Page 34 of Laird of Secrets
Dougal looked toward the hills where John MacGregor had once taken him to reveal the secret of the fairies of Kinloch. “We can sell our store of Glen Kinloch brew, and keep the fairy brew for special gifts, as we have always done. The price we ask will be paid. The quality of our whisky speaks for itself.”
“Glen Kinloch malt whisky is without equal in the Highlands,” Fergus said, “but your fairy brew is legendary. Some will pay far more for that than even the best Highland whisky. They will want to try a legendary brew. And the glen needs the money.”
“Whisky is whisky,” Hamish pointed out pragmatically. “Sell it. A fairy legend means little when we know we must save this glen. The government would sell this land out from under us, and they have the right—most of the land in Scotland belongs to king and crown, and we only rent in those deeds. In perpetuity, if we are fortunate,” Hamish added. “But in this case, the government has full right to cancel that and sell the land. Forget the fairy ilk, lad!”
“The fairies do not concern me as much as the customs officers, if we are caught moving that much whisky in order to make a quick and large profit,” Dougal said. It was a wrenching decision to sell the whole of their stash of excellent whisky—it could be years before they had enough to sell for profit again. “If we are seen transporting more casks than usual, they will triple the number of gaugers in the area. We could lose all our cache. I will not risk our best whisky. And I will not move the fairy whisky—the risk is too great.”
“True, it is worth a very handsome sum. We do right to protect it for now,” Hamish said, deliberately misunderstanding what Dougal meant. “And if the teacher would leave the glen, we would be safer.”
“I cannot simply order the lass out of here.”
“You can,” Hamish said. “I like the lass well too, but you can.”
“Surely there is some way,” Fergus said.
“Frighten her off, as I have said,” Ranald suggested. “She will run like the last teacher did. A bit mouse, that one was. Easy to—” He stopped. The other two uncles glanced around, looking innocent.
Dougal narrowed his eyes. “What did you do to make that one leave quickly?”
“Why would we do such a thing?” Ranald asked mildly.
“Me, I never even spoke to her,” Fergus said.
“Tell me what you did,” Dougal growled. He had always suspected, seeing how fast the other teacher had packed and left, that one or more of his uncles had influenced her decision.
Hamish made a face. “The lady knew there were thieves in these hills, and she did not like Highlanders to start. Then Ranald warned her about the wicked fairies who would steal her away as she slept. Just that.”
“Just that?” Dougal looked from one to the next.
“I might have walked around her cottage a bit at night. I might have whistled some,” Fergus said.
“You deliberately frightened the wee woman.” Resisting the urge to laugh, Dougal made sure to scowl.
“Bah, she was a timid thing,” Hamish said. “We did not like her much.”
Dougal twisted his mouth, shook his head. “Do not think to do that to Miss MacCarran. She is not timid, that one.”
“She is a bold thing, with a curious mind and a quick wit,” Fergus said. “And those are poor qualities in a gauger’s sister. She will notice too much of what happens in the glen.”
“There is a fortnight at least before we must move that whisky,” Hamish said. “And a fortnight before the spring ball game in the glen. Which side will you join as a player, Dougal? Drumcairn or Garloch?”
“The laird of Kinloch is always neutral for the spring game, taking no side in the great rivalry between the glen villages,” Dougal said. “I should not play.”
“Hah!” Ranald said. “You, one of the best lads at the ba’!”
“Declare one side or the other and play,” Fergus said. “With you there, everyone will come to watch. It would be a good time to move the whisky.”
“That day?” Dougal asked. “I am not sure—”
“We three have talked it over already. It is a good plan,” Hamish agreed.
“Everyone in the glen will be watching the ba’ game,” Ranald said.
“Interesting. It could work,” Dougal admitted thoughtfully. “I suppose the game would provide enough distraction to allow us to move casks from the hills down to the loch. Otherwise, it might take several trips over several nights.”
“But you would have to send the teacher away before then,” Hamish said. “Or she might alert her brother, and that would bring excise men to the glen.”
“If she will not go, you could make her one of us instead,” Ranald said.
