A Highland Folly

by Jo Ann Ferguson

“You need to check the latch on this gate. It is rusty, which is why it did not catch. If you had not lingered here, you would have been chasing sheep from all over the hill.”

  “So I guess I owe you a thank-you as well for your scolds. Thank you.” Standing on tiptoe, she kissed his cheek.

  Too late—as his eyes widened—did she realize how unthinking she had been. Such a chaste salute was not what he wanted. Why had she let her own longing tempt both of them to savor far more?

  “Anice …” Raw need scraped through his voice.

  She whirled, running toward the walls of Ardkinloch. She never had run away from anyone in her life, but she had never been so unnerved by anything as she was by her desire to be in his arms. Lucais MacFarlane offered her everything her heart longed for … mayhap. In so many ways he was a stranger, but she knew he hated this place where she had finally found a home. It would be folly to think of falling in love with a man who hated the Highlands she loved.

  She could not deny it any longer. She was a fool.

  “Don’t I deserve the chance to find a husband who will give me what I want?” Neilli complained as she stretched across Anice’s bed. “It is not as if I want anything much.”

  “Just a husband with a title.” Anice put down the book she had been reading before Neilli came in. It was clear that she would not enjoy any more of it until she listened to Neilli’s latest request to join the Season that must be coming soon to an end.

  “Who has his dirty acres in Scotland.” With a laugh, she tugged a pillow against her and smiled up at Anice. “Once we are in London, I shall find one posthaste. Then we can all come back here and enjoy the rest of our lives together. I will have my husband, and you will not have me bothering you on this endlessly.”

  “Save,” Anice replied, “to find your brother a wife with much the same qualifications.”

  “That would be nice.” Neilli frowned. “Although I doubt if Parlan has much interest in a wife just now.”

  “Why do you say that?” She fought to keep her voice even. Lucais’s questions about her cousin kept rumbling through her head like the threat of distant thunder.

  “He has been out courting.”

  “Who?”

  Neilli shrugged. “I have no idea, but he seems to be calling on her every night. Clearly he cares more for her than he does for me.”

  “Mayhap he has fallen in love.”

  “That would be just like him. Falling in love when I have no one.” Plumping the pillow under herself, she sighed. “He may be willing to settle for a match here in the glen, but I am not. It is a true shame that the Kinlochs and Lord Chesterburgh’s family have been antagonizing each other for so many years. I would not mind being a marquess’s wife.”

  “The present marquess does not have a wife?”

  “He does.” Her lips twisted. “And he must be as old as Mam. Mayhap older. So now you see why I must go to London without a delay.”

  Anice set her book on a nearby table as she rose. “Neilli, you know it is impossible for me to leave when everyone is so distressed by the road project.”

  “The road project!” Sitting up, Neilli scowled. “That is all you and Parlan ever speak of. You would think that is of greater importance than my future.”

  “It affects the whole glen.”

  “So will my marriage. And yours. You must think of making a match for yourself.”

  “I have too many other things to think about just now.”

  Neilli’s scowl deepened, drawing lines into her face. “Too many? Or just one? I would wager a crown that Lucais MacFarlane is on your mind now when you should be thinking of my future.”

  “He is in charge of the bridge construction and—”

  “You know your thoughts have nothing to do with the damage he is doing to our glen. If Grandmam were alive, she would not let him woo her away from doing what she believed was right.”

  “Nor will I.” With a sigh, she said, “Neilli, I am trying to do what I think is best for the glen and this family. That is why I cannot even consider going to London now.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Anice, how can you be so unfeeling?”

  “Next year—”

  “Next year may be too late. By then I may be on the shelf.” She jumped to her feet and ran out of the room.

  Anice sighed as she closed the door behind her volatile cousin. Neilli could not see beyond her own desires. Nothing but her dream of a titled husband mattered, not her brother’s heart, not even the heart of the glen.

  Or Anice’s.

  Pushing herself away from the door, Anice went to pick up her book. She should forget all her concerns while she enjoyed the rest of this story of a maiden being pursued by an evil magician. She placed the book back on the table. It was difficult to care about the hero’s attempts to rescue his beloved when her mind was brimming with other thoughts.

  She wrapped her arms around herself but pulled them back when she realized she was imagining Lucais’s arms embracing her. No wonder Neilli had not believed her protests. Lucais was too often on her mind, cluttering up her usually logical thoughts.

  Going to the window that gave her a view of the village and the hill rising up from it, she leaned her head against the square mullions in the glass. She loved this glen as it was, but she could see the advantages the road and bridge would bring to Killiebige. Mr. McNab’s ferry might be put out of business. That would happen soon anyhow, because the old man was ready to retire. He would have stopped crossing the river years before if he could have found someone else to take over the onerous task of pulling the ferry back and forth by the rope tied to both shores.

  A bright spark caught her eye. A star? No, she realized when the glint came again. It was much closer to the earth. She gripped the edge of the sill. Someone must be up near the old castle. At night? That was insane. With all the broken stone and open wells, it could be a death trap.

  Who would be so unthinking?

