot, isn’t it?” He waved his arm at the hall behind him. “I can’t wait to see this finished. We’ve been busy today marking up the spots that the engineers will need to survey. I had no idea I’d be hiring half of Scotland, but we need to do so many things to keep the restoration historically correct. I’ll show ye what we’re up to today,” he said, leading the way back down the stairs. “We’re making an area large enough to drive the delivery lorries right up here. I should have thought of it myself,” he said over the din of the machines, “but this is my first restoration. By the time we’re finished I’ll know all these things.”

  Magnus led them around the corner of the foundation, where it was quieter, and pointed to several men who were measuring and marking the ground. One man, his naked back to them, was checking the blueprints he held. He pointed something out to a second man, then bent down and stretched out a measuring tape. Focused on his task, he didn’t turn as they approached.

  “Iain,” Magnus shouted. “Let’s have lunch.”

  “Aye, in a minute, Magnus,” Iain said, then straightened and faced them, his obvious surprise at seeing Sara and Maddie quickly hidden.

  Maddie caught her breath. She hadn’t really considered what kind of work Iain was doing on Skye, but she’d not expected to see him here at Duntober, standing bare-chested before her, his jeans loose on his lean waist. His chest and abdomen were well-muscled and tanned from the sun, and she tried not to stare. Get a grip, she told herself. You’ve seen gorgeous men before.

  “Maddie,” Magnus said, “this is Sir Iain MacDonald. Iain, Maddie Breen.”

  Sir Iain, Maddie thought. This half-naked man was a knight?

  “We’ve met,” Iain said with a grin. “I’m sure Sara will tell ye all about it.”

  “Oh, I will, Iain,” Sara said and laughed as he gave her a look.

  “Didna know ye were coming here,” he said to Maddie. “How are ye today?”

  “Fine, thanks,” Maddie said, feeling her cheeks flush. She looked away, then back as he explained to them what he was doing. She pretended to listen, but her mind was elsewhere. What would it feel like to touch him, she wondered? If she reached out now, she could find out. She could put her hands on each side of that trim waist, then glide them up his chest…

  “We brought ye lunch,” Sara said.

  “Sounds good to me,” Iain said and reached for his shirt.

  4

  Cain led them to the cellar he was using as an office and showed Maddie the architectural renderings they’d commissioned of the completed castle. Magnus chimed in with enthusiasm to point out details, and Mad-die asked so many questions that Sara at last told them they would have to eat before the food spoiled. Over lunch they talked about the phases of the restoration work, and Iain explained the assessments that would have to be done before actual repair could begin.

  “It’ll be years before it’s finished,” he said.

  “But it’s a labor of love,” Sara added.

  “And we have the best man to do the job,” Magnus said.

  Iain laughed. “Said without a bit of prejudice.”

  “It’s the simple truth,” Magnus said and looked at Maddie. “Iain’s become a celebrity with the restorations he’s done. He has people willing to wait for years for him. He delayed several other projects to work here.”

  Iain shrugged. “How could I not? This one is special. A MacDonald castle being restored by MacDonalds. And I’m able to work with Magnus.”

  Magnus laughed. “It helps that I’ve known him for years.”

  “I’m glad to be doing it. It is a debt that I owe ye, Magnus,” Iain said.

  Magnus met his eyes. “There is no debt, lad.”

  “Aye,” Iain said softly. “There is.” He gave Maddie a glance. “I spent many summer holidays here on Skye when we were in school, and the least I can do is help Magnus with this.” He pointed to the arched window before them. “This is a very special place. Most castles were built with no eye for their setting, but Duntober combines the best of the views with a canny eye for defense. Whoever designed it knew what he was doing. What other castle do ye know where a lookout window was made into a work of art?”

  Sara nodded. “That’s exactly what Maddie said. She’s been studying Duntober since she was here last time.”

  “Maddie’s the friend that Sara was going to restore Duntober with,” Magnus said, with a glance at Iain. “Ye should really show her the castle, lad.” He turned to Maddie with a smile. “Would ye like that, lassie?”

  Maddie looked from Magnus’s blue eyes to Iain’s. “Very much.”

  “When?” Iain asked. “We’ll need a couple of hours. Sara?”

  Sara shook her head. “I canna help it if I do not find the bottle dungeon as exciting as some do. I’ll pass on this one. But Maddie’s free this afternoon.”

  Maddie laughed. “My social secretary,” she said. “I’d love a tour.”

  “Good. I let the lads go about four. Can ye come then?”

  When she nodded, Iain beamed at her.

  Well,” Sara said on their ride back to Trotternish House. “I haven’t seen Granddad that animated in a while. And Iain loves that castle just as much. Whenever he was here, the two of them were always up there drawing layouts and making plans, but I never thought they’d actually do it.”

