169. A Cheiftain finds Love (The Eternal Collection)

by Barbara Cartland

  “If that is where it is, I absolutely refuse to have my flowers and my shrubs, which I have taken a great deal of care over, torn up!”

  He sounded so indignant that it made Isa laugh, and once again he was laughing with her

  “Are we really sitting here in the middle of the night,” he asked, “worrying ourselves over a treasure that has lain hidden for hundreds of years?”

  He laughed again and added,

  “In fact it may easily have been dissipated by the Chieftain on riotous living and the whole idea of it being hidden from marauding Vikings was just a ploy to exonerate himself from blame.”

  “Now you are being cynical again,” Isa told him without thinking.

  “Again?” the Duke questioned.

  She looked away from him because she was shy.

  “Do I really appear cynical to you?” the Duke asked.

  “The word I was using to myself was ‘contemptuous’.”

  “That is not true!”

  “I think it is, Your Grace! You were contemptuous of my sneaking into The Castle on a pretence, simply because I wanted to attend your ball.”

  “And now, of course, I realise that you have attended a number of balls in London,” the Duke said.

  “A few, but not so magnificent as the one this evening,” Isa answered truthfully. “How could they be when they did not dance the reels?”

  “I have never seen them danced quite so gracefully as tonight,” the Duke said.

  She knew that it was a compliment and, because it made her feel a little embarrassed, she rose to her feet.

  “I think, Your Grace, I should go to bed,” she said. “We will gain nothing by talking any further now over what has happened. All you can do is to be on your guard and perhaps it will be possible to find out if your cousin was in the vicinity tonight.”

  “I will doubtless be able to tell you that at breakfast,” the Duke replied.

  He rose as he spoke and almost mischievously Isa looked up at him as he towered over her and asked,

  “Are you really expecting me to stay?”

  “Not only shall I be angry if you leave, but it might start a whole string of questions that inadvertently might lead someone into being aware that you were in the garden tonight.”

  Isa’s eyes widened and he added,

  “If I have to be careful, so must you. As you are well aware, all through history informers receive short shrift whenever they are discovered.”

  As he spoke, quietly and gravely, Isa gave a little shiver.

  Then she forced herself to smile and say lightly,

  “I am not afraid!”

  “Of course you are afraid,” the Duke contradicted her, “as any reasonable person would be. In their desperate greed for money, men will do anything to gain their objective.”

  He paused before he continued,

  “I feel sure my Cousin Talbot would give his right hand to possess the treasure of the McNavers.”

  “Is he really as wicked as all that?” Isa asked and her voice was little more than a whisper.

  “He is worse!” the Duke replied. “That is why we must both of us be very careful.”

  Without really thinking and because he was speaking so seriously, Isa put out her hand towards him as if she sought protection.

  The Duke took it and then slowly with his eyes on hers raised it to his lips.

  “Thank you,” he murmured. “I am deeply grateful.”

  For a moment it was impossible for Isa to move – her eyes were held by the Duke’s and neither of them could look away.

  Because she felt unexpectedly shy and uncertain of her Feelings, she took her hand from his and walked towards the door.

  As she opened it, she looked back and realised that he had not moved from where she had left him, but was standing watching her.

  Again their eyes met and she felt that they spoke to each other without words.

  Then she was running down the passage towards the staircase that would lead her up to the next floor where her bedroom was situated.

  Or was she seeking sanctuary for herself?

  *

  When Isa awoke the next morning, she could hardly believe that it had happened.

  Yet there was her tartan skirt and her velvet jacket lying on the chair where she had left them after she had undressed.

  So it was true that she had started to go home and had overheard the three men plotting, as she had heard them before.

  ‘Where could the treasure possibly be?’ she wondered.

  She was then suddenly afraid that Talbot McNaver would find it, spirit it away and they would never know the end of the story.

  Her maid had not yet called her, but she lay thinking and trying to remember everything that she had ever heard about the Duke’s cousin.

  Then she supposed that if he had been talked about she had not been particularly interested enough to listen.

  When she was dressed she went down to breakfast feeling a little embarrassed at seeing the Duke.

  It seemed impossible, after she had been so incensed with him and so angry at his insults, that they could have talked together so intimately in the drawing room.

  She had known when he kissed her hand that she had experienced a strange little quiver within herself.

  It was a sensation that she had never known before.

  ‘I will not be frightened of him, even though he is still overwhelmingly autocratic,’ she told herself as she walked towards the breakfast room.

  Yet she knew that fear was not exactly what she felt about the Duke at the moment.

  There were quite a number of gentlemen seated round the breakfast table, but only two women and they were both elderly.

  It was Harry who sprang to his feet to take her to the sideboard.

  He found her a plate and lifted the silver tops of the entrée dishes so that she could make a choice of what she wanted to eat.

  The Duke was sitting in his familiar place at the top of the table.

  He had half-risen as she entered and only when she sat down at the table did he say,

  “I hope you slept well.”

