Page 67 of Seduced By the Reckless Highlanders
He watched as the dimples on her cheeks appeared, and he had the most absurd idea of putting his thumbs in them just to see how it felt. He resisted, however, and said instead, “Why is it called that?”
“Because it is such a lovely place,” she answered, her eyes dreamy. “And it is said that a young man proposed to his sweetheart there, and she accepted. But before they were married he had to go to war, and he was killed in battle, but it is said that on moonlit nights you can still see them standing looking into the water together.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” he remarked, then he turned in the saddle, looking around at the breathtaking scenery. He caught a glimpse of the loch in the distance, marked by a dark ring of trees as the daylight became clearer.
They still had half a mile or so of open country to cover before they reached it, and Bernard had a chance to observe thelandscape around it. The new spring grass was bright emerald green, the terrain gently undulating and crisscrossed here and there by the lemon yellow blossom of gorse, which looked beautiful but whose thorns were lethally sharp. Bernard grinned as he remembered how often he had been caught by its sharp thorns as a boy while playing!
“What are you thinking about?” Janice asked him, a strange half-smile on her face as though she was scared of the answer.
“Gorse bushes,” he replied, laughing. “And how much I hate them.”
Janice giggled. “We all do! I don’t think there is a single one of us who has not severely injured themselves on a gorse bush—or a thistle, or a nettle!” she winced. “Especially nettles!”
They laughed together and ambled on in contented silence for a little while.
“When Andrew or Alasdair becomes laird,” he ventured at last, “what will you do?”
Janice looked around for a moment, thinking. In truth, she was trying to distract herself from the tempting presence of the man beside her. Every particle of her body was aware of him, and for once she was glad of the distance between them.
“I am going to do what I do now,” she answered. “My brothers have no inkling of how to run things and no interest in doing it. I want to be the power behind the throne and, to start, I want to build more barns. We lose so many lambs every winter because they are born in the snow. They can freeze to death before we manage to take them to shelter. Not only is it distressing, but it is unproductive, and we all lose income because of it.”
“And after that?” he asked, fascinated.
Suddenly, Janice’s cheeks flushed, and she looked embarrassed. “You will think I am foolish,” she answered, suddenly fascinated by the saddle pommel.
Bernard frowned, wondering what had made her so shy and self-conscious all of a sudden.
“Mistress Stewart, you are the least foolish person I have ever met,” he told her. “I have never heard you saying anything without first thinking about it and weighing the consequences. Tell me your idea.”
Janice raised her head and turned to him, meeting the steady gaze of his golden-brown eyes with her own grey ones. She took a deep breath and blurted out: “I want to build a school.”
He laughed.
“I told you!” Janice passed a hand over her eyes, feeling like a complete idiot. “You think I am silly.”
Bernard stretched across to grasp her hand. As he had already noticed, it was small and fine-boned, but the palms were calloused, rough, and obviously accustomed to hard work.
“No.” He shook his head. “I was laughing at the notion you might consider me so shallow as to think that your idea was stupid. I think it is wonderful.”
“Truly?” Janice was incredulous.
He nodded. “Yes, truly, but first, tell me why you want to do this.” He turned in the saddle to face her. “I know it is obviously something you have thought about deeply.”
Janice stared at him for a moment. “Of course I have considered it deeply,” she said at last. “Think of the benefits of teaching children to read and count. They could balance their own accounts, meaning that there would be a smaller chance of their being swindled out of their hard-earned money.
“The children could even work for the laird in various capacities and seek employment outside the estate, even in the big towns and cities. They could help their families by earning extra income. So you see, schooling is like a stone dropped in a pool. Its ripples start where it hits the water and then spread wider and wider. I think this is a gift, one which I want to give tothe children of this estate. And I think the idea will spread, and soon we will have schools everywhere.”
He gazed at her incredulously, unable to believe what he was hearing. This was a woman whose thinking was far beyond her time, and he could hardly believe her intelligence and the depth of her perception. She clearly had a vision for the estate that her brothers did not share, and the twins’ stupidity and arrogance made their love for themselves more important than the welfare of the Howdenbrae estate.
“Tell me more,” he urged. “Your plans sound fascinating, and if I were your father, I would put them into action at once. Tell me more about them.” He smiled encouragingly.
As Janice began to speak, Bernard listened with rapt attention. She had thought of every aspect of estate life, from special facilities for the birthing of babies to employing spinners and seamstresses to make and repair working clothes for the local women. In fact, he realized that most of what she did centered around women and girls, and he asked her why.
“I am in a position of privilege,” she replied. “Most of the women here are not, and they spend most of their lives not only working on farms but in their households too. I would like to change that, at least the little bit that I can. I want to create opportunities for them and provide time for them just to be themselves, mix with others, and enjoy themselves. Their lives are too hard.”
Bernard could hardly believe what he was hearing, and he knew with certainty that this woman was everything he had ever wanted. However, the fact that she would be elbowed out of a position of influence to place her idiotic brother in it made his position untenable. He could certainly help Laird Ballantine to influence Alasdair or Andrew, but Janice Stewart was possibly the most intelligent person he had ever met.
She had run the estate for a long time, admittedly with her father, but he knew she was capable of more. Should he try to fix something that was not broken merely for the sake of Laird Ballantine’s ambitions? What was best for the people of the estate? Surely it was to leave things in Janice’s capable hands? But what of his duty to Laird Ballantine? He could not have it both ways.
