Page 25 of A Rogue in Twilight
Hot tea, swallowed too quickly, made her cough. “I was looking for something my grandfather lost there. He knew Lady Struan. Sometimes she invited us to tea,” she added. “He is a weaver. Donal MacArthur of Kilcrennan.”
“So I have heard. What did he lose in the garden?”
“A stone. It is very special to him. It was lost around the time that the grotto was finished. He mentioned it recently, having forgotten it. So I—I thought to look.”
“Is it a valuable stone?”
“Crystal and agate. Or was it chalcedony?”
“Agate is a form of chalcedony. The banded varieties are very colorful and pretty. Chalcedony itself tends to be gray. What color is your grandfather’s stone?”
“Blue.”
“Agate is unusual in this region, and the blue sort is rare anywhere. Did your grandfather find the stone near here?”
She nodded. “I believe he found it on that hill long ago. The property belonged to the MacArthurs when my grandfather was young, you see. He had the stone with him one day and—dropped it, I suppose. But the garden is different now and he could not find it.”
“If it holds special sentiment for him, we must try to find it. On my walks around the estate, I have seen massive bedsof sedimentary rock, granite and sandstone with crystalline deposits. But agate is generally found in volcanic rock.”
“Volcanic?” She looked surprised. “There are no volcanoes here.”
“Not currently, but there may have been thousands of years ago. My research addresses that question, as a matter of fact. Layers of volcanic rock implies tremendous heat long ago in the terrestrial past. Geologists are only beginning to investigate Scotland’s mountains, and indeed much of Europe, for signs of the history of the earth. Why did you come back today to look for it?” he asked quickly.
“Grandda remembered the stone, and I wanted to find it.” She could hardly explain that Donal needed the thing to open a gate to the fairy world.
“I see. Did you say Struan House once belonged to your family?”
She took a sip of tea, judging how much to tell him. “The estate and much of the glen belonged to my great-grandfather. When Grandda was young, he spent time here. Lady Struan was very interested in what he knew about the area and its—legends and such. The grotto in your garden was once a large hill with a rocky precipice.”
“I remember. I came here now and then when I was younger. My grandfather had the stone wall extended up the slope to form the grotto, and some of the rock wall broken apart to encourage water flow from the burn on the hillside above. Unfortunately he died before he had time to enjoy it, and my grandmother did not live long after that.”
“I do not remember meeting your grandfather, or seeing you. But Lady Struan was a wonderful person. I liked her very much.”
“So did I. Miss MacArthur, why not just come the door and ask if you could look for your missing stone? I would have helped you.”
“I thought no one was here. It is the time of the fairy riding.”
“Mrs. MacKimmie mentioned that. So you believe it too?”
“It is a local tradition.” She shrugged. “I thought to look quickly. But I did not count on the rain. I am sorry I disturbed you, Lord Struan.”
He waved a hand to dismiss that and sipped tea. The cup looked small and delicate cradled in his hand. She imagined those long, nimble fingers turning a beautiful rock over and over, holding it up to sunlight…and then imagined his hands upon her, warm and agile and caressing. She shivered again, not from a chill.
“You study stones,” she blurted. “You are writing a book about volcanic rock.” A strange word sounded clear in her head. “Geo…nosey. What is that?”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Geognosy? It means earth knowledge—the study of the earth as a complete structure, interior and exterior. I did not realize that you were familiar with the work of Werner, who coined the term.”
“I never heard of him. The word just came into my head.”
He stared, teacup halfway to his lips. “Good God, how do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Echo my thoughts. I am working on a book about geognostic science. Three years ago I studied in Freiburg with Abraham Werner, who developed the theory of geognosy, which looks at the earth as a whole. Either someone told you, or—”
“Or I just knew,” she supplied softly.
About to speak, he only poured more tea in her cup and his. “While I am here at Struan, I want to explore the rock formations in these hills. If your grandfather found agate nearby, that could be meaningful for my work.”
