Page 128 of The Devil of Clan Sinclair
Hannah glanced at her, then away.
“You know my secrets, Hannah, and I trust them with you.”
Hannah nodded.
“I can’t stay at Drumvagen, but there’s no reason why you should not if you wish.”
Hannah took a deep breath, exhaled it on a sigh. “No, your ladyship. My place is with you.”
“Then we will both miss Drumvagen,” she said. And the men who lived here. “If you’ll also inform Hosking,” she added when Hannah turned to leave.
The maid nodded, hesitating beside the bookshelf. “Is there really a secret passage?” she asked.
Macrath himself had said there was no secrecy about the grotto. Otherwise, she would have deflected Hannah’s curiosity.
Virginia walked to where she stood. “Would you like to see it?”
She went to the door, opened it by pulling the sconce straight down. Once the bookcase was ajar, she and Hannah pushed it open.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Hannah said, peering inside.
Virginia grabbed the lantern from the hook inside the passage, lit it and held it aloft. “Would you like to see where it leads?” she asked, daring herself.
Hannah smiled. “I would. It will be a grand adventure.”
“Our last at Drumvagen,” she said.
She was grateful for Hannah’s company traveling down the long passageway. The last time she was here, she’d been desperate with fear.
“Oh, your ladyship, it’s magnificent!” Hannah said when they reached the opening to the grotto.
The bright afternoon was the perfect time to first view the stone room. Sun poured in through the chimney hole. The arched window revealed a view of a sparkling sea and glittering sand.
Virginia extinguished the lantern, set it on the stone floor and glanced away from the window embrasure. She didn’t want to recall those moments with Macrath. Not now, when she was leaving him.
Leaving Hannah to wonder at the marvel of nature, and strolled to the other entrance. She’d never been there before, had never thought to explore this short passageway. From there, she could see the beach, and beyond, the endless water.
The ocean was a patient predator, waiting, always waiting. The tide rolled in like a hungry tongue, licking at the sand, tasting the toes of her shoes. She backed away from the foam. The sea had a voice, or maybe it was the wind, tasting of salt, flicking her hair into her eyes. She pulled the loose strands away, tucked them behind her ear while staring out at the gray green Moray Firth, and beyond to the North Sea.
Macrath had said the ocean made him feel insignificant in comparison. How could he ever think that? He was the Sinclair, the Devil of Drumvagen, the taskmaster and genius who had vowed to create an empire when he was sixteen and done so by the time he was thirty.
Macrath was an entity to himself, a man who had created his life out of an idea, a dream. How foolish she was to think he would simply do what she wished because she wished it.
She didn’t want to summon the authorities. She didn’t want to appear before a magistrate, or whatever the Scots called their judiciary. She especially didn’t want to cause a scandal, one that would reverberate to England.
Hopefully, the threat of what she was willing to do would be enough to convince Macrath to release Elliot.
The tide was like a heartbeat, the sound of it rhythmic and almost hypnotizing. Gripping her skirts, she turned to the right, daring herself to step out over the sand, as close to the ocean as she’d ever been. Here, there was no vessel beneath her feet, only the tide lapping at her shoes.
She felt almost nauseous as she kept walking, hating the fact she was afraid of the ocean. Hating, too, the coming confrontation with Macrath.
Who was she to dare the ocean? What did she expect would happen, that the seas would part, the tide would roll back and allow her to walk on dry sand?
Who was she to dare Macrath?
At the end of the narrow beach was a rough black and brown arch, created by centuries of battering by the waves and tinged green where lichen clung to it in dramatic defiance. She headed toward it, her footsteps soundless on the sand.
When she could walk no farther, she turned to head back, congratulating herself on this small demonstration of courage.
