Page 78 of Sinful Scottish Laird
“Me?” He smiled. “I’ll be at Arrandale until I die, will I no’? I’m a Mackenzie, and did you know, then, that I’ll take over for my daas the laird of the Mackenzie clan? I’m a Highlander, a Scotsman, and there is no other place for me but the Highlands. Just as there is no other place for you but England. But we are neighbors. We will always be neighbors. Rest assured that when you come back, I’ll be right here, just over those trees, waiting for you to come round and tell me of your adventures.”
“Do you swear it?” Ellis whispered.
Cailean held up his hand. “I give you my word as a Highlander and a Mackenzie.”
Ellis nodded. He rubbed his hand under his nose. “Thank you, Cailean,” he said. “For my plaid and...” He gulped down his tears. “And for being my friend,” he said, his voice breaking.
Cailean rather thought it was he who owed the boy his thanks. He would never have children of his own, but Ellis had given him a brief glimpse of what might have been, and for that, Cailean would be eternally grateful.
He stood up, roughly wiped the tears from Ellis’s upturned face, and then leaned back to look him over. “Aye,” he said, nodding approvingly. “A strong highland lad if ever I’ve laid eyes on one.” He patted Ellis on the back. “We best return to your mother lest she think we escaped.”
Ellis drew a breath so large that his shoulders lifted with it, and then he clutched Cailean’s hand in one hand, his plaid and sporran in the other, as they reentered the lodge and made their way to the great room.
All eyes turned toward them as they entered the room, and Ellis went straight to his mother, who wordlessly held out her arms to him. He walked into them, his head down. Over the top of her son’s head, Daisy smiled gratefully at Cailean.
“Will you stay to dine, Arrandale?” Mr. Kimberly asked.
“No, thank you,” Cailean said. He could hardly sit about and watch Daisy and Spivey dining as if they were already married. “But I’ll have a word with you and the captain, if you please.”
“A word?” Spivey snorted. “I can think of nothing you might have to say to me.”
For a moment, Cailean reconsidered warning the pompous bastard that his hide was in danger. But he glanced at Ellis and smiled. “You might be surprised, then,” he said.
“A word about what?” Daisy asked, looking between the men.
“Ellis, go with Cousin Belinda now,” Mr. Kimberly said, gesturing to the door.
“I don’t want to,” he protested. “I want to stay here, with all of you.”
“You heard your uncle, boy. Do as he tells you,” Captain Spivey said. He didn’t even look at Ellis when he commanded it.
Had it already come to this? Was Spivey already dismissing Ellis from his sight?
“Come dearest,” Miss Hainsworth said, taking his hand. “Would you like to try your plaid?” She put a protective arm around Ellis.
Cailean gave Ellis a smile and a conspiratorial wink as he moved past, and then he turned his back to the lad’s exit and looked into the fire. He was astonished that he couldn’t bear to see the lad leave. And he was appallingly and unduly bothered by that. He was not a sentimental man—he was the sort to say farewell and never look back. But watching Ellis leave the room, knowing he might never see him again, was much harder than Cailean could have anticipated. He had a sense of foreboding for the lad, an unease that he would crumble under the scrutiny of a man like Spivey. Ellis needed a man to see him, to reallyseehim, to help guide him. Cailean feared he’d be shunted aside, sent off to school, left in the shadows, and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Madam, perhaps you ought to accompany your son and allow the gentlemen to speak,” Spivey said.
The captain aggravated Cailean. He acted as if he owned Auchenard, as if he were already married to Daisy and was her lord and master. However, he did wish Daisy would leave the room. He didn’t want to frighten her.
But the Daisy he knew was not one to take instruction from men. “No,” she said defiantly. “If it has to do with Auchenard, I must hear it.”
Spivey pressed his lips together and looked at Cailean. “What is it, then?”
“An English man-of-war was spotted near Tiree just south of here,” Cailean said, his gaze locked on Spivey’s.
Spivey shrugged. “What of it?”
“A man-of-war never comes this far north on the eastern shore, aye? There are many in these hills that believe you might have something to do with it.”
Spivey snorted. “Had I known of this den of thieves, I would have summoned them. But I didn’t. I came here as a free man. Is that all you have to say?”
“No,” Cailean said calmly. “It is my best advice that you all leave as soon as possible. That is, if you donna wish to hang.”
Daisy gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth and she stared wide-eyed at Spivey.
But the captain merely chuckled. “That is a capital offense, Mackenzie. Would you add that to your other crimes?”
