He grumbled, but then answered. “The very fact that my brothers eloped with—or kidnapped—these young ladies could be enough to accomplish the deed. Whether they make it to Kinglas or not, the scandal will force our hands unless we return them to Glasgow before nightfall.”
“Not if you and I are with them as chaperones at Kinglas. Everyone believes we’re betrothed, so that should be enough to do it.”
“MacBride and Peyton may not agree with your assessment.”
“No, but might we please try to take the optimistic view for once?”
His sardonic laugh told her how ridiculous she sounded, particularly given her own fraught life.
“What I meant—” she started.
“Be quiet,” he said.
She bristled. “I beg your pardon?”
He halted the carriage as they cleared the woods. “Victoria, please hush.”
Something was clearly wrong.
Nicholas twisted to look at Heckie. “What do you think?”
Victoria wriggled around too. The young groom had risen from his perch at the back of the carriage. His brow was wrinkled as he gazed at the snow-shrouded hills that surrounded the pass through to Kinglas.
“Hard to tell, m’lord,” Heckie finally said. He pointed to a high ridgeline that overhung the narrow gap. “That there looks a bit nasty.”
Victoria glanced at Nicholas. “What’s he talking about?”
“The snowpack on the ridge doesn’t look as stable as I’d like,” he said.
“You mean it could come down on us?”
“Probably not. The others got through all right, but I thought I just heard it shift.”
“You can hear snow shift?”
“Aye, miss,” said Heckie. “It cracks or whomps when it’s startin’ to move.”
“It can happen when there’s been a lot of snow and then a rise in temperature,” Nicholas added.
Just like they’d experienced over the last few days.
Victoria gazed up at the ridge, which now seemed entirely menacing. “But the others did get through.”
“Yes, but they probably shouldn’t have taken the chance.” The earl shook his head in disgust. “Royal knows better. Noise can trigger a slide, especially in a narrow valley where it echoes.”
She swallowed, growing more nervous by the second. “Is there another way through?”
“Aye,” Heckie said. “There’s a good path—”
An unearthly din blared from up ahead, reverberating through the pass. They froze with shock.
It was the sound of bagpipes, magnified a hundredfold by the craggy hillsides framing the tiny glen.
Angus.
“Goddammit to hell,” Nicholas growled. “I will kill that old fool.”
“Is he doing what I think he’s doing?” Victoria gasped.