  With a moan, she recalled Lucais mentioning how his men had seen lights near Dhùin Liath. This must not be the first visit to the ruins, or the last, for on the morrow she must go up there and see what the trespassers might have left behind to identify them. She feared whatever she found would bring only more trouble.

  Nine

  “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” called Lucais as he came around the back of the cottage. Dust dimmed the polish on his boots, warning that he had been working hard. Pushing his hat back on his head, he grinned at Anice as he bent to pet Pippy’s head.

  She understood why he was amused. His loose shirt and patched breeches were almost identical to what she wore to climb up to the old castle. This visit had been postponed for several days because she had found it impossible to slip away. Today everyone had been busy, giving her a chance to sneak out of Ardkinloch.

  Anice smiled. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”

  “I am glad to see you, too, Anice. Egad, that may mean that I have come to prefer your sharp words to the sycophantic groveling from the work crew.”

  “So you walked up here for a dose of common sense? With the hours you must be working to leave those gray arcs under your eyes, common sense would state that you are the only one responsible for your well-being. You look as bad as Parlan.”

  He pounced on her question. “Why? Has he been out all night?”

  “Are you still having trouble at the camp?”

  “Not just the camp. The site where the bridge embankments are being set now seems to be a target as well.”

  “What has happened?”

  His jaw tightened. “Enough.”

  “Parlan has always gone out at night with his friends. Not just since you brought your crew into the valley. Now he seems to have found someone to court, although he is being reticent on telling us her name.” Eager to change the subject, she asked, “Where are you going?”

  “With you. Where are you going?”

  “To visit my grandmother’s grave.” She did no
t add that she had intended to talk over her consternation with her grandmother before she went up to the castle. She wished she had had the chance to know her grandmother, who had been so respected here in the glen. Mayhap her grandmother would have been able to advise her how to overcome her aversion to the road camp that had kept her from hurrying there to tell Lucais about the unexplained lights at the castle.

  Whom was she trying to bamblusterate? She had not hesitated because she wanted to avoid the rough men in the camp. She had hesitated because she was unsure what would happen when she saw Lucais. Now he was here, and they were as polite as strangers.

  Lucais’s voice lost its strained cheerfulness. “How long has your grandmother been dead?”

  “For me, forever. I do not recall her at all. My parents left Scotland within days of when I was born.”

  “But she left Ardkinloch to you.”

  “My father was my grandfather’s heir, and I was his.”

  “But rumor says that your grandmother named you head of the family, something that does not always go with the family’s title.”

  “I have yet to decide if I should be grateful for that or not.”

  “Mayhap she believed you would be a breath of fresh air in the Kinloch clan.”

  “And change things?” She gestured toward the river. “You are doing that much more effectively than I could have.” She laughed.

  “Or mayhap she hoped you would be so unfamiliar with the long-standing traditions here that you would put an end to the quarrels and infighting that have plagued these glens for so long.”

  “You give me a great deal of credit, when I cannot even please a single member of my family.”

  “I wonder how often your grandmother pleased them.”

  Anice stared at him. “I never thought of that.”

  “Something you should consider.”

  “I shall.” She added nothing else as they climbed the hill.

  Why had Lucais come up here to talk with her in the middle of the day? If he had seen the lights at Dhùin Liath as well, he should have mentioned it. Curiosity teased her, but she remained silent as she looked at the sheep on the green fields that were crisscrossed by the stone fences. She savored this moment of peace beneath the blue sky edged by the endless parade of mountains. The hushed sound of a rivulet raced along the stones on the far side of Dhùin Liath. There was something about this place that was home as nowhere else in the world had been.

  When they neared the graveyard, a squirrel chattered from the top of the wall separating the cemetery from the grazing land. It scampered away when she lifted the latch on the gate.

  Lucais watched Anice walk to her grandmother’s gravestone. He smiled as he admired the slender line of her profile. The sunlight silhouetted her body against her shirt, reminding him of her soft curves when he drew her to him. Her hair fell in a cinnamon cloud about her shoulders, refusing to be contained in its chignon.

  Closing the gate, he leaned his arm against the twists of wrought iron as he gazed down the ridge toward the river. From the castle above, the ancient Kinlochs had claimed the Abhainn an Uruisg for their own. Some still were, although the opinions of many of Anice’s family seemed to change as swiftly as the swirling winds off the sea.

  He clenched the ironwork, then cursed silently. Brushing bits of rust from his fingers, he edged around the stones to discover Anice picking up pieces of shattered ceramic.

  “What happened to the vase?” he asked.

  “It is broken. The blasting must have tipped it over against the stone.”

  “Not night riders?”

  Anice looked over her shoulder and found his shadow draped over her. Silhouetted against the sun, his face was hidden, but she guessed that his lips were taut with the frustration in his voice. “Night riders? Have your men seen them?”

  “The navvies prefer sleeping to taking their turn guarding the camp, so that leaves me to tend to it. I can assure you that I haven’t been staying awake nights mooning over a pretty redhead,” he retorted so sharply that she flinched. Before she could answer, he added, “Forgive me, Anice. I shouldn’t blame you for this problem that I can’t solve myself.”

