by Terry Spear
Cearnach studied her expression. She looked so sincere that he realized she meant what she said.
She sighed. “Everyone in my family took risks. I was the one wolf who usually only ventured into what I considered safe territory. I’d thrown caution to the wind when I’d ventured coming to Scotland the first time with my uncles, to escape from Rafferty. And now this time, wanting to find my uncles’ treasure.
“Some of it was because I figured they owed me for agreeing that Rafferty could have me as a mate. Some of it was plain, old-fashioned curiosity. What had they hidden and what was its ultimate value? I hadn’t wanted my cousins getting their hands on it. Now? It really doesn’t matter. But as to your family, nothing’s going to change the fact that I’m kin to the McKinleys and Kilpatricks, Cearnach.”
“What do I care of that, lass? You are not truly one of them, except by blood. Not by actions.”
She humphed. “Your family will not see it that way.”
“It won’t matter to them, Elaine.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her gaze locked on his. Then she seemed to trust in what he said and nodded. “Okay, if you say so.”
Well, maybe she didn’t believe him all the way. “I’m serious.”
She took a deep breath. “What if Ian objects?”
She didn’t have faith in Cearnach. He reached out and took her hand in his and held on tight. “He won’t, lass. Believe me. He knows we’re meant to be together.” Everyone else probably knew it, too. “Tell me what you know concerning the location of the treasure.”
“Uncle Tobias said that he had an uncanny fondness for buttered and salted porridge and sweet Scottish shortbread. He was referring to both himself and his twin brother, Samson. They did everything together.”
Cearnach raised a brow, wondering how that had anything to do with the hidden treasure, but he kept quiet.
“It was his way of saying the bounty was in Scotland.” She looked so sincere that he tried to keep from commenting or laughing at what he didn’t think could be real clues to where the goods were hidden. More likely it was the lass’s very vivid imagination.
“He said the loveliest loch he ever swam and fished in was surrounded by mountains with a picturesque waterfall nearby.”
“That narrows it down a wee bit,” Cearnach said, “but it still could be hundreds of places, if this refers to the treasure at all. Even if we could pinpoint one particular loch, the goods could still be buried anywhere in the surrounding area for miles around.” From what she’d offered as clues, he figured there was no chance she’d ever find what she was looking for.
She forged onward, sounding as though she didn’t think it would be that difficult a task once he knew the rest. “A mound of rocks covered in moss and surrounded by a stand of Scots pine was his favorite place to sit for a while and commune with nature.”
“I didn’t think he and his brother ever left their ship except to board another and take the merchandise.”
“They must have at some point in their lives.”
Cearnach nodded. “All right, but moss-covered cairns are everywhere in Scotland. Oftentimes, particularly that long ago, they could have been gathered up and used to fortify some castle’s walls or some other building. Large-scale pilfering of the ruins of castles to use on clans’ own castles was quite the thing in centuries past.”
She pondered that for a moment as she stirred her spoon around in her nearly empty bowl of porridge.
He finally asked the question he was trying not to ask. “What made you think you could find it, lass, from the clues you have?”
“I have only half the clues. Robert has the others. Or so he says.” She looked steadily into Cearnach’s eyes. “My uncle said he left the key with a woman who was the only one who could unlock his heart and find the treasure hidden within.”
Cearnach folded his arms. “What if he was being poetic? And his words had nothing to do with treasure?”
She gave a ladylike snort. “Neither of my uncles were the poetic sorts.”
“Okay, then let’s say it is about a treasure. The woman could be dead, for all we know. Even if she wasn’t, do you have any clue as to who she was?”
“Me,” Elaine said quietly, her eyes shimmering with tears. “He told me that right before we disembarked from the ship that day in St. Andrews. It was me.”
Cearnach rose from the chair and helped her to stand, then hugged her tightly. “I love you, Elaine. You are the key to my heart.” He didn’t want her to be sad. She’d had enough of that with losing her close family members, enduring a forced mating with a wolf bastard, and losing other wolf suitors. He meant to make her happy.
