Page 108 of Seduced By the Reckless Highlanders
“M’Laird, there was a bad harvest last year,” Craig McLeod pointed out. “A lot o’ us had tae eat our seed crops so this year’s harvest has been bad as well. We need some food for now an’ some coin tae buy more seeds. You are our Laird. Can ye no’ dae somethin’ for us?”
Jamie thought for a moment then looked around at the sea of faces around him. He avoided the eyes of the children, who looked up at him appealingly. He tossed them a sovereign, then mounted his horse again. “I will see what I can do,” he told them, before urging his mount into a canter and riding away.
Craig picked up the sovereign and examined it to make sure it was real, then, just to make doubly sure, he bit it. A sovereign was a valuable coin, and could buy them food for a few weeks if they were careful. However, none of them would put it past the Laird to give them copper instead of gold.
“Aye, it is the real thing right enough,” he said, smiling and sounding amazed. He turned it over in his hand and gave it to Archie Findlayson, who gave a sigh of happiness. He had no qualms about doing this, since he knew Archie would not steal it. The proceeds bought with the sovereign would be shared by all.
“Thank god!” he said. “I never thought I would see the day when that one would part wi’ a penny!”
“Aye, but did ye see the way he did it?” Craig said bitterly. “A sovereign means nothin’ tae him. He can chuck one away an’ no’ even notice it is gone!”
They all began to grumble until Archie pointed out: “we must a’ be thankful for small mercies. It is no’ much, but it is a start. Now we can at least buy some seeds an’ maybe fill our bellies for a while.”
Minna had retired to her own private parlor for the afternoon and was busy mending some old clothes for the children in Cairndene. Lorna sat beside her, also sewing and chatting companionably, as old friends do. Sometimes there was a comfortable silence when each of them was busy with her own thoughts.
These were some of Minna’s favorite times, when she could relax and let herself drift along with the flow of her thoughts. She did not have to talk if she did not feel inclined, and Lorna’s peaceful presence always ensured that there was a confidante there if she needed one.
“A gentleman came to see us this morning,” she told Lorna. “Alan Darroch, my father’s cousin. He came to see Jamie about the condition of the estate, but I don’t think he made much headway with my ever-helpful brother. I chatted with him for a while, and he said he had done his best but Jamie had shown him the door and told him to mind his own business. He said he would take the matter up with the chief. So now I have tried and one of the elders has tried. Maybe he would submit to the chief’s authority, I don’t know, but we have to do something.”
“It is no’ the first time we have talked about it, hen.” Lorna’s tone was grim. “I dinnae think there is much hope that he will ever listen.”
“My nightly excursions are going to have to stop soon,” Minna declared angrily. “I think I may have been spotted last night, although I am not completely sure. If I have been, God knows what will happen to the villagers.”
“Ye will find a way,” Lorna assured her. “I have faith in ye.”
Minna smiled at her friend. This was so like her. Lorna believed that Minna could do miracles, and sometimes she was so convincing that Minna believed it herself. Now she laughed. “You have too much faith in me, Lorna -” she stopped speaking as there was a knock at the door and a maidservant came in, looking flushed and disheveled.
“The Laird wants tae see ye, Mistress,” she announced nervously. Minna got to her feet, alarmed.
“Sandie, what is wrong?” she asked, concerned. “You look terrible.”
The girl shook her head and tried to smile. “Nothin’, mistress.”
“I am not daft, Sandie,” she told the maid. “You usually look so happy. Who has upset you? Was it the Laird?”
Sandie’s gaze dropped to the floor as she tried to avoid Minna’s eyes. “Aye, it was, mistress. He tripped over me when I was cleanin’ the floor an’ he called me all sorts o’ names an’ told me he would sack me if I ever did it again - but it was his fault!”
“I will not let him dismiss you, Sandie,” Minna assured her. “You are safe as long as I am here, and before you ask, no, I will not tell him you spoke to me. He has been threatening to dismiss many staff lately, but it is all bluff to make everyone fear him.”
“Thank ye, mistress.” Sandie said gratefully, summoning up a weak smile.
Minna marched along to her brother’s study and opened the door to find him lounging on a couch with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a glass in the other, ready to pour a large measure for himself.
“Ah, sister,” he said warmly. “So good to see you. Sit down and talk to me for a while. I think we have something to discuss.”
Minna stood still and folded her arms, glaring at him as he filled the tumbler almost up to the brim with whisky. She said nothing as her brother took a huge swallow of his drink and putthe glass down on a table beside him. Then, suddenly his mask of politeness fell away as he sat up straight and faced her.
“I will come straight to the point,” he growled. “What is all this I hear about food going missing from our stores? Deer being shot and given to the villagers?” Jamie watched Minna closely as she listened to him. Her expression did not change, but having known her all her life he knew that she was angry. Minna was always at her most dangerous when she was quiet, since he knew that something was brewing in her mind.
“I had nothing to do with the deer,” she replied. “But I congratulate whoever did. The villagers need all the help they can get, and they are not going to receive it from their Laird, that is quite plain. So they get it from me. I take the food to them, but it is not stealing. I am returning to them what is rightfully theirs. The harvest failed them, and what are you doing? Nothing. I have begged you, and so have they. One of our clan elders has begged you too, and what has happened? Nothing. What was I supposed to do? Stand by and let them starve?”
Jamie leapt to his feet, his blue-gray eyes blazing. “You should have let me handle it!”
“When? Before or after they all perish?” Minna was so furious she was beginning to shout.
Jamie grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, then struck her once across the face with an open-handed blow to her cheek. Minna cried out in fright and pain, then tried to turn away, but Jamie had a firm hold of her arm, and his grip was so tight that she could not escape. Her cheek was stinging with pain but she was determined not to let him see it. She would not cry, because that would make Jamie Darroch happy.
He dragged her out into the atrium in front of the guards and the servants, then shouted: “Look at my sister, the disgrace. You think you know her, but you do not. You think she is kind, but she is not. She is a traitor to all of us, and she will be punishedas she deserves!” Then he shoved his sister to a guard. “Take her to an empty bedroom in the east wing and lock her in.” He gave her another scathing glance. “And you are lucky it is not the dungeon!” he yelled, then walked away.
