Her Highness and the Highlander by Tracy Anne Warren

Author:Tracy Anne Warren
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2012-11-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

“Aye, the axle’s snapped clean through, jest as ye thought.” Dougal Cameron nodded from where he’d squatted down to inspect the underside of the carriage.

“Can you repair it?” Daniel asked, watching as the other man straightened from his crouch.

“Nae, don’t have the tools.”

Daniel muffled a curse. Now what were he and Mercedes going to do, since this area wasn’t exactly teeming with carriages for hire?

“But I know a man who does,” Cameron continued, as if the long silence between his first statement and the second had been no more than a slight pause. “Has the next farm up the road.”

Daniel’s spirits lifted. “Do you think he could do the work right away?”

“Hafta ask him that, but I expect he’ll find a minute here and there. He’s a good lad, Tommy is.”

And so they set off for Tommy’s farm, which lay a couple of miles up the road and along a winding dirt lane.

Robbie, who had run after them when they’d left Dougal’s place, rode happily in the wagon bed. Having been banished from the house, he’d decided to accompany Daniel, and Daniel hadn’t seen the harm in letting him follow.

Tommy was a huge, strapping man, who looked as if he tossed the caber in his spare time and crushed rocks with his bare hands in the other. But he had a big wide grin and an easy temperament that immediately set a man at ease.

As Dougal Cameron said, Tommy was a good lad.

Daniel explained the difficulty with the curricle, and Tommy said he’d be glad of the work and that he’d take the job.

“But it willna be done today,” he told him. “Or tomorrow, fer that matter. Day after next is the best I can manage, an’ even then it’ll be a push.”

Daniel knew there was no point arguing. Country people worked country hours, doing the hard labor that came with such a life on their own terms. Instead, he passed him some coins that made Tommy’s smile widen even further; he hoped it would also encourage him to “push.”

Back they rode to the abandoned curricle, Tommy following in his own wagon.

With a hammer, nails, and a spare piece of wood, Tommy patched the axle enough that the curricle could be pulled on a hitch behind his wagon. Daniel took a moment to retrieve the belongings he and Mercedes had left in the boot, and then he and Dougal waved the other man off.

“Is there an inn nearby?” Daniel asked once they were under way back to the Cameron farm. “Mercedes and I are grateful for your hospitality, but we’ve no wish to impose.”

“Och, an’ ye’re not imposing. Sara and I are glad tae have ye.”

So there would be no arguing there either, Daniel realized. The Camerons’ hospitality, whatever it might prove, would have to suffice. For himself, he had no quarrel. He could sleep in the barn, if necessary. It was Mercedes whose comfort concerned him.

She’d done well sleeping under the stars last night, but he doubted she would relish less than commodious quarters for the next two to three nights to come.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.