She gave him a teary smile. “I can’t express how much being here with you and your family means to me, Cearnach.”
“Aye, you’ve shown me how much it means to you. You are my joy.” He kissed her and gave her one last heartfelt hug as she squeezed him tightly back. “Come on. I’ve got to bathe the dogs, and then we’ll tackle the mystery of the treasure further.”
Before Cearnach could escort Elaine to the kennels, his mother sent word via a lad that she wished to speak with him. She rarely made a summons, and when she did, they always were important.
What was his mother about this time? “Sit in the sunroom for a minute, Elaine, will you? I’ll be but a moment,” Cearnach said, taking her there instead.
Cearnach briskly walked to the library where his mother was sitting at a small writing desk. “Is it done yet?” his mother asked.
This was why he had been summoned? To learn if he’d truly been mated with Elaine? This was too much.
“My lady mother,” Cearnach said, exasperated more than he’d ever been with her meddling ways. “Aren’t you off to London with Aunt Agnes to shop for new dresses or some such thing?”
Her brow wrinkling with annoyance, his mother waved for him to be quiet. “You know how Agnes loves to do research? How she has volumes of history concerning our family’s past and everyone related to us or that we’ve had dealings with?”
Not good news, he suspected. “Aye.” He folded his arms and frowned. “So what has Aunt Agnes dug up?”
“The lass is truly wealthy, Cearnach. Your lass. Which could be trouble. We’re worried about her association with Kilpatrick.”
Feeling the same unsettling concern for the lass, Cearnach nodded.
“She has four estates she manages here in Scotland. Has she told you about them?”
His frown deepened. “Nay. What do you know of them?” He suspected the lass had not known of the estates or she would have mentioned it.
“She owns Senton Castle, two manor houses, and a keep. I’ve told Ian and he’s contacting her solicitor. He wants to ensure that Kilpatrick isn’t trying to steal her properties away from her. Why did Kilpatrick want to meet her at Senton Castle? It’s so isolated that no one in the world would know she was going there, just him. The cliffs below the ramparts are deadly. It would be easy to drag a much slighter woman across the broken wall and toss her to her death.” His mother’s brows rose.
“The properties would still be in Elaine’s name,” Cearnach said, frowning.
“Aye, and he could forge the documents, sign them over to himself, and have someone loyal who worked for him as witnesses to the transfer. But he’d have to get rid of the only one who could prove the documents were forged. The lass herself.”
He’d considered that Elaine might have come to harm in meeting with Kilpatrick at the isolated ruins, especially when Kilpatrick thought to have a chunk of her treasure and wouldn’t want to give up a farthing of it. The properties would add an even greater incentive. “You didn’t know about this before you suggested that I mate the lass, did you?” He had to ask. He had to know the truth.
His mother waved her hand dismissively. “Of course not. What do yo
u take me for? A thief? As for you, you didn’t know either, so she won’t believe you married her for her money. Go,” she said flippantly. “I just wanted to let you know you’re a man of many estates.”
“They will be the clan’s. Ian will control them.” As was usual for a pack that worked together as one big family.
“Oh, I know that our kind normally puts all our wealth into one pool of funds. This is different because she has not lived with a pack. He’ll let her keep them for her own, if she wishes it. He’ll want her to be as happy with being with us as we are to take her into the fold. Oh, and Cearnach, I want to see Elaine soon so that we can discuss the wedding.”
He hoped that Elaine would be all right with his mother getting involved with the wedding planning, but he couldn’t be more pleased that she was so delighted that he had mated Elaine.
Then he considered his bothersome ghostly cousin and wanted to put that business to rest as well. “My lady mother, why has Flynn been bothering Elaine so?”
“You know how he is. He either pesters a woman because he likes her or because he doesn’t. He liked Elaine from the start once he heard her speaking about protecting you from Vardon.”
