PROLOGUE
Inveraray Castle
Summer, 1814
When an eagle cried overhead, Kade Kendrick glanced up from his book. The magnificent bird drifted, held aloft by the invisible eddies of the summer breeze off Loch Fyne. The scent of roses and lilacs filled the air, along with the crispness of recently mown grass. The gardens behind the castle shimmered with color in the bright summer sunlight. The lovely afternoon had beckoned Kade to slip away to read, and he’d found the perfect place in a secluded nook under a stand of oak trees.
After the incessant fog and drizzle of the last three days that had confined most of the guests to the castle, the sunshine was a welcoming gift. In Kade’s experience, clan gatherings were loud and rambunctious affairs, best held outdoors. At this one, Campbells had been cooped up with MacDonalds, Kendricks, and other bits and bobs of clan families invited to the Duke of Argyll’s gathering.
Not everyone got along, as last night’s argument between Kade’s grandfather and Lord Kinloch had demonstrated. Grandda was a MacDonald, as was the wife of Lord Kinloch. But that kinship tie hadn’t stopped them from brangling at earsplitting volumes. The argument had been about some fusty old battle and the role of Clan MacDonald. Grandda had taken offense over some minor detail and had ended up challenging Lord Kinloch to a duel. The Duke of Argyll, along with Kade’s oldest brother, Nick, had been forced to intervene. The combatants had been separated and had then received a stern lecture from the duke, resulting in an uneasy peace.
The peace hadn’t lasted. Two hours later, the twins—Kade’s older brothers—had accidentally set a small outbuilding on fire when they’d tried to produce homemade fireworks. Poor Nick had rather blown his top over that one, especially after Grandda had defended the twins. Even the duke’s patience had run out, and the twins and Grandda had been banished to their bedrooms for the rest of the evening.
Kade loved his family, and they usually made him laugh with their antics. But this time it was all rather embarrassing.
He returned his attention to his book. At leasthewouldn’t cause Nick any trouble. Still, his brother worried about him all the time. Everybody worried about him, mainly because he was sick so much, which sent everyone into a tizzy. Fortunately, he was so much better these last few months, which was the only reason Nick had let him come to the clan gathering.
Now Kade wished he’d stayed home at Castle Kinglas, where he could have studied in quiet and practiced his music. But Grandda had thought it would be a grand treat for him to spend time with the clans instead of holing himself up in the castle’s quiet schoolroom with a bunch ofmoldy old books, as his grandfather called them.
“Ye might learn somethin’ aboot being a proper Highlander, laddie,” Grandda had said. “Instead of pokin’ about on that piano and playing ditties by all those bloodySassenachsand foreigners.”
When Kade had pointed out that he was studying the great Mozart, Grandda had scoffed that Germans were as bad asSassenachs. He’d also waved off Kade’s attempt to explain that Mozart had been born in Salzburg, not Germany.
“Clan gatherings are stupid,” Kade muttered as he refocused on his book.
He started to slip once more into the history of music as the peace of the garden settled around him. But then quick footsteps scrunched on the gravel path. Someone was coming his way—probably a maid sent to tell him to come inside and get ready for dinner. Or maybe it was just another guest out for a stroll in the gardens.
He hoped if he kept his head stuck firmly in his book, the guest would leave him alone.
“There you are,” said a girlish voice. “I’ve been lookingeverywherefor you.”
Resigned, he looked up to see little Charlotte Stewart standing a few feet away, fists propped on her kilted hips. The daughter of Lord and Lady Kinloch actually wasn’t that little, since at eleven she was only two years younger than Kade.
Charlotte, something of a scrapper, was not like any girl he’d ever met. She wore kilts, for one thing, and never seemed to care about her appearance. Today, she had on a short jacket over her kilt and a pair of scuffed riding boots on her feet. Her shiny gold hair was pulled back in a messy knot, and there was a smudge of dirt on her jacket. She’d probably been out riding—or maybe mucking about in the stables. Charlotte loved horses and had even gone riding with the twins. Kade’s brothers had said she was a regular corker, taking every hedge without a smidge of doubt or fear.
She also drove her mother mad with her boyish ways, and Lady Kinloch seemed to deliver scolds to Charlotte on a regular basis.
“Why were you looking for me?” he asked.
Charlotte plopped down beside him on the wrought iron bench. “Because I wanted to talk to you. Why are you hiding out here? What if you fell down and hurt yourself? No one would be able to find you. Except for me, of course. I always find what I’m looking for.”
That was another thing about Charlotte. She liked to talk. He didn’t really mind. Sometimes he thought she was a bit lonely, even though she was always tumbling from one adventure to the next.
“I’m hardly likely to fall while just sitting on a bench,” he replied. “I’m notthatclumsy.”
“Of course you’re not clumsy. It’s just that . . .” She trailed off.
Kade stifled a sigh. “It’s just that I’m rather sickly? I know everyone worries about me, but I’m quite well. Really.”
“Of course you are,” she stoutly said. “It’s just, well, you know. People worry over the stupidest things.”
In his case, worrying wasn’t so stupid. He’d almost died from fever when he was younger and had been sickly ever since. He did think he was getting better, though. At least he hoped so.
“I know my family worries about me,” he admitted. “I hate it.”
She scrunched up her nose in sympathy. “It’s because they love you, of course. So that’s not such a bad thing, is it? I think it’s rather nice, to tell you the truth. No one ever worries about me.”
“That’s because you’re indomitable.”
