Page 12 of Kilgannon #1

A S WE WALKED, ALEX ASKED ABOUT MY DAY AND listened attentively, though I knew he couldn’t possibly be interested. Still, his courtesy was charming. When we passed a park he led me into it and stopped under a tree, gesturing up at it with a smile. “How do ye like my lodgings?” he asked with a grin.

I laughed at him. “You’re living in a tree?”

“No, but I thought if I took ye somewhere without walls ye might be less suspicious of me.” His expression changed from merry to unreadable, and when he spoke again his tone was quiet.

“I’ll not harm ye, Mary Lowell, nor would I ever force ye.

Ye can trust me.” He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Of course, that’s just what I would say if I had evil intentions, is it not?

How do I let ye know I’m trustworthy?” I looked at his worried expression, at the way the vest emphasized the lines of his body and the way his hair lay against the soft wool of the plaid.

“If I did not think you were trustworthy, Alex MacGannon,” I said softly, “I would not be here with you now, compromising my reputation.”

Alex smiled. “Aye, well, there is that.” He let his arms fall from his chest and straightened his shoulders. “Well, now that yer reputation is irrevocably compromised, what else d’ye suppose I can get ye to do, Miss Lowell?” he asked, his tone lively again .

“I think that’s sufficient, Lord Kilgannon.”

“Aye, probably,” he said, nodding. “Just as well, since I’d have to admit I have no lodgings.”

“Where do you live?” I gestured to the tree. He shook his head. “Then where are you staying?”

“On my brig.”

“On your ship?”

“Aye,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “Do ye want to see it?”

“Won’t that compromise me further?”

“Not if I don’t take ye belowdecks. Besides, Angus and Matthew are there. They can be yer chaperons.”

I laughed and waved a finger at him. “Oh, yes, Alex, that would be grand. I’ll explain to Louisa that since I did not think it proper to be alone with one man, I was alone with three. I’m sure she’d agree I acted most wisely.”

“There’s a lot more than three men. The whole crew should be coming back by now.”

“Even better. What more fitting place to ensure my reputation than a shipload of men?”

He frowned, his disappointment obvious. “Yer right. I canna take ye there.” He glanced around. “Well, I’m hungry. Surely there’s a place we can eat without me having to marry ye first.”

“We wouldn’t want that.”

“Not before I eat.”

“Let’s go toward Westminster,” I suggested, “At the worst you can get something from one of the street vendors.”

He grinned as we walked away. “Aye, that should impress ye fully, no? We could stand on the side of the street and eat with our hands. Yer fine Robert Campbell would do the same, no doubt.”

“Alex, he’s not my Robert Campbell, and I don’t need to be further impressed. You are quite impressive as is.”

“Oh, aye? Well …” For once he was speechless, and I laughed as we threaded our way through the crowded streets .

“I did it to you,” I said.

“What? What did ye do?”

“Made you speechless. You do it to me all the time.”

He grinned. “It’s fun, no? I like to see yer eyes widen and ye start to speak and then get all red.”

“Makes me sound lovely.”

“Ye are, Mary. With yer dark hair and pale skin it is quite lovely to watch ye change color. I could watch ye all day.” He fought his smile. “Or all night.” I felt my cheeks redden, and he roared. I shook my head at him with a smile.

We wandered through the streets without direction.

I could not think of another man with whom I had been so relaxed.

Will, of course, but he was my brother. At one point a carriage came closer than it should have, and Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me into a doorway next to him.

Except for that moment he did not touch me at all, but we were comfortable together.

We bypassed the chocolate houses where someone might know me and found a small inn that looked respectable.

Alex had his food at last and I had tea.

I watched the girl pour and looked through the steam at him.

“How exactly am I to explain this to Louisa?”

“Well,” he said, tearing a piece of bread off the loaf between us. “Given a wee bit of luck, ye’ll have little explaining to do.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that supposedly Will took ye off and the two of ye will return home together. He’ll have more explaining to Betty than ye’ll have to Louisa.”

“And Will agreed to this?”

“Obviously.” He looked at me over his cup as he drank. “Of course, he did threaten to kill me if I touched ye, so ye’ll please tell him I dinna overstep myself.” I tried not to smile. And failed. “Aye. Ye laugh, but I respect that. I’d do the same to any man coming after my sister.”

“I see.” I laughed at him.

“I doubt that ye do, but never mind that now. I’ve got yer company for an hour or two and I’m content. ”

“And I yours.”

