“Oh, God,” Charlie muttered.
“Charlotte Stewart, you will come over here right now and explain yourself,” her mother ordered. “I amutterlymortified by your behavior.”
“Mamma, it’s not what—”
“And I’ll be havin’ a word with ye, Kade,” Angus said with heavy disapproval. “This is not the proper way to be wooin’ the lassie.”
Lady Kinloch rounded on Angus. “No one will be wooing anyone without my permission. Besides, Charlotte is all but promised to Richard.”
Now,thatwas irritating.
“I would like to point out—” Kade started.
Charlotte elbowed him, hard.
“Ouch,” he muttered.
“Don’t argue with her,” she hissed.
“I’m simply trying to explain to your mother—”
A terrified scream from beyond the trees cut him off. They all froze, staring at each other.
Charlie recovered first. “That sounded like Johnny.”
“Came from the south side of the island,” Kade said.
Lady Kinloch gasped. “That’s where the high banks are. They’re very unstable.”
She spun, picked up her skirts, and rushed back up the path.
“Wait, Mamma,” Charlie called.
She ran after her mother, scrambling through the undergrowth. Kade followed, pausing only for a moment beside Angus.
“Don’t run, Grandda,” he said. “We don’t need you falling, too.”
Angus waved at him. “I’m fine. Get ye goin’ and help them.”
Kade took off, jogging after Charlie. He broke through the trees and saw the embankment up ahead, topped with a few scrubby pines. Ainsley and a few of the other guests were standing on it, peering over the edge.
He strode over to his sister-in-law. “Was that Johnny screaming?”
Ainsley pointed straight down. “Yes, he apparently took a tumble and hurt himself.”
Kade looked over the edge of the embankment. It was a straight drop down of at least twenty feet, onto a rocky beach. Johnny, supported by Royal and a footman, was struggling to sit up just as Charlie and Lady Kinloch scrambled down a steep path to the beach. Tira was there, along with Morgan, Colin, and a very upset Melissa.
From the grimace on Johnny’s face and the way he was cradling his right arm, it was clear he was injured.
“How the devil did he manage to fall?” Kade asked his sister-in-law.
“It looks like the edge of the embankment might have given away. Don’t get too close, Kade,” Ainsley warned. “It might crumble right out from beneath you.”
One of Kinloch’s neighbors joined them. “It’s been known to happen, especially after a good rainstorm.”
“Yet there has been little rain for the past few weeks,” Kade replied.
The young man shrugged.