  Standing, she clapped dirt from her hands and faced him. “There is no need for apology. It’s not as if I have never vented my rage upon you. But what are you going to do about this?”

  He shrugged. “What more can I do? I cannot post guards along the whole route of the construction. I do not have that many men. Even if I did, men who have been awake all night cannot stay awake all day too. Of course, I would appreciate just one of them resisting the liquor bottle so they could keep from sleeping on duty. It is just that the vandals seem to know exactly where to strike and how to avoid us to slip away into the darkness.”

  “Of course they know how to elude you. This is their home after all. No doubt you could escape from me if I tried to find you in London.”

  “Mayhap.” He gave her a roguish smile. “I cannot imagine why I would want to hide from you.”

  Anice slapped his arm as she walked to the gate and looked up the hill. “I may know where they are hiding.”

  “Where?” he asked, suddenly somber.

  “There is only one place.” She turned to see him still standing by her grandmother’s grave. “A few nights ago I saw lights in the ruins.”

  “A few nights ago? Why didn’t you tell me before this?”

  With a shiver she could not dampen, she said, “I wanted to check for myself first.”

  “So you could warn your neighbors not to be so careless again?”

  “Why do you act as if I am one of the vandals?”

  He sighed. “Forgive me again, Anice. I know you are caught in the middle of this. I simply want to put an end to the damage being done.”

  “The same thing they would say,” she retorted with a smile.

  “I am sure you would prefer me not to ask how you know that.”

  “’Tis nothing more than common sense.” She folded her arms in front of her but clutched her elbows to hold out the fear of what she might find in Dhùin Liath. “I want to know the truth.”

  Lucais nodded. “Are there any places where someone could hide in the castle?”

  “The keep is intact.”

  “Is it safe?”

  “Very. The keep will fall only when the winds and rain wash away the stone thousands of years from now. I am planning to check out my suspicions and let you know what I find.”

  “You? Why not both of us?”

  “No!” she gasped. “You cannot—I mean, I shouldn’t—”

  He laughed as he caught her hands in his. “If you have some great treasure hidden in Dhùin Liath, you need not worry about me pirating it away.”

  “How did you know?” Raising her gaze to Dhùin Liath, she imagined, as she had so many times, how the castle must have appeared in its splendor. The wall would rise straight from the cliff to present an unscalable face to the enemies of the Kinlochs. That thick palisade was gone, cannibalized in part to build Ardkinloch when the old keep was no longer habitable.

  “That there is a greedy man’s dreams hidden in the old castle?” He chuckled again. “I doubt if there is a ruined castle in all of Europe that does not have that legend as part of its lore.”

  “I do not hesitate because of that, Lucais.”

  “Then, why?”

  Anice drew her hands out of his. “If there is something to connect one of my family to these pranks, I want the chance to speak to that person before you confront them.”

  “You are asking me to overlook a crime.”

  “I am asking you to let me find out why this is happening. This is my family, and I want to—”

  “Protect it?”

  “No, not exactly.” She put her hands on his arms. “Lucais, I have never had a family beyond my mother and my stepfathers.”

  “You don’t know how fortunate you are. This kind of behavior that tears at you and threatens to rip apart the whole fami
ly is what a family is truly like.”

  “Is that why you left the Highlands?”

  For a moment he stared at her; then quietly he said, “No, I left of my own volition to find out what was beyond my family.”

  “I am sorry.”

  “Why?”

  Instead of answering his question, she walked toward the gate and said, “Come with me.”

  “All right.”

  Anice faced him. “Just like that? No questions? That’s not like you, Lucais.”

  “It is like me when there is a threat to you.”

  “To me?”

  Taking her hand, he held the gate open. “You are putting yourself into jeopardy.”

  “From whom? Whoever is causing this trouble must be my neighbor.”

  “Or family, who will call you a traitor because you dared to seek out their hiding place and bring me with you.” He halted and turned her toward him. Standing on the steep slope, her eyes were even with his as his hands framed her face. “Sweet Anice, think before you do this. Once you lead me into Dhùin Liath, you are irrevocably throwing your lot in with me. Is that what you want?”

  Her chin rose. “Dhùin Liath is an heirloom, an obligation for me to protect. I cannot protect it if it is being invaded by those who would cause trouble throughout the glen. It is an obligation that was passed to me from my grandmother. It is the soul of the Kinloch clan.”

  When he applauded, Anice regarded him self-consciously. She started to apologize, but he said, “Nonsense! If everyone held to their beliefs so steadfastly, things might be simpler.”

  “Do you think so? Isn’t it because of how strongly we cling to our convictions here in Killiebige that you are encountering trouble?”

  “No, Anice, it isn’t that. ’Tis the bloody fools who change their opinions like a young miss changes gowns during the Season. First they agreed to have the road built and the river bridged; now they are uncertain.”

  “Someone here agreed to the project? Who?”

  “Your good mayor welcomed the surveyors and urged them to the build the bridge here instead of on the other side of the ridge.” He laughed tightly. “You look shocked.”

  “I am. Mrs. Tawes has been one of the most verbal opponents of the project.”