A Highland Folly by Jo Ann Ferguson Read Free Book Online Page B

because I do not want to see this glen erupt into anger.” She paused and faced him. Her hands were clenched at her sides. “There are so many rumors rushing about. To find out what is really being said, I am going to speak with the neighboring landowners.”
    â€œDo you think that wise?”
    She smiled icily. “Do you think I should speak only to those who were allied with the Kinlochs in the English Civil War? Or maybe only with those who fought with this clan against Edward the First and his son back in the thirteenth century? How about those who refused to dye their faces blue and battle their fellow Picts? Mayhap I should refrain from speaking with them.”
    â€œYou do not need to go to absurd lengths to prove your point.”
    â€œNo? I find that being absurd is a valid custom, celebrated with the greatest glee, here in the Highlands.”
    Lucais laughed. He could not halt himself. “I have never heard the peculiar ways here described quite like that, but you are right.”
    â€œI would have thought that you had discovered that already yourself.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYou seem familiar with other quaint customs here.” Pausing where the path branched to go down toward the river or back toward Ardkinloch, she asked, “How long have you been here?”
    â€œOn this trip, I have been here only a pair of fortnights.”
    â€œSo you’ve been to Scotland before?”
    He looked around at the mountains that were gathering the clouds around them as the sun was swallowed by the gray mist that would soon reach them. He looked anywhere but at Anice, because he did not want her violet eyes to perceive what he was thinking. He did not want to speak of Scotland and the past. “I spent time here as a boy.”
    â€œThen what advice do you have for me?”
    â€œAdvice? For you?” Lucais wondered how she could have missed the tension in his voice when she had been so insightful before.
    â€œOn dealing with the Scots in this area.”
    â€œOne thing I can tell you. You shall never change a single Scot’s mind. To think otherwise is pure folly.”
    She shook her head, her wry grin brightening her luminous eyes. “That I know already. My cousin Neilli is headstrong and unshakable in her belief that she should have a Season in London.”
    â€œSo she wishes to escape Scotland?” He had not guessed that any of the Kinlochs would be so wise. Nothing he had ever heard would have suggested any of them had an ounce of wit. Having met Anice, he had had to own that she was not like all those tales. Yet her family had been silly when he brought her home after she struck her head.
    Although Miss Kinloch’s wish to leave Killiebige was something he could commiserate with, he wished her better fortune than he had in Town. Dash it! He did not want to recall a second of the last ignoble weeks he had spent there.
    â€œNo.” Dimples he had not noticed before punctuated her smile. “She simply wants to make an excellent match with a titled lord who also is a Scot.”
    Lucais needed all his willpower to bite back his curse. A title! Were all women focused only on what a man was called rather than what was within him or what he had achieved? His fury seeped into his voice as he said, “I wish her every bit of luck in her quest, although it would seem that if one wished a Scot for a husband, one would seek in Scotland.”
    â€œLucais, what is amiss?”
    There was the intuition he had anticipated before. Her eyes were wide, and he saw dismay in them. Knowing that his voice must have been sterner than he had intended, he forced a smile. “I wish you the best of luck in finding the truth, Anice.”
    â€œI am sure you do, because you must want to hear it as well.”
    â€œNo, I do not need to hear it.” Bowing his head in farewell, he said grimly, “I know all of it already, but, I can assure you, Anice, and you