The Scot and I by Thornton Elizabeth

Author:Thornton, Elizabeth [Thornton, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425228326
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2009-06-02T07:00:00+00:00

They left the house in two groups. First went the Cardno ladies with Mahri posing as Juliet’s cousin, not as a female, but dressed as a young gentleman in the garments of Juliet’s late father. In Alex’s opinion, it was an improvement on Thomas Gordon. Mahri was too well-rounded to sustain a boy’s role. He could hardly believe how well she had fooled him—but not for long.

The second group was made up of Dugald and himself, dressed in the green tunics of the Queen’s Royal Guard, and Gavin, in his rumpled suit, looking deliberately the worse for wear, who was posing as their prisoner.

The first test came as they made to cross the bridge into Ballater. There were two guards at each end, but there were also workmen there, repairing the damage of the flood to the bridge. Juliet played her part well—the consummate flirt. She was dressed for the part, too, in a fitted brown linen gown with a flared skirt and a hint of a bustle. Her mother was dressed in black and leaned heavily on Mahri’s arm. When Mrs. Cardno stumbled and fell on her knees, the guards rushed to help Juliet and her cousin raise the old lady to her feet.

It was quite a performance.

“Now,” said Alex softly.

They stepped onto the bridge, with Gavin giving the impression that he’d been soundly beaten. His chin hung on his chest. His feet dragged. One of the guards came to meet them, but half his attention was still on Juliet, who was blathering on about going to Aberdeen for the day to do a little shopping. In one hand, Mahri clutched a leather traveling bag. If asked, her story was that her holiday with her cousins was over, and she was going home to Aberdeen. Her other hand was in her pocket where her fingers were curled around the butt of her little revolver.

Dugald whispered from the side of his mouth, “Here comes trouble.”

“Nonsense,” replied Gavin. To Alex, he said, “Remember who our grandmother was. I’ve been practicing. There’s nothing to it.”

They stopped when the guard came up to them. Alex said, “We’re taking this man by train to Aberdeen for questioning. Here are my orders signed by Colonel Foster.”

The paper he presented was the official notepaper of the queen that Miller had filched for him. The orders and Foster’s signature were a forgery, Alex’s handiwork. It helped that Alex had an aiguillette denoting his rank as captain pinned to his left shoulder.

The guard scanned the document. When he looked up at Alex, there wasn’t a hint of suspicion in his eyes. “You’ll want someone to clear the way for you, Captain,” he said.

“Thank you.”

“Come this way. I’ll take you to the station.”

Gavin smirked. Alex frowned. This was too easy.

They crossed the bridge without a challenge and were soon trudging up Bridge Street toward the Station Square. It seemed to Alex that Gavin was leaning more heavily on him, and he was beginning to wonder whether he’d done the right thing by attempting to make for Aberdeen.

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