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He watched Cormac pick his way across the rocks to the shoreline, thinking back to Elspeth’s last words. She’d spoken of choice, and it’d been too much. He’d spent a lifetime without options, and still he had none.
Well, he’d claim his choice now.
He stood and strode back up the hill to Dunnottar Rock. It was up to him to right this wrong. The only sense her father would ever see was that conferred by a fivepound piece. It would be up to Aidan to expose Dougal’s villainy before it was too late.
His brother was right—Elspeth wouldn’t listen to reason. But there was one way to make sure she didn’t get into trouble. He might not have reason to return to her farm, but that didn’t mean he had to stay away.
It just meant he
couldn’t be seen.
Chapter 24
“You’ll need something finer than that when you’re a merchant’s wife. ” Elspeth’s father eyed her threadbare dress with disapproval. “You’ll want to polish the brass if you’re to curry favor with the man,” he added with a wink.
Elspeth clenched her teeth with annoyance. But though her mind reeled with thoughts—I’ll only be Aidan’s wife; Fraser’s a nasty old sot; I’d have money for a dress if you didn’t waste it all—her mouth stayed shut.
He wandered closer, hovering over her. “What are you writing? Is that how much we produced last month? We should make cheese—we could turn a tidy profit. ”
We? She wondered at the term, but kept her mouth shut, blatantly focusing on the month’s profits.
“The wee beasties are happy,” her father said. “They’re used to you, and seem to be fattening right up. ”
She sniffed. “It’s only because Aidan taught me how to fix their diet. ”
He harrumphed. “It’s a surprise how much we have, considering all he drank. ”
The milk. Though he hated it, Aidan had guzzled buckets of the stuff, apparently just for an excuse to come calling.
She felt as though she’d swallowed a stone in her belly. Clearing her throat, she forced her voice not to quaver. “We’d have far less profits, and I daresay, a lost sheep or two, had he not built us such fine fences. ”
“Fences. Pish. Hard labor is all the man is good for. ”
She pressed her pen too hard to the paper, and a splotch of ink bloomed thick and black on the page. She had to get out of this house. She had to enforce her own will. She would be the authoress of her own destiny.
She shot up to standing and dusted her skirts. “I’m off. ”
“Where’ve you got to go to?”
She tucked the tally book back where she stored it under a loose hearthstone. She needed to get out from under her father’s thumb. The man was perfectly capable of managing his own accounts, and it was time he was forced to do so.
That meant she needed to put an end to this foolish business with Fraser. “I’ve decided to pay a visit to my intended. ” She fought not to curl her lips into a sneer. “Is it not time to begin currying favor?”
Her father seemed to struggle with this a moment, but there was nothing he could say to stop her. “Just don’t … don’t muck it up. Don’t say those odd things you do. If you’ve naught to say, girl, don’t say naught at all. And wear the blue dress—that green makes you too pale. ”
Though she’d hoped a long, brisk walk to the city would’ve had her legs spent and her anger blunted, Elspeth was as riled as ever when she arrived at Dougal’s offices a couple hours later. She hadn’t changed her dress.
She was through with being underestimated, and was ready to unleash her newly discovered sharp tongue on someone of the male sex. Unfortunately, her intended wasn’t there to provide an outlet.
She’d stormed into his offices as though she were already Lady Fraser, but was cut off at once.
“You there!” a young man shouted nervously. He scurried in front of her, but she summoned her inner heroine, sizing him up with as haughty a demeanor as she could muster without feeling silly. Ink-stained fingers and last year’s coat proclaimed him to be someone more than hired labor, but less than a partner.
“You are his apprentice?” she asked in a voice of authority.
He nodded, clearly not knowing what to make of a lone woman bursting onto the scene. “I’m afraid you’ll need to—”
“I’ve come to see Lord Fraser. ”
