Page 52 of Highlander's Rebellious Affair
She looked dazed, and her eyes moved from Ian’s to Hope’s first before she handed over the bowl of herbs she held in her hands. “How is he?” Ian asked first, breaking the silence, and Hope waited for her aunt’s reply.
“Did ye treat him? Did the poison–”
“He will be well,” she replied, cutting Ian’s questions short. She then stepped away from them, reached into the pocket of the apron she wore over her gown and handed over a journal. “I found this on his dresser,” she said as Ian took it out of her hands.
“A journal?” Hope asked as he opened the black leather wrap and flipped through the pages, his gaze moved to Hope’s and she hoped her aunt had found more than a journal Lyall must have kept when he was bored.
“Is that all?” Hope asked, and she shook her head. Hope’s breath hitched in her throat when Orlaith brought out a dirk from the apron and handed it over to them. “Did ye find this in Lyall’s chamber?” Hope asked and she shook her head.
“Nay, I found this on yer faither the last night I saw him. This was his dirk, and I took it from him because I wanted to have somethin’ of his to remember him by.”
Ian slowly took the dirk from her, and he brought out the one he carried around. Hope moved closer to him and they compared the dirks. “They look so alike,” Hope murmured as she tried to spot a difference.
“I ken the difference,” Ian said and pointed at the carvings on the gold blade. “Lilith Cowan was my mother’s name, and this blade has an L engraved in the center.”
He looked at Hope, and he closed his eyes for a moment. “This dirk was a gift from my maither to my faither,” he said, and swallowed.
Orlaith stared at both of them, and Hope took her aunt’s hands. “Thank ye, Aunt, for helpin’ us,” she whispered to her, and Orlaith smiled. “I have to return to his chamber and feed him more tonic. I already gave him the antidote, but he needs to gather strength.”
Hope sighed, and she smiled at them before she walked out the chamber. Alone with Ian, she walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around him. They remained in each other’s embrace for a while, then Hope slowly pulled back.
“What do we do next?”
“I will read this journal,” Ian replied, and she sighed. “When Lyall gets better he will cause a scene,” she said. “He kens we poisoned him, and he might try to punish ye or make an example of ye in the presence of the other Lairds still here in Galloway, and my faither.”
“Dinnae worry about me,” Ian replied, and touched her face. His words were supposed to offer her some sense of comfort, but all she did was worry about him. “I will make sure Lyall doesnae have his way this time. I have enough evidence to take him down, and I wouldnae let this chance slide past us,” he assured her.
Hope sighed and hugged him again, and Ian whispered as he patted her hair back and placed a kiss on her forehead. “When all of this is over, will ye ride down the mountains with me? Explore the world beyond Galloway?”
She smiled. “When this is over, I will,” she replied. Her lips joined with his for a slow passionate kiss that ended with him slipping his hands under the bodice of her dress. His touch made her gasp, and she pressed closer to him to feel more of the warmth of his hands.
Ian pulled back, and kissed her nose, then smiled. “I need to find Rhea so we read this journal together, and figure out the next step.”
Hope nodded, he smiled again, then turned to walk out of the room when she touched his arm again. Ian turned back to her.
“Ye will make a great Laird, Ian, I hope ye ken that.”
A slow smile spread out on his lips and he nodded. “Ye are the kindest man I ken, and ye will lead yer people in wisdom.”
“As long as I have ye by my side,” he replied. Hope watched him walk out of the chamber, then she walked out and went down to the kitchen to order the servants on what to prepare for dinner.
She was getting accustomed to taking care of the Castle, and taking charge of the activities of the servants who worked in the kitchen and around the Castle. Most of her time was spent in the garden where she worked with Orlaith, but since her aunt was busy with Lyall, she had to keep herself busy with other activities, so she decided to practice making her own tonic.
Her first trial was a disaster, but she continued, and the third time, she finally got it right. Proud of her progress, she decided to show it Ian when he returned to their chamber later that night.
* * *
Ian spent the rest of the day reading his uncle’s journal, and the deeper he went into it, the more he despised Lyall and everything he stood for.
Most of his words showed how cruel he was. He wrote down every thing he did. How he threatened officials in the village to increase the tax paid by the villagers, then he used the money for his own benefit, building his wealth while the people of Galloway suffered.
Ian read through the words, and took note of all the names he mentioned. The first thing he would do once he took back the Lairdship was to cut all the corrupt officials from his court room, and make sure they were punished.
His father had ruled Galloway for years and the Clan had been successful. Everyone thrived, and there were no reports of mobs attacking innocent women in the village, stealing away all they had, or hurting them.
In Lyall’s regime, his uncle had cared less about the people’s welfare, and more about finding the Treasure of Galloway, so he could enrich his pocket with it. He wondered how much he had stolen from the Clan already, and how the officials would react if they found out how much he was making from the very little pennies he let them scramble at his feet for in exchange for their support.
Lyall mentioned the Treasure of Galloway often, and in one of the pages, Ian saw that he had sought out Laird Drummond’s support once when he was in need of more men to send to the mountains. Ian knew most of those men didn’t return alive, because a man could only survive for a while in the terrible, cold winter of the Highland mountains.
