Some Like it Scot (Scandalous Highlanders Book 4) by Suzanne Enoch Read Free Book Online Page A

bread. And that made her exceedingly curious about where and how Bear had come by it. He dressed like a cotter or a poacher and moved with the stealth and grace of a hunter, despite his height and broad shoulders. Had he stolen it? Had he obtained it from his master’s kitchen? She supposed he might well be the gamekeeper for Glengask, though that put him far too near noblemen’s ears for her comfort.
    Something deep inside the building groaned creakily, and she caught sight of Elizabeth wrapping her new blanket more closely around her slender shoulders. The place had a name now, which she appreciated, but then he’d gone and said that Haldane Abbey was haunted—and Elizabeth had heard him say it. Any ghosties had best stay clear of both of them, as far as she was concerned. She had enough earthbound troubles to keep her quite occupied.
    â€œDid you hear that?” her sister whispered.
    â€œAye. The loose boards up by the stairs, I reckon,” she decided. “If they fall, it’ll save me the trouble of pulling ’em out to repair the roof.”
    Blast the giant for saying such a thing, anyway, especially in the same sentence where he’d said she was welcome to stay there. Had he hoped she would faint or throw herself into his manly arms? Ha. A few spirits wouldn’t make her run to or from any damned thing. She practically slept with one eye open, anyway, and if she shivered from a little more than a chill breeze, she would never admit it aloud.
    Donning her damp, patched trousers again, she stomped into her boots. There. Trousers and boots felt more capable, she supposed it was. “I’m off to get more water,” she said, tucking in her shirt and pulling the rattiest of the blankets over her shoulders. “And I’m fairly sure I spotted some late raspberries up at the edge of the meadow.”
    â€œCan’t I go with you?”
    â€œElizabeth.”
    â€œI know, I know, I need to stay hidden. But I’m not a child, Cat. I’m nineteen, and all this … danger you’ve put yourself in is because of me. Aside from that, it’s raining, and that giant man hasn’t come back. And I’m going mad in here, even with Byron for company.”
    The giant hadn’t come back since yesterday morning, anyway. “I’m nae certain Byron’s good company for a lass going mad,” she admitted, hiding her frown. “Very well. Just stay close, and do precisely as I say.”
    â€œI will.” Elizabeth wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and then slipped it up around her face. It wouldn’t do much to keep her dry or warm, but the stream and the meadow were only a few minutes away.
    Catriona took up her musket and led the way outside Haldane Abbey. Elizabeth carrying the pot did make the task a bit easier, but it also made her twice as wary about venturing into the open. She knew about risks, and her father had taught her how to take care of herself. Since she’d left her home on the Isle of Islay she’d felt far older than twenty-four, and a far greater age difference than the five years that actually separated her from Elizabeth. And the one thing she’d realized immediately was that she needed to take care of her sister, protect her, watch out for her. Kittens in the Highlands rarely lasted long on their own.
    The stream was hardly more than a moss-edged trickle where it emerged from the rocks a few hundred feet from the old building, but the water was fresh and cold and clean. The access to nearby water had made this location even more appealing than it had been merely by virtue of its isolation. “Set the pot here and let it fill,” she said softly, unwilling to disturb the soft rustle of wet leaves with conversation.
    That done, they continued up the narrow, steep end of the gorge to where it opened on a green and purple meadow. Cattle grazed on the far side, but an old fence kept them from the gorge