Laird of Twilight (The Whisky Lairds, Book 1): Historical Scottish Romance (The Whisky Lairds Series)

by Susan King

  “Even love?” Elspeth said.

  “Without the treasure being found, we would have tried to take Elspeth. We might not have succeeded, seeing the strength of your bond. And we would have tried to take my father—and would have done it.”

  Riona, so quiet and gentle, stepped forward. “Dear girl, there was no bartering or scheming where love was concerned. That you found on your own, and we honor that. But understand that the treasure is of great importance to our kind. If you had not discovered the jewel mine, we had to honor another agreement. Until it was found, we would take MacArthurs. You already belonged to us, so we would try.”

  “Aye. But now we must let you go,” Niall said softly.

  Riona nodded sadly. “If you stay here inside our magic too long, the glamourie will have you, no matter what we intend for you.”

  “Go, now,” Niall said.

  Elspeth embraced them again, while James stood back. Then Riona kissed his cheek, Niall took his hand briefly. The couple stepped back and turned to mist.

  They were alone, inside a cave—one he had not seen before. Taking Elspeth’s hand, James walked with her to the entrance and stepped outside into sunlight.

  They stood at the top of the garden overlooking Struan House.

  Elspeth stared, astonished to see the grotto when she had expected to find herself on the mountainside far from there. Glancing back, she saw a solid rock wall behind them, with no cave opening. Whatever portal existed had closed. She glanced at James, who reached out to touch the solid rock wall behind them.

  “We came rather farther than I expected,” he said. “Through the very heart of the mountain, it seems. And somewhat quickly.” He sounded bewildered.

  “Magic.” Elspeth laughed. “Best grow accustomed to it.”

  “I am trying,” he drawled. They began to walk downward, holding hands.

  “Just here,” she said, “I slipped and fell, and landed at your feet in the rain.”

  “A better day than that, my love, there never was.”

  “I wonder if the others are back yet,” Elspeth said, peering toward the house.

  “We will need to explain how we got here, instead of meeting them down by the loch on their tour.” He helped her down the slope.

  “Your walking stick!” She had just noticed it was gone. “You don’t need it!”

  “Aye. It is strange—and quite nice,” he said, and laughed ruefully. “I wonder if it will last.”

  “We will do our best to make it so,” she said. Hearing the dogs bark, then hearing shouts, Elspeth saw the door at the back of the house open. Patrick and Fiona emerged, hurrying across the lawn.

  “Where have you been?” Patrick asked, clapping James on the shoulder.

  “We have been so worried!” Fiona embraced James and then Elspeth. “Thank God you are safe! I dreamed you were lost in a cave in the mountain, captured by the fairies—just like the fairy tales Grandmother used to tell us.”

  “We waited, but you never met us by the loch,” Patrick said. “We have been frantic.”

  “We must have just missed you,” Elspeth said, wondering how to explain it.

  “Dream?” James asked Fiona. “So you had a nap while waiting? Good, then.”

  “Nap?” Fiona blinked. “None of us have slept much, with you gone so long.”

  “Just a few hours,” James said.

  Patrick frowned. “You have been gone for three days.”

  “Three days?” Elspeth repeated. So the glamourie truly had affected them in that place. The time had not seemed like days at all. She looked at James, who frowned thoughtfully as he took her hand.

  “Impossible,” he said. “We, ah, we lost our sense of time. Days?”

  “You must tell us later,” Fiona said. “You must be tired now. It is such a blessed relief to see you! I am just grateful you came to no harm, and whatever compromise there might have been—well,” Fiona said, and smiled. “Donal MacArthur hinted that you might have no reason to fear compromise.”

  “He told you?” James asked.

  Elspeth felt her cheeks heat in a fierce blush. “We—we did make a decision while we were out on the mountain.”

  “And we could not be happier, isn’t that so, Patrick?” Fiona smiled. “But we have been searching night and day. Donal MacArthur went back to the cave and said you were not there. He aged years over this, I vow. We must let him know immediately—he went home a little while ago, very dejected. He will be so relieved. Everyone will!”

