Devils Own (Clan MacAlpin 2)

It was such a serene rendering of such a preposterous situation, Elspeth had to let free a long, hard laugh. It felt good to find humor in the face of her despair. Dabbing tears from her eyes, she said, “Would that we could enjoy a spot of mutton. My father hasn’t yet grasped the concept of ‘give us this day our daily bread. ’ Do you realize he’s

trading Angus Gunn for raw oats?”

Anya froze at mention of the farmer.

Elspeth’s smile vanished. She grabbed Anya’s hand. “I’m sorry. I … I didn’t think—”

Anya gave her hand a squeeze. “Don’t fash yourself over it. Now that I’m back, I’ll be hearing his name, and I best get used to it. Go on. Finish your story. ”

She hesitated. She knew there was much Anya wasn’t telling her. She wanted to probe and plumb and speculate— it was what friends did. But they both had a lifelong habit of avoiding talk of their private pains.

Elspeth wrung her hands in her skirts. Anya was a widow and a mother. Elspeth’s woes were silly nothings compared to what her friend had endured. She shrugged, and putting a fine point on it, said, “What more is there to say? My maddening, stubborn, doddering codger of a father is reducing us to paupers. ”

Anya’s spine bolted straight, her face taking on a look Elspeth didn’t recognize.

Elspeth stiffened. “What is it?”

“You need money,” Anya said, her eyes bright.

“No. ” Elspeth shook her head vehemently, thinking she knew what was coming. She wouldn’t stoop to charity, even if it was from her best friend. “I will not accept—”

“No, no, goose. I’m not trying to give you money. Well, you’ll make money, but … you’ll see. ” Anya sprang from the rock, looking more animated than she had all morning. “I have an idea. ”

Elspeth laughed weakly, not budging. “You’re frightening me. You’re not going to propose I sell the sheep in favor of a goat-breeding enterprise?”

“Nothing so coarse as that. You’re a smart woman. The smartest I know. The most well read in and around all Aberdeen, I daresay. ” Anya waved her hand for Elspeth to take it.

Elspeth slid from the rock, taking her friend’s arm. “Which enables me to what?

Write novels? Become an essayist? I’d have a better chance of wedding a mysterious foreign duke and ruling with a velvet glove over … over the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. ”

They made their way back to the path, Anya steering them back toward home. “No, no. Not a writer. You’ll be a teacher. ”

Elspeth pondered for a moment. She supposed Anya’s son would need some tutoring. “But I’ve not much experience with children. ”

“Not with children,” Anya chided. “You shall tutor Aidan. ”

Chapter 4

“What are you thinking, coming to Dunnottar?” Aidan grabbed his hired man, dragging him by the scruff of his jacket away from the castle grounds. “I told you. Nobody can know what I’m about. ”

“But I assumed they was your family, sir. ”

He thought of his brothers. They’d just meddle, Gregor and Cormac especially. Finding and vanquishing the man with the black pearl was his secret alone to tend, his revenge to savor. “Particularly not my family. Now, what news have you?”

Aidan began to head down the steep path to the beach, but saw his sister Anya talking with the strange girl who’d appeared on their doorstep that morning. Turning, he led them north instead. He knew of a secluded cove up the coast where they could shelter from spying eyes.

Aidan walked quickly, and the hired man stumbled, a city man uneasy on such rugged terrain. “You were very wise, sir,” the man said, clumsily recovering his step. “Wise indeed. It’s just as you said it’d be. ”

Aidan clenched his fists, mustering patience. He slowed his stride. “Spare me the bootlicking and say it plain. What did you learn?”

“You and your brother done took down the smuggler. ”

“Yes,” Aidan said, through gritted teeth. It was an episode he’d not soon forget. Cormac’s sentimental folly had almost killed him. Again. “So I recall. I’m not paying you to restate the obvious. ”

“You cleared the way, you did. For your own slave trade. ” The man looked around, his dim face looking muddled. “But what do you need with slaves out here? Seems you’d rather put that boat of yours to better use. For fishing, like. Less risky. ” The man smiled amiably, revealing a mouthful of decaying teeth.

“You overstep. ” Aidan fought the urge to clout the fellow. Pretending to start his own slaving trade was a tenuous enough ruse; the last thing he required was the unsolicited counsel of hired dock men. “My business is precisely that. Mine. Now continue. ”