A Scottish Love Read online

  “What have they done?” Helen asked, her gaze flicking between them.

  “He married her. She married him. In the passage,” Fergus said. “A declaration of intent witnessed by other people is as binding a marriage as any other in Scotland. But the Reverend John McIntyre will not be pleased,” he added. “He’ll declare it a penny marriage.”

  “That’s because he’ll want to preach dour pronouncements over us, first,” Gordon said. “Or perhaps he simply wants a celebration.”

  “We have a lifetime to celebrate,” Shona said, her gaze never moving from him.

  Fergus eyed Elizabeth speculatively.

  “No,” Elizabeth said firmly, taking two steps back and holding up her hands. “A minister, please. I’m English. Not a Scot.”

  “You’ll be a Scot soon enough. After all, you’ll be the Laird of Gairloch’s wife,” Fergus said.

  Shona glanced at Elizabeth. “You’ll be an Imrie. Definitely not English.” She looked at Fergus. “And you’ll not be telling her about the feet washing.”

  “What? Feet washing?” Elizabeth said, but no one was answering.

  “And you’re a MacDermond,” Gordon said, looking down at her. “Finally.”

  What happened between Fergus and Elizabeth would have to wait. What the rest of the Invergaire thought would simply have to wait. His blasting powder would have to wait.

  He wanted to be alone with his wife.

  His wife.

  Shona stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

  The whole damn world could wait.

  Epilogue

  Sometimes, she was completely and totally confounded, as now.

  Shona stared at the letter, then waved it at Gordon as she entered his library.

  “You’ll never believe it,” she said, standing beside his desk.

  He didn’t give her a chance to talk further, merely grabbed her skirt and pulled her over to sit on his lap, not an easy feat considering she wore three petticoats and her skirts were fulsome enough to cover his papers.

  He kissed her soundly just as she was about to explain.

  “It’s from Helen,” she said, somewhat breathlessly a few minutes later.

  “An explanation why she’s left us alone for nearly a week? Not that I mind,” he said, and proceeded to kiss her again.

  They did this so often that it was a wonder he was able to get any work done on his blasting powder. When she said that to him, he merely laughed and kissed her again.

  Why did she always feel as if she’d imbibed Gairloch’s whiskey after kissing him? Whiskey that Mrs. MacKenzie refused to serve now that Old Ned was on her staff.

  So many changes had occurred in just a week. Old Ned was walking around dressed in clean clothes, his eyes looking a little red, his beard shaved clean. Mrs. MacKenzie watched him as if he were a thief in their midst. Poor man, he took his life in his hands if he ever so much as thought of taking another drop of drink.

  They had, amid a solemn ceremony, buried the man and woman from the passages in Invergaire. A small pack had been found in the cavern, as well as a set of pipes, leading to speculation that the two had been the laird’s missing wife and Brian MacDermond. Would they ever know for sure? Perhaps if the ghosts of Gairloch were never heard from again.

  The interment had been a very uncomfortable gathering, as it turned out, since Reverend McIntyre frowned at her and Gordon the whole time. He’d not liked the idea of an irregular marriage and was determined to have them wed, again, this time before the entire congregation.

  She had no objection. She’d marry Gordon a hundred times over.

  “No,” she said now, pushing away from him. “You really need to read this.”

  She held out the letter for Gordon to read, retreating to the chair beside his desk. Not that his lap wasn’t a perfect place, but some of the proprieties should be observed.

  For a time.

  He quickly scanned the letter, his answering smile indicating that this was no surprise to him.

  “You suspected as much?” she asked. “Did you know Helen was going to marry Mr. Loftus?”

  “Didn’t you see how much she doted on him? She might become a wealthy widow in a few years.”

  Shocked, she stared at him. “You make her sound quite conniving.”

  “Not at all. But she did manage to snare the wealthiest man in the group.” He handed her back the letter. “You could have married him, you know.”

  “And be exceptionally wealthy,” she added, nodding. “There is that.”

  If she could have tolerated the man.

  She placed the letter on top of the desk and crawled back onto his lap.“But I wouldn’t have been happy,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Are you?”

