Read Online Blue Bells of Scotland: Book One of the Blue Bells Trilogy by Laura Vosika - Free Book Online Page A

counterfeit notes could have turned the day into, her answering smile lit him up inside. He was grateful, suddenly, to be here. He vowed there would be no more redheads, no more Carolines.
    He rented a car to drive to the nearby castle, twisting along narrow roads. Amy gasped at the scenery. Scotland's stark hills rose around them, rich with the purples and violets of heather and bluebells, and lively yellow splashes of gorse. She laughed at his tunic and boots, as they hiked the countryside above the castle.
    They climbed to the top of a monroe and looked down at the cattle milling in the bowl below. A man squinted up at them, shielding his eyes against the sun, before raising a hand and calling a greeting. Shawn waved back, and they continued climbing, the rampant bluebells grazing their ankles. "He was dressed like you," Amy said.
    Shawn shrugged. "A lot of people stick to the old ways, here in the Highlands. Friendly, though, aren't they."
    Amy nodded. At the top of the next rise, looking down on the loch, she stooped to pick a bouquet of bluebells. Their delicate blossoms spilled riotously over her hands. "This is what the song's about?" she asked.
    "What song?"
    She rolled her eyes. He slapped his forehead. "Bluebells, of course. Is that what they are? I don't know." He dropped himself into the sea of blossoms, staring down the boulder strewn slopes they'd just hiked, running steeply down to the loch, and the loch itself stretching like an azure ribbon, north and south under an endless sea of blue sky. The lowing of cattle drifted up from somewhere far below.
    "You don't know the words?"
    "Sure." He lay back in the bluebells, hands behind his head. His dark chestnut hair splayed across the blossoms. "My dad sang it all the time. Noble deeds, streaming banners, that kind of thing." He gave a roguish wink. "I just play it because it impresses people."
    She stretched out next to him, propped on an elbow, and dropped the spray of flowers on the chest of his tunic. "What have flowers got to do with noble deeds?"
    Shawn laughed, brushing at them. "The guy's from the Highlands, wants to get home where the bluebells are."
    "Why is that piece such a big deal?"
    "It isn't, really, not once you can do it. Just scales, arpeggios, a few octave skips. Easy. It's a show-off piece, you know, just because you can. Back in the day, people thought trombones could just play oompah-oompah—too rough and crude to do anything fancy like a flute or violin. Then Arthur Pryor put that together and showed the world there was a whole lot more potential there."
    "Like you?" Amy dangled a single stalk, letting the delicate bell trace the outline of his jaw.
    He turned away; took the flower from her hand and studied it. Nearby, a flock of ewes and their lambs grazed, giving him an occasional wary glance and warning bleat. "No," he said. "This is it. This is me. You see it all."
    She fell silent. After several minutes, he gathered the fallen bouquet, climbed to his feet, and took her hand. They clambered higher up the mountain, digging their toes into impressions in the earth to climb almost vertically. He grasped her hand, helping her along, though his own soft leather soles slipped in the soft earth now and again.
    They reached another summit, looking out over the stunningly blue waters of the loch, and hills undulating forever in every direction. Towns and fields stretched away below. Vertigo swept Shawn. He laughed, feeling alive! He turned to Amy. The sun warmed her smooth, pale skin. The breeze tugged at her long, thick braid. Life was good!
    "It isn't," she said.
    "Isn't what?"
    "It isn't all. There has to be more to you, or you wouldn't be with me."
    Shawn dropped onto a rocky jutting of stone, his shoulder toward her, staring out at the water. A bee buzzed around the flowers in his hand, and disappeared into a patch of gorse. "Look, no heavy conversations," he said. "It's a nice day, okay? