Page 23 of A Heart Worth Loving

“I have another shipment due to arrive in three days.”

“Three days?” Her heart pounded. “Nae, Papa, we must not.” He started to reply, and she said, “There is something you must know. Ewan Fraser caught me at Blackstone Abbey after I left Mister Mallatratt two nights ago. I lost the keys and he found them. So, you see, if Constable Hamilton spoke with him about a smuggling ring, then he will know it is us.”

“What?” her father blurted. “He knows?” He jumped from the bed and began pacing. “Hamilton could be on his way here even as we speak. Nae. If Mallatratt removed the goods, there is no proof of smuggling.” He halted and looked at her. “He cannot know what door the key fits.” His gaze sharpened. “Can he?”

“I do not know. He found me as I emerged from the stairs leading to the room.”

Her father stared. “He caught you at Blackstone Abbey in the middle of the night and didn’t suspect anything? But how—” His eyes narrowed. “He has fallen in love with you.”

Kyla sprang to her feet. “Fallen in love with me? That is ridiculous. He didn’t know me. We had met but twice.”

“Twice?” he repeated, then laughed. “You have done it, Kyla. At last, you have turned a man’s head.”

“I have turned other men’s heads,” she blurted, then realized how stupid she sounded.

He waved a hand dismissively. “Most of the men you have associated with have been fops. The rest could not see past Margaret’s beauty to notice you.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Papa.”

He grasped her shoulders. “I am no’ your mother. She sees herself in Margaret and loves the attention she receives because she is the mother of such a beauty.”

“Whereas I am the son you both hoped for.”

He released her. “We have discussed this before. Every father wants a son. I admit I gave you responsibility, but we both know Margaret cannot deal with things as you can.”

“Yet every gentleman falls in love with her,” Kyla muttered.

“Until now,” he said with a laugh. “I must meet this Ewan Kilbreck, gauge his metal. If he is truly smitten with you, then—”

“Oh no!” Kyla cried, then glanced at the door. She looked back at her father and said in a low voice, “We will not involve him with your smuggling.”

“A man will do much for the woman he loves.”

She shook her head. “I warn you, Papa, Lord Kilbreck is not a man to be trifled with.”

“Lord Kilbreck.” He slapped his knee. “Kyla, you have snagged a nobleman. What is his title?”

“I have not snagged anyone. He was drunk when I encountered him in the abbey. He didn’t know who I was.”

“Drunk? Then he doesn’t know who the keys belong to?”

Her mouth went dry.

Her father narrowed his eyes on her. “Does he know?”

“Well, aye, he knows. I, uh…” She couldn’t admit that Ewan caught her in the refectory the following morning—or about their day herding sheep.

“What happened, Kyla?”

“I— Oh!” She plopped down onto the mattress. “I returned to the refectory the following morning to search for the keys and he found me there.” A gleam entered her father’s eyes that she didn’t like. “It means nothing, Papa.”

“What reason did you give for being there?” he asked.

Oh, he would ask that. Her father was too smart by half. “I told him I was looking for my sheepdog.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “And he believed that?”

She nodded. “Aye.”