  “We walked the slopes, and shouted for hours,” Patrick said. “Even Eldin came out to help.”

  “Eldin?” James asked.

  “He said he was only interested in the rumor of fairy gold, but he was worried, I am sure of it,” Fiona said. “Though if you found anything valuable, do keep it quiet. He asked rather closely about this missing treasure chest.”

  “No treasure chest,” James said. “We did find an excellent geological cache of crystals and such.” He took his hand from his pocket and opened his palm. “Along with a few beautiful gems perfect for a ring.”

  “A ring?” Fiona asked. “You thought of jewelry when you were in danger?”

  “We were never in danger. Just a bit lost,” Elspeth said. “We helped each other, and found a way through—the mountain.”

  “Aye,” James said. “A labyrinth of caves. But we managed.”

  “You must be exhausted and in need of food and rest,” Fiona said, as they all turned back toward the house.

  “How did you come all the way here? I do not understand,” Patrick said.

  “We found a cave that brought us out through the grotto,” Elspeth said.

  “Subterranean passages,” James said. “I doubt we could find our way through again. It would be dangerous to try.” He looked down at Elspeth, who smiled faintly.

  “So you settled that, er, earlier matter between you?” Patrick asked.

  “We did,” James said, and took Elspeth’s hand. “We each found what we wanted. We were just lost, and now we are back. Naught to fuss over.”

  “The others will surely fuss,” Fiona said. “And Donal will be relieved. I will say that he confided to Patrick and me, and made us promise not to tell anyone, that you two handfasted while on the mountain.”

  “We did,” Elspeth said, feeling her heart lift with happiness. James took her hand, smiling silently at his twin. Elspeth saw a glance pass between them and felt a new burst of love. The two siblings, close as they were, did not always need words.

  “Truly!” Fiona laughed. “I am delighted. But how did you—why did you decide to do that now, rather than wait for a pastor?”

  “There are other ways to marry in the Highlands,” Elspeth said.

  “Aunt Rankin will have a conniption,” Fiona said. “And Miss Sinclair.”

  “Ah well, Miss Sinclair will realize that it was not meant to be,” James said.

  “Miss Sinclair will soon find love in a most surprising way,” Elspeth said, knowing suddenly that it was true. But if she had told them the girl would fall in love with Sir Philip, she knew the others might not believe her. She only smiled.

  “Handfasting cannot be fully legal, not with a title and estate involved,” Patrick grumbled. “You will need a proper wedding.”

  “We will have it, and soon,” James said.

  “A quiet wedding at Struan House would be lovely,” Elspeth said.

  “Aye! So, Jamie, you found yourself a Highland bride after all,” Fiona said, taking her twin’s arm.

  “And one with fairy blood.” James put his arm around Elspeth.

  Fiona laughed. “Grandmother would be so pleased!”

  “More than you know,” James said. “I think she wanted our family to discover its fairy roots again, and that is why she created the conditions in her will.”

  “Come now, you do not believe in fairies any more than I do,” Patrick said.

  “I am not so certain now, I confess,” James said.

  “
Grandmother’s book has changed your mind?” Fiona asked.

  “I have learned a great deal,” James said.

  “I must read this book of fairies,” Fiona said. “Come inside. Soon you will both feel quite normal again.”

  “Normal sounds excellent,” James said. He laughed, and tightened his arm around Elspeth, ducking to give her brow a kiss. “Are you ready to go inside?”

  Looking up at him, Elspeth felt a swift rush of happiness, of weariness, of love, mingled together. “I am, Lord Struan. I am.”

  Epilogue

  December 1822

  “We cannot fit another blasted thing into that old carriage,” James said, stepping back to survey the landau, packed full of belongings, most not his own. His breaths misted in the chilly air, and his boot heels crunched on the snow-pack along the drive. “We may have to take two carriages. Are you sure the loom is necessary?”

