Kade, fortunately, was in a boat with Royal, Angus, and Tira. After that embarrassing scene in the music room this morning—hard on the heels of last night’s kissing episode—Charlie wasn’t ready to face him. Yet once they reached the island, she would need to ask for his help, and that would mean being alone with him. Although part of her longed for that, she had a sneaking suspicion that his wonderful kiss had been just an impulsive gesture, a way to calm her panic in the moment. The notion that Kade might pity her was too appalling to contemplate.
When she glanced over at his boat, her stomach swooped in a little dive, because he was staring straight at her. Even though his face was partly shadowed by his hat, she sensed the intensity of his gaze and his annoyance. At the dock, he’d tried to talk to her but she’d evaded him, all but dragging Ainsley into the boat and thus forcing Kade to get in another one.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Charlie said after realizing that she hadn’t been listening to Ainsley.
“I was just commenting on the day’s excursion,” Ainsley replied. “Picnics in an island graveyard don’t seem to be your mother’s style. Surely there are plenty of scenic spots where an outing like this would make more sense.”
“She thought Angus would enjoy a visit to the MacDonald graveyard. It’s very historic. Mamma is actually quite interested in our family’s history, much more so than Papa.”
Her father had decided to sit this excursion out, although Charlie suspected that had more to do with avoiding Angus than from lack of interest in history. In another stroke of good luck, Papa had invited Richard to go riding with him. Her erstwhile suitor had seemed torn, but an invitation to spend the day with his prospective father-in-law had obviously been too flattering to decline. Given Charlie’s steadfast attempts to keep Richard at arm’s length, he probably felt he’d make better progress toadying up to her father.
Ainsley smiled. “Yes, Angus will enjoy that. And Tira is quite excited at the prospect of poking around in an old graveyard. She’s determined to turn up a ghost.”
“On Eilean Munde, she just might.”
The small, picturesque island, which held about three hundred graves, was the burial place of three clans, including the Stewarts and the MacDonalds of Glencoe. Among the number of warriors and clan chiefs who were buried on the island, some were killed in the Glencoe massacre.
“It’s a bit of a challenge to see Melissa enjoying this sort of outing, though,” Ainsley said.
“Perhaps, but it’s really not ghoulish. Many of the graves are quite picturesque. It’s even rather cozy, for lack of a better word. I expect it would be different at night, but during the day, with these views?”
She opened a hand to the rugged mountains on the north side of the loch, their granite-gray tops giving way to a tumble of fir trees and heather on the lower slopes. Sea, sky, and mountain met in a dramatic sweep of beauty both ancient and steadfast and yet ever changing with the seasons and vagaries of weather. Charlie had spent her entire life tucked away in this corner of the Highlands, and yet she never grew bored with it. The place was too grand and elemental for her to ever feel mundane.
Ainsley looked thoughtful. “You love it here.”
“It was a wonderful place to grow up. I can’t imagine anything in a city topping this.”
“You also had more freedom here than a girl—much less a young woman—would have in the city, or even a less remote locale.”
Charlie couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sure the freedom is one of the reasons I love it.”
“Would you ever consider living anywhere else?”
She hesitated, sensing more behind the question than mere curiosity. “I’m not really sure why I would.”
Ainsley arched a sardonic brow. “I can think of one reason.”
And his name is Kade Kendrick.
Fortunately, circumstances came to her rescue.
“Look—we’re just about to beach,” she said. “You’d best hang on.”
Her friend looked vaguely alarmed. “You mean we’re going to sail right up onto the island?”
“How else did you think we’d get to shore?”
“I assumed there was a dock on which we could disembark, like civilized people.”
Charlie lifted the hem of her skirts to show off her riding boots. “Why do you think I wore these?”
“Oh, Lord,” Ainsley said with a sigh. “I’m going to get soaked, aren’t I? How utterly dreadful the Highlands can be.”
Charlie laughed. “Not to worry, lassie. Ye’ll nae get a drop on those pretty feet of yers.”
A few moments later, the sailors ran the boat through the shallows and up onto the beach. They came to rest with a bit of a jerk on the pebbled shoreline.
“See?” Charlie said. “Easy as pie.”