“He was there when you were talking with her?”
“Aye. He was hovering so close that he was giving me chills, though he wouldn’t show himself. Since you are his favorite cousin, he wanted to know if the lass was the right one for you.”
“He didn’t push the mating for some other reason, did he?” Cearnach couldn’t settle his concern that Flynn had been snooping around and learned something related to Elaine. Something that could harm her.
“Perhaps. If so, he hasn’t enlightened me. If he’s going to speak with anyone, it’s usually you. Although he did confide in me that he truly likes the lass.”
“He’s avoiding me. Which isn’t normal. His absence makes me think he’s afraid that I’ll learn the truth about some matter.”
“Nonsense. He wanted you to be happy. That’s all. He could tell you were taken by the lass and he wanted to see the two of you mated.”
Cearnach growled. “He molested her. If I could get my hands on him, I’d show him just how I feel about his touching Elaine twice last night and again this morning.”
“I understand.” His mother was smiling as she looked back to her correspondence. “Go, keep her company. I’m certain she’s anxiously awaiting your return.”
He studied his mother further. He sensed she felt what he did—that Flynn knew something but wouldn’t tell them what. He didn’t think she knew what it was any more than he did.
He shook his head, hurried out of the library, and went to the sunroom where Elaine was watching out the window. He glanced out to see what she was smiling at. Heather and Shelley walking the dogs.
“The poodles are beautiful,” she said. Then she looked up at Cearnach and smiled. “What would your mother have done if I said I owned a pair of dachshunds?”
He laughed and walked her outside the keep and onto the path to the kennels, pulling her close, trying to keep her warm in the chilly breeze. At least it wasn’t raining today, though dark clouds melded together in a fluffy gray blanket covering the sky. “My mother would have loved them.” He looked down at Elaine. “You don’t really have dogs, do you?”
She laughed. “No. Though Shelley said something about Julia falling in love with the wolfhound pups and having a hard time letting Ian sell them. Maybe I could have one of those for my own?”
Cearnach shook his head. “Ian will have a fit.”
She frowned up at him.
He smiled. “But for you, I will ensure you have your pick.”
She beamed up at him. “What if I can’t choose? And I want more than one?”
He laughed. “That’s why we have so many wolfhounds already.”
Cearnach thought again about Flynn. He couldn’t rid himself of the notion that something more was going on here.
“Lass, I wonder, could there be any other reason Robert Kilpatrick wanted you to meet him here at the ruins? Did you know you have holdings in Scotland?”
Chapter 19
Speculating about how deeply Cearnach was becoming involved with Elaine, Ian took a small force of men for protection as he and Julia rode their horses through the Caledonian Forest. The cool autumn breeze flowed through the pine trees, scenting the air. He glanced at Julia, finally comfortable with riding a horse.
She had wanted to get away from the castle and think about a new scene in the latest werewolf romance novel she was writing. He’d do whatever was needed to please his mate—even wear blue jeans and a black Stetson hat, which still didn’t feel quite right. He thought she was thinking about her book until she spoke.
“I overheard your mother talking to Cearnach about Elaine and how she wanted him to mate with her.”
Ian frowned. Not because she’d overheard his mother and Cearnach’s conversation, but because of the gist of it and that Cearnach hadn’t said a word to him about it.
“What did she say?”
“Something about stolen goods that would be part of your pack’s holdings instead of Kilpatrick’s.”
“Stolen goods?” Ian rode on, pondering that. “What did Cearnach say?”
Julia scowled at Ian. “You can’t be serious, Ian. Cearnach can’t take Elaine as his mate based on such a thing.”
“Julia, sweeting, you must realize that none of us listen to my mother when she’s on one of her crusades. I still want to know how Cearnach responded.”
“He didn’t stand up to your mother!”
“That’s not his way. He might appease her, smile sweetly, act as though he agrees, and try to talk some sense into her, but he’ll ultimately do what is right.”