  “Aye,” Elspeth said, walking beside him. “If we are agreed to spend the winter in Edinburgh so you can finish your lecture series, then I must have my loom to keep me occupied, or I shall be bored to tears.” She smiled impishly, beautifully, looking at him from under the brim of her dark green velvet bonnet, her gloved hands cozied inside the ermine muff he had given her last week for Christmas.

  Under her left-hand glove, she wore the amethyst ring he had commissioned for their wedding in November. He knew she loved it for the joy it represented, for its sparkle, and for its secret fairy origin.

  “Bored to tears!” He laughed, feeling good-natured despite the dismantled loom precariously strapped to the back of the landau, where MacKimmie had secured it for the long journey. Lady Rankin would no doubt call them gypsies when they arrived at James’s Edinburgh house, be that as it may. He drew Elspeth into his arms. “I can think of ways to keep you occupied, none of them boring.” He nuzzled her cheek, which bloomed pink from the cold.

  “I would like that,” she murmured. “But you will be busy with lectures and writing and your beloved rocks. What will I do without my loom and my work?”

  “Lucie Graham will drag you off to teas and parties, excited to introduce her dear cousin as the new Lady Struan. You will have little time for your craft.”

  “Once word gets around that the eccentric Lady Struan would rather sit home and weave than attend parties, there will be very few invitations.”

  “Nonsense. The eccentric, unique, brilliant, and ravishingly beautiful Lady Struan,” he said, “will make weaving a new rage among the ladies of Edinburgh.”

  She laughed. “I am also bringing the loom so that I can finish a plaid for my husband. It is Highland custom. Truly it should be woven in a Highland home, but it is not done yet, and so we will make an exception.”

  “You are always the exception, my girl,” he murmured.

  “Remember you promised that we will be back at Struan House by spring, and stay there until winter comes again. Hopefully the handsome and very smart Lord Struan will find enough to do there until the university opens in September.”

  “I will have more than enough to do on the estate, after being away the winter. Angus MacKimmie will do a fine job taking care of things until then. He is looking into having that old bridge repaired in the spring.” He nodded to Angus, who nodded back, busy tying the last of the luggage to the back of the vehicle. “Elspeth, I have been thinking,” James said more seriously. “This may be my last semester of lectures for a little while.”

  “Is it so? But you love it.”

  “I have a good deal of research to do to write my new geology book.”

  “So we might live year-round at Struan?”

  “We will still need to go south now and then, to be pragmatic about it.”

  “You are always pragmatic,” she said, and pouted a little, teasing him.

  “Grandmother’s fairy book is nearly complete, just awaiting Fiona’s sketches, which she will finish this spring, I hope. Soon the text will go into Sir Walter’s capable hands for him to read. And I will do some research while in Edinburgh about the new field of geognosy, and then I will need to spend a good deal of time exploring Scotland’s ancient rock layers in the Highlands.”

  Elspeth nodded. “Good. And I want to stay near Kilcrennan to be here for my grandfather.”

  “He is a happy fellow now, quite content with his Peggy,” James said, thinking of that small wedding, just two weeks earlier, “but they will both be glad you will be nearby more often.”

  “They are very content, as if they had been married for a long time, and not just recently.”

  “I will not mind being a Highland laird for much of the year,” he admitted. “I think I can become a visiting scholar at university, rather than a resident lecturer. I will have a word with the dean about it.”

  “Oh, excellent! Grandda is slower at his weaving these days,” she said, and knew James she meant without the fairy spell, rather than as a sign of aging. “There is a great deal of work to be done at Kilcrennan, with the orders for tartan growing all the time. I feel I am needed there.”

  “We will find a way to manage all of it. Ah, MacKimmie is nearly done—are you ready to depart, Lady Struan?”

  “Nearly. Grandda and Peggy said they would drive up this morning to see us. Have we packed everything? I suppose you have weighed the carriage down with your rocks and pretty crystals and agates, and there will be no room for two passengers. James?” she asked, for he paused, gazing at her. Now he cupped her cheek gently.

  “I will never be sure what happened on that mountain,” he murmured. “I sometimes wonder if I did hit my head on a rock that day, and dreamed it all.”

