AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There is something wrong with burly?”
She chuckled. “In your case, no. Nothing wrong with it at all. I, on the other hand, enjoy burly.”
With a grin on his face, he inclined his head to her and then swept his hand out around them. “And this concludes your tour for the day. We’ve now gone through the castle. Through most of the interior grounds. And from this spot you can see Whetland outer lands in all directions.” His gaze landed on her. “What say you?”
She looked at the land unfurling out before her. Beauty like she’d never known. Beauty that took her breath away. The sun fought with strains of grey clouds to light the land, and it just added mystery to the low mountains, the loch she could see sparkling in the distance, and the undulating foliage over the peaks and valleys—the mass of it concocting that unusual green that only happened in lands with an abundance of rain. Whetland Castle stood to her left atop its hill, a weathered, stubborn, dignified beacon for all of the land.
Her eyes met his. “I say you are a lucky heir.”
The smile instantly disappeared from his face as he shrugged. He pointed to her arm. “Your arm, has the ride aggravated it?”
“No, not enough to stop. I honestly cannot recall the last time that I’ve had so much fun.” Her head tilted to him. “It does help tremendously that I won the race.”
“I will have to arrange a race between you and my cousin, Gordon. He fancies himself the undisputed champion of horse racing in the area.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready for that, as it has been years since I’ve ridden this much in one week.”
“It looks to come back to you naturally. You must not have only loved the horses in your younger years, you must have ridden a lot.”
“Yes. All the time. Every day it wasn’t raining and even on days it was. My sister is the more accomplished rider, though. She was always fearless on the jumps, but not me. I never liked that one point in a jump, at the apex, that second when I’m weightless and out of control and I don’t know how I’ll land—solidly or with a broken neck.”
“From what I’ve seen, Gordon had better be nervous in his boots. My coin is on you.”
She laughed. “Well, I hope he’s currently gone from Whetland and that will save you the coin you’re sure to lose.” She adjusted her hands on the reins. “How many cousins are at Whetland—I’ve seen so many faces come and go. Duncan, Angus, and Carson, but there have been more and I haven’t met them all. How many cousins do you have?”
His left hand pulled back, his fist resting high on his upper thigh. “Forty-odd close cousins are still in the area that pop in and out of Whetland as they see fit. All are welcome and we can keep them busy with work.” He looked out to the west, his eyes squinting. “Another thirty or so more that have spread across the world. Some south to England, like Jasper, some out to the sea, some to the Americas.”
“If they’re gone from here, they must miss this land in their bones.”
“Aye. I ken I would. It is a wonder that Gil has such disdain for the land. He rarely rides past the western forest.” He shook his head. “But I love it up here.”
His gaze swung in wide arc and then he looked to her. “And you, ye look like you belong here—out in the wild.”
“In the wild?” A smile played at her lips. “Do I?”
He caught her gaze, holding it for a long breath. “Aye, you do, lass.”
She exhaled, shaking her head and she looked away from him, her gaze settling on the tip of the lake she could see off to her left. The blue-grey of the water shifted colors as a cloud passed overhead. “Truth told, I don’t know where I belong. But I think it may no longer be London. This trip has me thinking I don’t know where I belong.”
“You’ll figure it out. I’m certain of it.”
The certainty in his voice made her look at him. His gaze was locked onto something faraway to the east, something that made the softest upward curve form on his lips.
Her head angled to the side, Juliet stared at him. His grey eyes had softened, the adoration he had for the rocks and the trees and the fields and the sheep evident on his face. Now would be as good a time as any to ask him about what had been bothering her the past few days. “Evan, do you think it possible that Gilroy sent that boy to fetch me?”
His look whipped to her, a hard glint instantly in his eyes. “What do you mean?”
She cautiously approached her words. “I am just wondering, if it was possible that Gilroy sent that boy to retrieve me and deliver me to that door of the great hall. The whole of it was so odd, and I am still trying to piece together what happened and how an arrow nearly missed my chest.”
“It’s not possible, Juliet.”
“But—”
“No.” With the snapped word, his head shook and he yanked on the reins of his horse, sending it back down the hill. “My brother had nothing to do with you walking through that door. I ken it.”
His horse took a few steps before he glanced back at her. “We need to get back to the castle. I have work I need to attend to.”
Juliet nodded andclucked her tongue, sendingher horse into motion.