  His look was direct, his beautiful blue eyes holding only love for her. She laid her head against his shoulder, thinking that the world was a lovely place as long as Gordon was in it.

  He’d once said that love wasn’t simple for her, that it was twisted up in other emotions. This last week had been a lesson learned, and a foretelling of the future. Love for Gordon was pure, uncomplicated, direct, and endlessly satisfying. A rainbow, a feast, and a symphony.

  “With my whole heart,” she said. After that, it was difficult to think because he was kissing her again.

  “Ah, but you’ll soon be a great deal wealthier than Mr. Loftus,” he said, when she pulled back, intent on luring him upstairs.

  “Will I?”

  How very curious not to care all that much. A roof over her head, some security was all she’d wanted. Instead, she got Gordon. She already was a wealthy woman.

  She placed her cheek against his, wishing she didn’t have the most curious wish to weep at the moment. Joy was the reason for these tears, not sorrow.

  “Aren’t you curious?”

  Pulling back, she looked at him. “You evidently want me to be,” she said, smiling.

  “I’ve sold the blasting powder to the War Office.”

  Surprised, she stared at him. “Have you?” she said cautiously.

  “And to the consortium. And to Mr. Loftus.”

  She began to smile. “Can you do that?”

  “I can. It’s the only way to ensure that it’s used correctly, I think. It will temper the War Office’s use as well.” He glanced down at the letter on his desk. “They were bound to discover the formula sooner or later.”

  “Have you a plan for all this wealth?”

  He smiled. “The Works need to be fitted to make the new blasting powder. Plus, I’ve had an idea to transport it to Inverness using Loch Mor.”

  She raised one eyebrow. “You have been thinking,” she said.

  “There will be a great many more people in Invergaire Glen in a few months.”

  “And some won’t be here,” she said, thinking of Helen.

  “We can go to America, if you wish, make sure she’s settled in. And meet other Americans. Something tells me they’re not all like Mr. Loftus and his daughter.”

  “I’d like that,” she said, taking a moment to kiss him again.

  “There’s another absence I need to tell you about,” he said a few moments later. “Rani’s going back to India.”

  “After he’s become wealthy?”

  “He wants to help his country,” he said, “and who could blame him? Also, I think a woman is at the heart of it.”

  She smiled. “Aren’t we always, dear one?” She bent and placed another kiss on his lips to mark her place there, on his body, in his heart, forever.

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  Author’s Note

  The first passenger elevator was installed in a New York City department store in 1857.

  Alfred Nobel set up Works in Ardeer, Ayrshire, in 1871 to manufacture nitroglycerine. Sir Andrew Noble is considered the father of the science of ballistics. A physicist and gunnery expert, he devised a method to increase the firing accuracy of guns. I’ve taken both Nobel’s and Noble�
�s achievements and combined them for Gordon MacDermond.

  Kieselguhr is another name for diatomaceous earth.

  According to Scottish Customs by Margaret Bennett (1992, Polygon), bean tuiream, or mourning woman, refers mainly to a professional weeper, hired to mourn at a funeral. The word tuiream means to mourn for the dead, while bean means woman or wife. I’ve borrowed the term bean tuiream for one of the ghosts, the weeping woman.

  Gairloch is also a town in the Highlands with a history dating back to the Iron Age.

  After 1845, poor relief in Scotland was administered at the parish level. Several parishes in the east of Scotland operated smaller poorhouses such as almshouses, parish cottages, or parochial houses.

  Kensington is now a very fashionable part of London but it once housed slums.

  In Scotland, an irregular marriage didn’t require the auspices of any official, religious or civil, but was as binding, as long as it was held before witnesses.

  The Ninety-third (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Line Infantry Regiment of the British Army. It was united with the Ninety-first (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot in 1881 to form the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

  Welcome to the World of Karen Ranney

  Turn the page to explore other wonderful romances Karen Ranney has in store for you.