  “I was tired after so much exercise last night,” Isa replied lightly, “and I have never, Your Grace, enjoyed the reels more, or heard pipers play better.”

  “You must tell them so before you leave,” the Duke remarked.

  Two of the men who were going fishing rose from the table to be off to the river and it was Harry who waited until Isa had finished eating before he said,

  “Bruce wants to speak to you. Shall we go into the study?”

  The Duke’s special room was exactly as Isa would have expected it to be.

  There were paintings of stags, grouse and dogs on the walls, several large bookcases and some comfortable leather armchairs, which were very masculine.

  Isa walked in followed by Harry.

  The room was empty and she guessed that the Duke was saying ‘goodbye’ to several guests who were leaving early.

  “Bruce has already told me what you overheard last night,” Harry said, “and I understand that you have identified Talbot McNaver.”

  “Tell me about him,” Isa suggested. “I was thinking this morning that I knew little about him.”

  “He is utterly despicable,” Harry answered, “and has been something of a nuisance as well as an embarrassment to the family ever since I can remember.”

  He looked at her for a moment before he went on,

  “The Dowager Duchess speaks of him with horror, as well she might, and I have often thought that, if Talbot could kill Bruce without being hanged for his crime, he would not hesitate to do so.”

  “Then what can we do about it?” Isa asked.

  “Bruce has sent two of his staff whom he can trust to discover where Talbot is staying. The mere fact that he is in the neighbourhood without anybody in The Castle being aware of it is suspicious in itself.”

  “Is it certain that it is the Duke’s cousin?” Isa asked.
“After all, Talbot is a common name in Scotland and there must be quite a number of Talbot McNavers.”

  “I doubt if any other member of the Clan would be brave enough to speak openly about disposing of their Chieftain,” Harry pointed out.

  Isa knew that this was the truth and they were both silent until the door opened and the Duke came in.

  She thought that, wearing an ordinary tweed jacket over his kilt and a plain sporran made of otter, he still looked magnificent.

  When he smiled at her, she had the strange feeling that the sun had come out.

  He walked to the fireside.

  Then, as if he was making an important announcement, he began,

  “You are quite right, Isa. Talbot McNaver is staying somewhere on the Strath and my men are making enquiries as to which of the Clan he has inveigled into his plot. But the whole thing sounds to me like a story for schoolboys!”

  The Duke laughed and Harry said,

  “For God’s sake, Bruce, this is not a joke! You know as well as I do that Talbot hates you, as he always has, and if he is deeply in debt, as I am told he is, then the one thing that would restore his fortune would be to get rid of you.”

  “Isa has already told me to be careful,” the Duke replied, “but short of locking myself away in one of the towers, I cannot think how I can avoid being shot in mistake for a stag or drowned if my boat springs a leak on the loch.”

  “You could at least swim in the latter circumstances,” Harry said, “unless by some mischance you are pulled down by somebody swimming underwater!”

  Isa gave a little cry of horror.

  “You must not think such things,” she asserted. “Perhaps they will be carried on the wind and give Talbot McNaver ideas that he has not had before.”

  “I am trying to frighten Bruce into being sensible,” Harry said. “I know his cousin and if there is one person I know to be a crawling poisonous reptile, it is he!”

  “All this is getting us nowhere,” the Duke said quietly. “What do you suggest we do?”

  “I think,” Isa said, as Harry did not speak, “that first we should warn your gardeners and the people in the house to be on the lookout for strangers searching round The Castle, and question them.”

  She paused for a moment to glance out of the window.

  Then she went on,

  “Last night was an exception since, because of all your guests, they could move about unnoticed. Today they should be watched and apprehended.”

  “That is sensible,” Harry said approvingly. “Perhaps if we questioned Rory McNaver himself we might learn something.”

  “We would have to find him in incriminating circumstances,” the Duke suggested. ‘There must be dozens of McNavers in the neighbourhood christened Rory.”

  “For the first time in my life,” Isa said, “I am questioning whether it is a good thing for all Clan members to have the same surname.”

  “I cannot remember when I have met an ‘Isa’ before,” the Duke remarked, “and ‘Isa of the Isles’ is a very pretty name for you to use on the stage.”

  “The Concert platform,” Isa corrected him automatically.

  Harry’s eyes twinkled.

  “I apologise,” the Duke said. “Please forgive me. Of course I realise the difference and the gulf that exists between them.”

  “That is something my father would wish you to think.”

  “Have you told your father what is happening?” the Duke asked.

  Isa shook her head.

  “It was the first thing I thought of doing, but then I was afraid. My father and mother are both old and very vulnerable, living so far from another house if anyone wished to harm them.”

  The Duke suddenly gave an exclamation that was like an explosion.

  “This is intolerable!” he cried. “How can we sit here being frightened by a creature like Talbot? I think the best thing I can do is to send for him, wherever he may be, and ask him what the devil he is up to!”

  “What good would that do?” Harry asked quietly. “He would only defy you, declare, of course, that Miss McNaver is a liar and use the first opportunity he has of finding the treasure of getting rid of you.”