He leaned back in his chair and watched me. “Is that good?”

“Alex, I’ve sacrificed my reputation for two hours with you.”

“I’m worth the sacrifice.” He grinned and I laughed again.

“So you say. Now, tell me, when you stuck your head in the landscaper’s door, did you say you were my brother?”

“No, I said ye were leaving with yer brother and to please tell the Countess.” He took another piece of bread.

“You were masquerading as Will?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I doubt that anyone would take me for yer brother. I was masquerading as yer brother’s messenger.”

“And when Louisa discovers the messenger was a man wearing a hat with eagle feathers, she’ll have no idea who it could be.”

“The girl dinna even notice me.”

“Oh, no. Tall blond Scotsmen wearing Highland clothes are an everyday occurrence at a London landscaper’s office.”

He frowned. “Details. And it’s not a hat. It’s a bonnet.”

“It’s a hat.” I picked it up from the chair between us.

“Bonnet,” he said, and took another bite of bread.

“It matches your plaid.”

“This is feileadh beag. ” he said.

“Same thing.”

“No, nine feet different.” At my expression he laughed. “A feileadh mor is a plaid. Eighteen feet long. Ye pleat it about yer waist and throw the rest over yer shoulder. And when it’s cold or it rains ye put it over yer head or wrap it about yerself.”

“And what are you wearing?”

“A feileadh beag. A kilt. The top is separate. It’s easier to wear. I can take the top off and still be decent.”

“Well,” I said, sipping the last of my tea. “I like it on you. Ye have lovely knees,” I teased, mocking his accent. He laughed and stretched out a leg beside the table .

“Always thought it one of my finer points.” He nodded toward the door. “It’s raining. We’ll have to perfect yer story.”

I turned to look at the rain. “How will I meet Will?”

“Matthew will bring him to meet us. With the rain we’ll have to revise how yer getting home. We have,” he said, fishing a pocket watch from the pouch at his waist, “an hour left.”

I sat back in my chair. One hour. “How long will you be gone?”

“About ten days, then back for two, then Heave again.”

“I see.”

His eyes met mine. “I’m not pleased about it, lass,” he said quietly, “but it was decided upon long ago.”

We were silent for a while as he ate. Much as I wanted to beg him to stay, I couldn’t, and I searched for another topic for conversation. “Alex,” I said at last, “how did you learn English?”

He shrugged. “I was raised speaking Gaelic and English. Some—well, most—of the people in the Highlands speak only Gaelic, but English is the language of power. We spoke English at home.”

“And French? How did you learn that?”

“A tutor. And travel. Necessity as well. I spent a year in Paris when I was sixteen. And I trade with France.”

“We’re at war with France.”

He paused, then spoke. “England is at war with France.”

“But our countries are united now. It’s been five years.”

“United, aye, but we’re no’the same.” He paused, looking at his food, then back at me, his expression guarded.

“The Union doesna sit well in most of Scotland, lass. There’s many that think Scotland was sold to the English for the money, and I’m one of them.

When the Union began we were told that there would be no tariffs on malt and linens and salt, but there are now, and taxes on my land and everything I sell.

I have to pay taxes to keep what I already own.

It’s been a rough few years, with tariffs restricting what I can sell and taxes taking all the profit.

Add that to no rep reservation and it’s no’a pretty situation.

When ye take away a people’s livelihood and their say in government and ye rub their noses in it, it’s no’verra wise. ” He took a drink from his cup.

“So what will happen?”

He leaned back against the chair and looked at me evenly. “In the short run, I don’t know. In the long run, England will win.”

“Why?”

“Well, study yer history. Look at the Romans. Look at what happened in Ireland. What the English are geniuses at is colonizing. Like the Romans. What do ye do when ye want the land and the people to work for ye, but the land’s leaders are against ye?

Ye buy what leaders ye can. Those ye canna buy ye remove.

When more leaders spring up, ye remove them as well, and this time yer harsher in yer reprisals and ye make communication between factions difficult with yer army in the middle.

Then ye take away what means they have of supporting themselves.

Now, at the same time, ye prevent them educating their bairns, so they are poor and ignorant.

Eventually ye win. If not in that generation, then the next.

Ye have to have a large military presence, of course, to make it work.

If yer lucky, the leaders will fight amongst themselves.

That’s what happened in Ireland. If the Irish had united, it might have been a different ending.

It’s the same in Scotland. If the clans do not unite, eventually we’ll be defeated. ”