  A Highland Duchess

  The beautiful but haughty Duchess of Herridge is known to all the ton as the “Ice Queen.” But to Ian McNair, the exquisite Emma is nothing like the rumors. Sensual and passionate, she moves him as no other woman has before. If only she were his wife and not his captive . . .

  Little does Emma know that the dark and mysterious stranger who bursts into her bedroom to kidnap her is the powerful Earl of Buchane, and the only man who has been able to see past her proper façade. As the Ice Queen’s defenses melt under the powerful passion she finds with her handsome captor, she begins to believe that love may be possible. Yet fate has decreed that the dream can never be—for pursuing it means sacrificing everything they hold dear: their honor, their futures . . . and perhaps their lives.

  Sold to a Laird

  Lady Sarah Baines was devoted to her mother and her family home, Chavensworth. Douglas Eston was devoted to making a fortune and inventing. The two of them are married when Lady Sarah’s father proposes the match and threatens to send Lady Sarah’s ill mother to Scotland if she protests.

  Douglas finds himself the victim of love at first sight, while Sarah thinks her husband is much too, well, earthy for her tastes. Marriage is simply something she had to do to ensure her mother’s well-being, and even when her mother dies in the next week, it’s not a sacrifice she regrets.

  She cannot, however, simply write her mother’s relatives and inform them of her death. She convinces Douglas—an ex pat Scot—to return to Scotland with her, to a place called Kilmarin. At Kilmarin, she is given the Tulloch Sgàthán, the Tulloch mirror. Legend stated that a woman who looked into the mirror saw her true fate.

  Douglas and Sarah begin to appreciate the other, and through passion, Douglas is able to express his true feelings for his wife. But once they return to England and Douglas disappears and is presumed dead, Sarah has to face her own feelings for the man she’s come to respect and admire.

  A Scotsman in Love

  Margaret Dalrousie was once willing to sacrifice all for her calling. The talented artist would let no man interfere with her gift. But now, living in a small Scottish cottage on the estate of Glengarrow, she has not painted a portrait in ages. For not even the calming haven in the remote woods can erase the memories that darken Margaret’s days and nights. And now, with the return of the Earl of Linnet to his ancestral home, her hopes of peace have disappeared.

  From the first moment he encountered Margaret on his land, the Earl of Linnet was nothing but annoyed. The grieving nobleman has his own secrets that have lured him to the solitude of the Highlands, and his own reasons for wanting to be alone. Yet he is intrigued by his hauntingly beautiful neighbor. Could she be the spark that will draw him out of bittersweet sorrow—the woman who could transform him from a Scotsman in sadness to a Scotsman in love?

  The Devil Wears Tartan

  Some say he is dangerous. Others say he is mad. None of them knows the truth about Marshall Ross, the Devil of Ambrose. He shuns proper society, sworn to let no one discover his terrible secret. Including the beautiful woman he has chosen to be his wife.

  Only desperation could bring Davina McLaren to the legendary Edinburgh castle to become the bride of a man she has never met. Plagued by scandal, left with no choices, she has made her bargain with the devil. And now she must share his bed.

  From the moment they meet, Davina and Marshall are rocked by an unexpected desire that leaves them only yearning for more. But the pleasures of the marriage bed cannot protect them from the sins of the past. With an enemy of Marshall’s drawing ever closer and everything they now cherish most at stake, he and Davina must fight to protect the passion they cannot deny.

  The Scottish Companion

  Haunted by the mysterious deaths of his two brothers, Grant Roberson, tenth Earl of Straithern, fears for his life. Determined to produce an heir before it’s too late, Grant has promised to wed a woman he has never met. But instead of being enticed by his bride-to-be, Grant can’t fight his attraction to the understated beauty and wit of her paid companion.

  Gillian Cameron long ago learned the danger of falling in love. Now, as the companion to a spoiled bluestocking, she has learned to keep a firm hold on her emotions. But, from the moment she meets him, she is powerless to resist the alluring and handsome earl.

  Fighting their attraction, Gillian and Grant must band together to stop an unknown enemy from striking. Will the threat of danger be enough to make them realize their true feelings?