  “What is the debt Iain says he owes your grandfather?”

  “Oh, that.” Sara shrugged. “It’s in his own head. Derek brought him home most summers because Iain had nowhere else to go. His parents are divorced and remarried, and Derek collected him and brought him here with all of us.”

  “That’s what your grandfather did with mine after the war,” Maddie said.

  Sara nodded. “Derek’s very like my grandfather. Everyone thinks he’s just a quiet person, but we know him better. He gets quite wild with Iain and Keith.”

  Maddie laughed. “Which may be why they’re friends.”

  “My parents always encouraged it too; Derek couldn’t have had Iain here without their agreement. They adore Iain, but now Mother is trying to marry them both off. She’s worried that Derek will never produce an heir and that Iain will be a target now that he has all this sudden wealth.”

  “Did he inherit money?”

  Sara shook her head. “He designed software for architects and engineers that did something revolutionary. His firm went from five people to five thousand in ten years, then he sold it to a big American company and made millions. He signed a noncompete, so now he’s re
storing castles for fun. After he was knighted for his work on Brenmargon Castle, Grandfather asked him to take on Duntober.”

  “I thought at first today that he was one of the workmen.”

  Sara laughed. “If all the workmen looked like that, we’d have restoration groupies.”

  Larry had left two scathing messages for her, and Maddie’s assistant had left two nervous ones. Larry was furious that he couldn’t reach her and that she hadn’t responded to his latest faxes. He gave her a deadline of six New York time, eleven Skye time, to answer the faxes and made vague threats about what he’d do if she didn’t respond. It wasn’t much of an ultimatum; it gave her ten hours. Maddie sighed as she settled on her bed and picked up the faxes. Larry was right to be angry—she had promised to be available and then hadn’t been. But it felt so good to be away from the office. She plowed through the faxes, becoming annoyed by the unnecessary work. All of this could have been handled easily by Katie. And it took longer than it should have because she kept seeing Iain’s face. She’d tried to be unaffected by him, but the more time she spent with him, the more he attracted her. There was a very simple reason. When was the last time she’d been kissed? Or anything else, for that matter? Enough, she told herself. Work.

  At almost four Maddie stood at Duntober’s gate. He’s just showing me around, she chided herself. No big deal. She smoothed her hair and straightened her clothes. It had been hell deciding what to wear. She’d finished her work, then tried everything in her suitcase on. Oh, yeah, she wasn’t nervous at all.

  Iain wasn’t in the courtyard or in the Great Hall, and she paused in the arched window that framed the islands offshore and the mainland beyond. Imagine seeing this view every day. She could hear men still working below and leaned out to see if Iain was among them. He was, standing in a group of men who were examining part of the foundation, their faces grim. Iain checked his watch and said something to the others, then shook his head. Maddie headed for the stairs. He looked up when she approached and gave her a tight smile, then turned back to watch the man who was apparently patching the foundation.

  “Someone’s undermining the wall,” he said brusquely. “That’ll do it, lads. Go on home. I’ll see ye in the morning.” He led Maddie away. “Sorry,” he said in a lighter tone. “We’ve had a bit of vandalism, and it seems to be getting worse.”

  “Who would do that?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure. But we’ll find out.” He turned his magnificent smile on her then. “Skye’s a small place, and someone will talk.”

  “Who would want to stop the work?”

  “The English, of course,” he said with a laugh. “Or it could be the people who don’t want any restoration done here at all. They say we’re tampering with history. Or perhaps it’s the MacLeods. We’ve heard some rumbling that the MacLeods are claiming this should be their castle.”

  “But they haven’t held this land since the sixteenth century,” Maddie said.

  He gave her a surprised look. “How do ye know that?”

  “I’ve studied Duntober’s history. I’ve loved this castle since the first day I saw it. It’s so amazing! Don’t let them stop you from bringing it back.”

  He laughed. “We’ll no’ be stopped now. Come on, I’ll show ye the rest of it.” He led the way up to the Hall and raised a hand high. “We’ll begin yer tour here, Miss Breen. The Great Hall was constructed some time in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, built on the same site as the original wooden fort, or dun. This spot was probably used as a fort for centuries before the Norsemen came.” He glanced at Maddie. “But ye probably know all this. Let’s see if I can tell ye anything ye don’t already know.”

  “First I want to show you something.” He watched while she dug in her bag, then handed him a book. “This is part of my gift for Magnus, but I thought you’d like to see it.”

  He took the book with reverence. “It’s a MacCurrie Gazetteer.”

  She nodded. “Eighteen hundred. It has a whole section on Duntober, with a floor plan.”

  “I’ve tried buying this for years! Where did ye find it?”

  “I bought it on the Net. I buy everything I can find about Duntober.”

  “So do I,” he said, looking up. “But I was outbid for the gazetteer.”