  She tugged on his hat brim and made a face. “It was no dream, Lord Struan. It happened to me as well. What we have now, dear husband, is the very best of dreams. Here they come,” she said then, turning. “They wanted to bid us farewell.”

  James glanced there, but saw only the empty lane leading to the house. “Odd.”

  “Coaches are coming,” Angus called then from his higher post on the carriage. “A gig and a barouche. Black barouche, sir, very fine.”

  “Eldin,” James muttered. “What the devil does he want?” He walked a little down the lane, and Elspeth came with him as the two vehicles came over a low hill. “There is Donal’s gig, but why is Eldin coming here as well?”

  “I cannot imagine. Since he withdrew his offer for Struan lands, I thought it would be the last we would see of him.”

  “Until my grandmother’s will is finalized—until all the conditions are met by my family—he has no need to contact us.”

  Elspeth tucked her hand inside the crook of his elbow. “He did help search for us when they thought we were lost. Perhaps he truly cares and came to say farewell. He seems a lonely fellow to me.”

  “Do not let him fool your tender heart. He wanted the treasure, so he joined the search. And the pocket mine will stay our secret. He will not have it.”

  She left his side to dash forward, and James came along more slowly. His leg was much improved, and he managed without a cane most days. Highland air and exercise, he was sure. Fairy magic, Elspeth insisted. Whatever it was, his leg had nearly regained its strength. So had his reserved heart, he thought to himself.

  The gig carrying Donal and Peggy rolled to a halt, and they climbed down to wrap Elspeth in embraces and warm, delighted conversation. James greeted them, though distracted by the approaching barouche.

  “We will see you in Edinburgh,” Donal said. “I must deliver new plaids to the tailors next month, and Peggy wants to see the city. What is that raven-hearted rascal doing here?” He turned.

  “I do not know,” James muttered. He walked toward the barouche as it rolled to a halt, a riderless, saddled horse tied to the back.

  “Eldin,” he called, stepping forward to open the door. “Greetings. How may we help you on this cold morning?”

  Eldin stepped down from the carriage, taller even than James, his greatcoat black as a raven’s wings. He doffed his
hat and murmured a greeting. “Struan. It is I who have come to help you.”

  “How nice to see you, Lord Eldin.” Elspeth joined them and set her gloved hand on James’s arm. He did not take his gaze from his cousin.

  “Good morning, Lady Struan,” Eldin said, taking Elspeth’s hand. “Excellent to see you again. You are looking in fine health. Both of you.”

  “We are almost ready to leave, but we would be happy to offer you some hot tea on this chilly day. We have time,” Elspeth said, glancing at James. “My father and stepmother would enjoy it too before we all depart.”

  “I regret I cannot join you, as I must return to Auchnashee,” Eldin said. “The castle refurbishments are going well, provided I am there to supervise. I came here only to ask if you would convey my best to Fiona and extend to her my invitation to stay at Auchnashee when she comes north. Free of charge, of course,” he said stiffly. “We are family. And friends, of course.”

  James stared, wondering at the man’s motive, but then realized that Eldin might be trying to be generous. “I was not aware that Fiona was coming north.”

  “I believe so,” Eldin said with a tight smile. James saw a glimmer of something in his cousin’s eyes, a vulnerability—or a hope. Then it was gone. Did their cousin actually care about Fiona? Interesting, he thought, frowning a little.

  “We will give Fiona your best,” Elspeth said.

  “You could send a note,” James said. “No need to drive out here.”

  “I also came,” Eldin went on, “to offer you the use of my barouche. I will not need it out here often, and my driver will bring it back to Auchnashee once you are in the city. It will allow Lady Struan to ride in comfort to Edinburgh. It does not do for the viscount and his bride to travel like gypsies.”

  James nodded. “I see. How did you know we were leaving today?”

  “I had a letter from Lady Rankin, who feared you might strap all your belongings to the old landau like a pair of tinkers. She is not certain what a Highland girl might do.” He smiled, flat but sincerely. “I assured her in my reply that the new Lady Struan would be an exemplary viscountess and a credit to the family.”