  Autumn in Scotland

  Betrothed to an earl she had never met, Charlotte Haversham arrived at Balfurin, hoping to find love at the legendary Scottish castle. Instead she found decaying towers and no husband among the ruins. So Charlotte worked a miracle, transforming the rotting fortress into a prestigious girls’ school. And now, five years later, her life is filled with purpose—until . . .

  A man storms Charlotte’s castle—and he is not the reprehensible Earl of Marne, the one who stole her dowry and dignity, but rather the absent lord’s handsome, worldly cousin Dixon MacKinnon. Mesmerized by the fiery Charlotte, Dixon is reluctant to correct her mistake. And though she’s determined not to play the fool again, Charlotte finds herself strangely thrilled by the scoundrel’s amorous attentions. But a dangerous intrigue has drawn Dixon to Balfurin. And if his ruse is prematurely revealed, a passionate, blossoming love affair could crumble into ruin.

  An Unlikely Governess

  Impoverished and untitled, with no marital prospects or so much as a single suitor, Beatrice Sinclair is forced to accept employment as governess to a frightened, lonely child from a noble family—ignoring rumors of dark intrigues to do so. Surely, no future could be as dark as the past she wishes to leave behind. And she admits fascination with the young duke’s adult cousin, Devlen Gordan, a seductive rogue who excites her from the first charged moment they meet. But she dares not trust him—even after he spirits them to isolation and safety when the life of her young charge is threatened.

  Devlen is charming, mysterious, powerful—and Beatrice cannot refuse him. He is opening new worlds for her, filling her life with passion . . . and peril. But what are Devlen’s secrets? Is he her lover or her enemy? Will following her heart be foolishness or a path to lasting happiness?

  Till Next We Meet

  When Adam Moncrief, Colonel of the Highland Scots Fusiliers, agrees to write a letter to Catherine Dunnan, one of his officers’ wives, a forbidden correspondence develops and he soon becomes fascinated with her even though Catherine thinks the letters come from her husband, Harry Dunnan. Although Adam stops writing after Harry is killed, a year after his last letter he still can’
t forget her.Then when he unexpectedly inherits the title of the Duke of Lymond, Adam decides the timing is perfect to pay a visit to the now single and available Catherine.What he finds, however, is not the charming, spunky woman he knew from her letters, but a woman stricken by grief, drugged by laudanum and in fear for her life. In order to protect her, Adam marries Catherine, hoping that despite her seemingly fragile state, he will once again discover the woman he fell in love with.

  The Highland Lords: Book One

  One Man’s Love

  He was her enemy, a British colonel in war torn Scotland. But as a youth, Alec Landers, earl of Sherbourne had spent his summers known as Ian, running free on the Scottish Highlands—and falling in love with the tempting Leitis MacRae. With her fiery spirit and vibrant beauty, she is still the woman who holds his heart, but revealing his heritage now would condemn them both. Yet as the mysterious Raven, an outlaw who defies the English and protects the people, Alec could be Leitis’s noble hero again—even as he risks a traitor’s death.

  Leistis MacRae thought the English could do nothing more to her clan, but that was before Colonel Alec Landers came to reside where the MacRae’s once ruled. Now, to save the only family she has left, Leitis agrees to be a prisoner in her uncle’s place, willing to face even an English colonel to save his life. But Alec, with his soldier’s strength and strange compassion, is an unwelcome surprise. Soon Leitis cannot help the traitorous feelings she has when he’s near . . . nor the strange sensation that she’s known him once before. And as danger and passion lead them to love, will their bond survive Alec’s unmasking? Or will Leitis decide to scorn her beloved enemy?

  The Highland Lords: Book Two

  When the Laird Returns

  Though a descendant of pround Scottish lairds, Alisdair MacRae had never seen his ancestral Highland estate—nor imagined that he’d have to marry to reclaim it! But the unscrupulous neighboring laird Magnus Drummond has assumed control of the property—and he will relinquish it only for a King’s ransom . . . and a groom for his daughter Iseabal! Alisdair never thought to give up the unfettered life he loves—not even for a bride with the face of an angel and the sensuous grace that would inflame the desire of any male.