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“Lessons. ” Her father raked a hand through his wild white hair. “Why do you insist on this daft business anyway?”
Her stomach growled as though it would answer the question for her. Putting a hand to her belly, she said, “We need the money. ”
“But he’s not paying. ”
“I need the help, Da,” she said in a weary voice.
“You have me. ”
Putting the papers down in her lap, she met his eye. “And you’re truly going to haul rock back and forth to build me a new fence? This so-called woolen business was your idea. I am merely the innocent and earnest executor of your wishes. ”
His fuzzy white brows twitched. “What will folk think? I’m having a hard enough time of it finding a suit-able match for you, without some knave coming about to sully your reputation. ”
“Aidan is no knave. ” She was tired—beleaguered really—and turned her attention back to her papers, idly shuffling through the month’s accounts. Anything was better than thinking on the third-rate widowers her father had entertained as possible spouses for her. “He’s simply a good man who’s had the misfortune of a lifetime of bad luck. ”
“I don’t understand why he needs to bandy his bad luck around our farm. ”
“I told you. ” She peered over the top of her papers. “Aidan and I are bartering my tutelage—”
“What kind of man can’t read?”
She dropped her hands in her lap. “What have you against him, anyway? It’s not as though we’re to marry. ” A thrill shivered through her. Did Aidan want what other men had? Would he eventually find a wife, raise a son?
“Against him? What haven’t I against him? Angus will never ask for your hand with that gudgeon lurking about. ”
She thought her head might explode from frustration. “Father, would you please listen when I tell you there’s nothing between Angus and me, nor will there ever be. ”
He gave her a pinched look. “Well, there might be others, and I don’t want them getting scared off by that pirate. ”
“Is that so? After all these years, we’re to have an influx of bachelors in want of a bride? And their only requirement, that she’s short on coin and long on books. ” She jabbed a triumphant finger in the air. “Ah! Not to mention tooth, as in long of. ”
Her father scowled. “It’s not just finding you a husband. That boy’s spent his life working among heathens, in a heathen land. Who knows what manner of woman he’s bred with? What poisons mayhap course through his blood, what seeds of evil planted in his brain?”
“Seeds of evil, Father? Really. You’re being an insular old cadger. Barbados is a British possession. ”
“Not till recently it weren’t. ”
“Well, it is now, and I’m certain it’s perfectly civilized. ” She loved her father dearly, but when he was in a mood, there was no talking sense. Making a conscious effort to calm her breathing, she tilted the month’s tally toward the fire. A change of subject was in order. “The farm did well this month. ” Thanks to Aidan, she thought, with a little flush of satisfaction.
He walked back to the fire, touching a long match to the flames. “It’s because I arranged to trade with Angus,” he said, sucking his pipe to life.
“No, Da. ” She narrowed her eyes on him. “It’s because Aidan arranged with Angus to trade for milled oats instead of raw. ”
He shrugged and spat into the fire. “Just means less oats. ”
“It means we have something substantial with which to fill our bellies. ” Her mood snapped back to life. Rarely did she talk back to her father, and her tone elicited a sliteyed stare.
“I told you, I don’t want that slave boy scaring off Angus. ” He stormed back to the window, peering in the direction of Angus’s place, even though surrounding hills obstructed the view. “Angus Gunn is a good man, with a profitable farm. ”
She sighed, dropping her papers onto her lap. “Either way, we’ve turned a profit for the first time in months. And you must trust me when I tell you, Aidan has been instrumental. ”
“Here comes the devil now. ” Her father ducked his head back in and slammed the shutters shut.
Elspeth’s pulse jumped. “Aidan?”
“Why does that man need to come here? Folk do call them devils, you know. Those MacAlpin children. ”
“They’re far from children. And they seem to have managed well enough, through the years. ” She smoothed her skirts, trying to still the trembling of her hands.