  “There must be something we can do,” the Duke persisted.

  “I think Mr. Vernon is right,” Isa interposed. “It would be a mistake to take action too soon. Because I realise now that somebody like your cousin would be a disaster as Chieftain of the Clan, you must, for everybody’s sake, stay alive.”

  “You said just what I was thinking,” Harry approved. “So, Bruce, there is no question of your going on the moors for the next week or so and, if you go fishing, it would be safer to be accompanied by at least two ghillies and a friend like myself.”

  “The whole thing horrifies me!” the Duke said sharply.

  Isa rose to her feet.

  “I should go home.”

  “That is impossible,” the Duke said.

  “I agree,” Harry asserted. “What I suggest you both do this morning is to have a good look round the garden and see if by any chance you can find what that man Rory missed.”

  He paused to say slowly,

  “It will seem quite natural for you, Bruce, to be showing your guest the Water Garden and the cascade and, of course, your flowers. Moreover, because it will be new to her, perhaps Miss McNaver will notice something that has escaped us.”

  “Very well,” the Duke replied. “Durham and my friends from London will be leaving in half an hour and then, Isa, you and I will saunter leisurely in the sunshine.”

  “I am going down to the river to try to fish,” Harry said. “But I will be back for luncheon and after that, if Miss McNaver wishes to return home, I will be on guard. The one thing you must not be, Bruce, is alone.”

  “Oh, really – !” the Duke started to expostulate, but Harry said firmly,

  “That is an order. Neither Miss McNaver nor I will even argue with you about it!”

  The Duke laughed a little ruefully.

  He then went off to say ‘goodbye’ to Lord Durham and to his grandmother who was returning to her own house, which was a few miles further North.

  Isa went from the room to change the shoes that she had been wearing for breakfast.

  There were several other members of the house party who were leaving as well as Lord Durham and they were taking the Duke’s private train, which would carry them as far as Inverness.

  She thought a little wistfully that one day she would like to travel on the Duke’s train herself.

  It certainly would be quicker than the uncomfortable old carriage with the slow horses that her father had sent to meet her when she came from the South.

  Then she told herself that once he had dispensed with her services for the discovery of the treasure, the Duke would never think of her again.

  He would also doubtless forget his promise to invite her father and mother to The Castle.

  She waited at the top of the broad staircase until the last guest had gone and, when the Duke had seen them off, he looked up and saw her.

  “Come along, Isa,” he said, “I can now show you the Rock Garden as I promised to do. I am sure that you will find it very attractive.”

  He was speaking loudly, she knew, so that the servants who were in the hall could hear him.

  She ran down the stairs eagerly to join him.

  They walked across the lawns and then down some steps, because The Castle was built on the highest point of the land, which led them towards the burn.

  There was quite a lot of water in it, although Isa guessed that when the rains came it would be in a spate rushing into the sea.

  The burn would then become a small torrent and perhaps flood over the lower part of the garden.

  Everything, however, had been done to direct the source of the water into a series of smaller streams until it reached the cliffs.

  What made the Rock Garden so delightful was that it was completely protected by fir trees.

  Havi
ng inspected the lower part where there were a great number of plants that the Duke had brought from abroad, they climbed slowly up towards the cascade.

  As they drew near to it, Isa stopped and said,

  “It’s so beautiful!”

  She was speaking the truth, for emerging from between two high rocks, the cascade, flowing unceasingly, was shimmering in the sunshine.

  The water was swirling round a little island of brilliantly coloured plants, dividing and then re-joining the main stream.

  As she looked at it, the Duke asked after a moment,

  “What are you thinking?”

  “I have just remembered a story I once read,” Isa replied. “It described how some of the men who fought with Bonnie Prince Charlie hid from the British troops behind a cascade which was rather like this one and were never discovered.”

  “I think I must have read that story too at some time in my life,” the Duke said with a smile.

  “Have you ever explored it to see if you can get behind the cascade?” Isa enquired.

  “It never struck me it was possible,” the Duke replied. “Shall we go and have a look?”

  It flashed through Isa’s mind that perhaps that was where the treasure had been hidden all those centuries ago.

  She thought, however, that the Duke might think it a childish idea.

  She therefore kept silent as they climbed up the rough rocks until they were close beside the cascade.

  Now it was flowing deafeningly down beside them.

  It was then that Isa realised that there was just enough room behind the screen of water for somebody to squeeze past without getting wet.

  She pointed it out by sign language to the Duke, for it was quite impossible to speak above the roar of the cascade.

  The Duke nodded and smiled.

  Holding very carefully onto the rocks she eased her way through a small aperture into what she realised was a cave.

  It was larger than she expected. Then as she turned to see the water pouring like a veil between herself and the sunshine, she thought that it not only very beautiful but also very exciting.

  She was still staring at it when the Duke, moving as carefully as she had, joined her.

  “I cannot think,” he said, “why I was not aware of this before. I suppose it is because as a boy I was warned of the danger of going near the cascade in case I was swept away into the sea.”