01 Highland Master by Amanda Scott

Author:Amanda Scott [Scott, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781455503544
Goodreads: 10404213
Publisher: Forever
Published: 2013-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

His spirits lifting, Fin continued downstairs, having gone up only to exchange his shirt for a lighter one. The fire in the inner chamber burned hot, and with so many in the room, it had grown stuffy during the morning.

The afternoon meeting was no more productive than the morning one had been, however, until Donald said gruffly, “As I see it, Davy lad, the risk of what ye’re asking be far greater than any gain for me. Should we fail and Albany take up the reins of government again, we’ll all likely pay with our lives.”

Alex said with a deceptively lazy smile, “What d’ye want, Donald?”

Being a fellow Stewart, Alex spoke as to an equal, but Fin saw Donald’s lips tighten and knew why. Alex, although likewise the King’s nephew, was not only twenty years younger but bastard born.

Fin soon let his thoughts drift again to Catriona and her kiss on the stairs.

It had been all he could do not to catch her and hold her tight. Sakes, but he would have liked to take her right there against the stone wall of the stairwell.

Everything about her tempted him, and the strength of that temptation lingered. When she left after supper to go upstairs with the women, his thoughts continued to tease him, and they teased him even more in his dreams.

The next morning, he did not see her when he broke his fast with the men. But before the meeting had droned on long, the Mackintosh came to his rescue.

“Sithee, lads,” the old man said, looking from one great lord to another. “Ye waste time with all this posturing! Whilst I did agree to host this meeting and can see that ye need me, I am no growing any younger by this. Forbye, Rothesay, I would ask that ye and these cousins of yours do choose a man each and sit the six of ye down with me. Sithee, I’ll stay and keep ye from murdering each other, but only an ye take me advice. So now, what d’ye say?”

Fin held his breath. Having feared that the old man had stepped beyond what Rothesay would stand, he nearly cheered when, with a curt nod, Davy said, “ ’Tis a good notion. I’ll keep Havers with me. You other men may go.”

Fin left at once to see if Ivor had yet departed for the peat bogs, where he was again to spend the day. Passing through the hall, he looked for Catriona but did not see her and then found Ivor at the landing, watching gillies launch a boat.

Fin thus spent a tolerably amusing day watching peat cutters and learning more than he had ever wanted to know about drying peat for fuel.

He and Ivor returned near dusk, sunburned, hungry, and thirsty. Shouting for bathwater, Ivor said, “We’ve got nobbut an hour to tidy up for supper, so hurry.”

Fin obeyed, but when they gathered with the others on the dais, one look at Rothesay told him that he was in a dangerous mood and had already taken enough wine to make him reckless.

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