Page 1 of Taming the Scot
1
July 1817
Drum Castle
Captain Euan Irvine of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and to his knowledge, the newly titled the Baron of Drum and Chief of the Irvine clan, stared in disbelief at the parchment in his hands. It’d been delivered by his grandfather’s solicitor, and the message still caused him to see red.
Betrayal had never tasted so bitter.
He closed his eyes a minute, shutting out the study that had once belonged to his father. Letting the wood-paneled walls, the shelves of books, the windows with their heavy tartan drapes, all of it disappear.
His faithful dog, Owen, let out a low noise that was half-whimper, half-growl. The elderly hound, who was now more a house pet than a hunter, was attuned to his master’s emotions and often checked in on Euan, perhaps still worried he’d disappear again as he had when sent off to France to fight in the Peninsular War.
“This is horse shite,” he growled to the ceiling, willing his grandfather back from the grave to answer for his deceit.
Euan pounded a fist into his desk, and Owen leapt from his cozy spot with more agility than usual and barked as if he agreed.
The desire to ball up the parchment and toss it into the banked fire of his hearth, watching as the tiny embers ignited and burned the anger away was strong. “That bloody bastard.”
A tentative knock sounded on his study door, and the eldest of his six sisters, Maggie, poked her head around. Owen trotted toward her, nudging her hand with his nose. When they’d been younger, Maggie had exhibited some of their mother, Lady Clara’s, looks and as they’d aged, she’d turned into the spitting image of her. Long golden locks that she kept in a plait down her back most of the time, and eyes as blue as his own. There was a faint dusting of freckles over her nose from walks in the sun sans bonnet, much to her former governess’s chagrin. Euan sported the same sprinkle, as did all their siblings.
Maggie’s presence usually calmed him, but knowing what the letter contained, he felt nowhere near calm then.
“What’s happened?” Maggie’s frequently upturned mouth was cast down, and she gazed at him with worry in her eyes.
Euan had restrained himself from tossing the grizzled solicitor from their castle as the man had apologized for being the bearer of such bad news. As they’d marched to the large front entrance, he’d seen his sisters poking their heads out from the upstairs landing. He’d not wanted to shock them with any violence, but also, he was a strict believer in the old adage: no harm to the messenger.
Maggie shut the door and approached his desk with Owen on her heels. Being the closest in age and left to fend for themselves when Euan was only fourteen, he and Maggie had often worked together with the running of the household and lands. They’d endured a nightmare with their Uncle Will, who had overstepped his bounds and tried to steal from the estate, a move that landed him in prison. After that, Euan had declared he was man enough to take on the duties inherited by his father and the care of his six sisters.
“Grandda has left us one more beautiful legacy.” His tone was filled with sarcasm, and Maggie knew it. He was seething, and his teeth were clamped so tightly he was likely to chip a tooth.
Maggie grimaced and let out a groan. Owen let out his own groan, commiserating with them both. Sometimes, Euan swore, that hound was a human.
There was a noise outside the door, and they both focused on it. Euan was certain if he were to look through the keyhole, he’d see the blue of one of his sister’s eyes.
“They are all going to listen in, are they no’?” he asked, knowing the answer.
Maggie grinned. “If they did no’, I’d send for the doctor, for only an ailment would keep them from nosing about where they do no’ belong.”
That fact belonged to the two of them as well. Having to rely so heavily on each other since they were adolescents, there were little, if any, secrets between them.
Maggie marched straight for his desk and sat down on the side of it, lifting the parchment from where he’d slammed it down. She scanned it, her eyes widening as she read. He could pick out each part by the wider her eyes grew. From the grave, their grandfather was stipulating a drastic change to the inheritance of the barony and the lands he’d been promised his entire life. Barons in Scotland were not peerage titles, and not subject to primogeniture as they were in England. Blast his grandfather for taking advantage of that fact. The man had been legally within his rights to decide who inherited his titles and properties.
Until this moment, he’d thought himself the Baron of Drum, the Chief of the entire Irvine clan that spanned holdings across Scotland, for it had been his to inherit when their grandfather passed. But now, the written words of a man already dead were rescinding that.
For now, he retained his position of Laird of Drum, but even that was in jeopardy.
“This has to be false. A forgery of some kind. Made by Uncle Will to get back at us.”
Said Uncle Will—their father’s twin brother—was a criminal, and Euan wouldn’t put it past him to be involved in this scheme, especially given the recipient, should Euan fail, was their cousin, Will’s son Hector. There had always been a lot of animosity between the brothers, a relationship opposite to what Euan had with his six sisters.
Euan let out a growl, matched by his hound, and stomped to the window to stare out at the landscape he’d been gazing at since he was old enough to notice it was there. Owen trotted along beside him, putting his paws up on the windowsill to stare out.
Drum Castle had been Euan’s childhood home, his inheritance. He knew the people of this land as well as he knew his sisters. Since he was fourteen, he’d been their laird. Toiled with them, supported them. And they, likewise, had supported him. He couldn’t imagine not being there for them. But if what his grandfather suggested came to fruition, then Euan would be cast aside.
The lands belonging to the Chief of Clan Irvine had been split between their father and Uncle Will—being born twins. So when their da had passed on unexpectedly, Drum Castle went to Euan, and Bonshaw Tower was to go to their cousin Hector, who was Will’s son. And the vilest of human beings as far as Euan was concerned. He was known to associate with the worst of Edinburgh’s criminal underbelly, which was why Euan chose not to have anything to do with Hector.
But now…