Julia didn’t say anything as the horses’ hooves clip-clopped on the leaf-littered ground.
“So what did he do?”
“He did just what you said he would do,” Julia retorted.
Ian gave a muffled laugh. “Cearnach is a diplomat. He always does what’s right, even if it doesn’t seem so at the time.”
“You mean like attending Calla’s wedding?”
“Aye. See what a mess that’s become? Yet he had to do it for Calla’s sake. Now she’s seen the light and left Baird McKinley. Cearnach did what was right, what he had to do.” He glanced at Julia and studied the way the breeze caught her red hair, the way it caressed her cheeks, and was ready to take her back to bed with him.
He drew close to Julia’s horse, leaned over, and lifted her from her saddle. She gasped in surprise. He set her on his lap, and she smiled up at him. “You should have warned me you were going to do that.”
“You should have been listening to me. I am the laird, you know.”
“A sexy one at that.” She kissed his mouth with tenderness, then longing and passion.
“We return to Argent Castle.” He took her horse’s reins and rode back toward the keep. Had it not been for the recent trouble with the McKinleys and Kilpatricks, he would have made love to Julia in the woods. “They will be all right, Julia. Both Elaine and Cearnach,” he reassured her.
“I hope so. I like her. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone stand up to your mother the way she did. And Cearnach is more than fond of her.”
Ian sighed, knowing just where this was headed with his brother. He approved, but he wished Cearnach would tell him that it was done. The sooner, the better.
***
Before Cearnach and Elaine walked through the outer bailey heading toward the kennels, Elaine asked him, “What do you mean I have properties in Scotland? How do you know?”
“I did some checking into Senton Castle’s ownership some years ago. A man by the name of Hans Hawthorn III, owned it. You mentioned to Robert McKinley that Hans was your father?”
Her lips parted as tears welled up in her eyes. She nodded. “My father,” she choked out. Then her eyes widened as realization dawned. “My father owned it?”
“Aye. So that is why you’re the owner of the castle. Not the Kilpatricks and McKinleys, though they lived there for many years.”
“It’s now in ruins.” Then she added wistfully, “But so beautiful. I can’t believe it’s mine. I wonder why he and my mother left there.”
“I don’t know. It’s something we can check into. As far as the other properties that are in your name, we don’t have the details yet.”
He quickly told her what he knew, which was very little. “We haven’t any idea of their value. Ian is contacting your solicitor about them, and we’ll learn the details as soon as we can.” Cearnach changed direction on the subject, still concerned about Kilpatrick’s bid to meet up with her. “What if Kilpatrick learned of these properties and thought somehow to take them from you?”
Frowning, she walked with Cearnach outside. “It’s possible, I suppose. It would make sense as to why he wanted me to meet with him. That it was about more than a treasure that might not be all that valuable.” She continued walking in silence for a few steps, then asked, “Why didn’t I know about the properties all these years?”
Before Cearnach could speculate, she shook her head and answered her own question. “I changed my identity after I sold off my parents’ estates. Some of Rafferty’s pirate crew still thought to make me part of the bounty that they received after murdering Rafferty. I knew Rafferty was dead, yet I kept looking over my shoulder, worried that he’d come back for me.
“He did, you know. Not after he died, of course, but before that. His ship would be a month late in returning, and I’d be so hopeful he’d died, and then when I thought I might be free, he’d return. So that’s the way I felt. That I’d be shopping at market, I’d turn, and there he’d be, that menacing, cruel grin on his face, his eyes locked onto mine, telling me to get home before he even spoke a word.
“I kept moving, reinventing myself over the years. I had to anyway since I didn’t have a wolf pack that could hide my longevity from others. Humans would begin to ask what my secret was to looking so young when they were aging and I was not. So moving was essential.” She frowned up at Cearnach. “Do you think Kilpatrick wanted me at the castle ruins to somehow force me to turn the deeds over to him?”