  “That must have been me.”

  “I’ll be damned.” He smiled widely. “Magnus will be very pleased.”

  “I want to do some sketches of the castle to go with it.”

  “He said ye were an artist.”

  She smiled. “Not really. I just want to give him something no one else can. Perhaps you’d let me come up here and draw when he isn’t around?”

  Iain gave her a slow smile that she felt all the way to her toes. “Ye’re welcome here any time ye choose, Maddie.”

  He showed her every corner, every floor, all the outbuildings and the fortifications. She surprised and pleased him by knowing more about Duntober and its history than anyone else but Magnus and himself. She made all the right comments, asked the questions he would have asked. He loved this castle, loved showing it off. Few people had the stamina and interest to tour the whole place, but Maddie seemed fascinated. She’d brought the gazetteer along and compared the actual layout to the book, and more than once he found himself leaning over her shoulder, inhaling her scent—a mixture of spices and flowers and something deeper, something that made him want to kiss her neck and see where that would lead them. He laughed at himself as he stepped back from her and continued the tour. When they’d finished, he led her back to the cellar, where he offered her a glass of wine. She agreed with a smile, and he opened the bottle, handing her a glass, then raising his high.

  “A toast,” he said. “To castles. To castles in the sky.”

  Maddie touched her glass to his. “To castles.”

  “Which reminds me.” He smiled triumphantly. “Ye should be getting a fax at Trotternish with yer permission to visit Kilgannon. But only if ye’re accompanied by someone with the correct credentials.”

  Her eyes flew wide, and she looked at him with delight. “Oh, Iain! How wonderful! But who has the right credentials?”

  “Me, of course.” He raised his glass again. “To Kilgannon.”

  They sipped the wine, and he looked deeply into her eyes for a moment before she colored and turned away.

  Iain came to dinner at the Trotternish that night, and Maddie studied him. Something had happened at Duntober, and she wasn’t sure what it was. She was more than just physically attracted to him. She liked his enthusiasm, his knowledge of and love for the castle, his positive outlook. This was a man who made things happen. Look at what he’d done about Kilgannon. During the meal he was silly with Keith and Derek, then Magnus engaged them in a serious discussion of the future of Scotland’s independence, about which Iain was as ardent as Magnus. Anne met her eyes across the table and smiled, shaking her head and changing the subject, but Maddie hadn’t minded. It was interesting to find out Iain MacDonald had more than just looks. But what looks! She watched the changing light play across his face, highlighting the hollows of his cheeks.

  “It wasna accidental, Magnus. And if we’d no’ been going over every inch before the engineers come, we’d ha’ missed it altogether. The bastard wanted to damage the foundation. He must ha’ been digging out the mortar for a while.”

  Magnus’s expression was grim. “Which would ha’ led to the collapse of the corner of the tower. Eventually the walls themselves would ha’ come down.”

  Iain paced the room, throwing his arms wide. “It was an evil thing to do, putting the sand inside in place of the mortar! I tell ye, Magnus, if I find the bastard I’ll tear him limb from limb, consequences be damned! What kind of a man would do such a thing? And why? I canna find any sense in it except to stop us or to slow us down, and who would want to do that?

  Magnus met his eyes. “Ye’ll have to watch everything, lad. We were fortunate to find this now. There may be more we’ve not found.”
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  “Exactly. But who?”

  “Aye,” Magnus said. “Start thinking.”

  After dinner, when they all went to the pub, Iain invited Maddie to come back to Duntober the following afternoon. Magnus, he said, usually left around three, and she’d still have lots of daylight in which to work. She agreed, very pleased, then sat with him on the moonlit terrace and talked. They talked about Scotland’s future, their own childhoods, music, school, and work, smiling at each other when they discovered that they shared many of the same opinions. Iain really listened as she talked about her work. No one outside advertising had ever listened to Maddie talk about her job for more than a few minutes before they grew bored and changed the topic, but Iain asked questions and praised her for her success.

  “So when ye go back, ye’ll immerse yourself again,” he said.

  Maddie nodded. “I’ll surface in February.”

  He toyed with his glass. “Is it enough?”

  “Sometimes, sometimes not. After being gone, even for these few days, I’ve discovered there’s a whole world out here.”

  “There is, Maddie. And it’s beautiful. Ye should visit more often. What about yer art? Magnus says ye’re very talented.”

  “Magnus is very kind. Someday I’d like to stop the madness and find out what I could do. It’s just a dream, though. What about you?”

  “I have Duntober. It’ll keep me busy for years, and I’m quite content. It’s my heritage. Ye know I’m a MacDonald? Well, my family comes from Duntober as well. I hate to admit it, but I probably am distantly related to Derek. I’ll happily take Magnus and Sara, though. So ye can see why the castle is so important. It should be restored by someone who loves it.”