Page 19 of A Rogue in Moonlight
“Kinloch, if you please. Dougal, if it pleases you more.”
“Kinloch,” she said firmly. “Let us agree to forget what happened this evening.”
“Every bit of it?” He turned and walked backward, the keg casually propped on his shoulder. “I will remember some of it always, Miss MacCarran.”
So would she. “It was of no consequence. Just the moment, and the fear, I suppose. Sir, will you please stop?”
He did. “I may not forget it, but trust I will never say a word of it to another.”
Relief went through her. “Let us keep our secret about—everything. And I promise not to tell the MacIans.”
He shrugged his free shoulder. “Tell them or not, as you like. They are kin.”
“Reverend MacIan would go to the authorities.”
“You could try to convince him otherwise,” he said.
“Is he involved in—what goes on in this glen?”
“He is a kinsman. That is enough.”
“He is a man of God.”
“Surely your brother, the important excise officer, told you that the free trade is common all through the Highlands. It occurs in Glen Kinloch now and then as well. Those who run it keep silent, and everyone else wisely looks away.”
“So everyone in Glen Kinloch is either a smuggler or knows a smuggler?”
“We are hardly a nest of criminals, Miss. The people of this glen are fine, honest folk who do what they must to survive.”
“Are you warning me to look away as well?”
He stepped closer, his gaze compelling in the gathering dark. “Take it as a warning if you like,” he murmured. “Your brother sides with the law. That does not sit well here.”
“One of my brothers is involved with revenue collection, true. But I do not know if he is assigned to this glen. He may be sent elsewhere.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Three. A revenue officer, a physician in Edinburgh, and a professor who has an estate in this region. A cousin is nearby too. So I am less a stranger here than you might think. My twin is Viscount Struan. His estate is southeast of here.”
“Struan! I know the name. I heard a Lowlander inherited it.” He paused. “I heard he married the granddaughter of the weaver of Kilcrennan.”
“Elspeth MacArthur of Kilcrennan, aye. Do you know her?”
“Her father is a distant cousin.” He narrowed his eyes. “Twinbrother, is it? You will be close, then. No doubt Struan will visit you here and you will tell him all.”
“He is often in Edinburgh for months at a time. He is a lecturing professor there. And we do not tell each other everything.” That was not quite true, but she could hold a secret well, though she was not sure yet what a bargain with Kinloch would mean.
“What of the cousin?”
“The Earl of Eldin. We are not close.”
“Ah. Eldin purchased Auchnashee to make it into a hotel for tourists, I hear.” He frowned. “You have lofty company among your kin.”
“Not really. But I do have ties to the Highlands. I am not just a Lowlander.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “The gentleman with you on the hill today. Who was he?”
“Patrick. The excise officer. I did not know you saw us earlier.”
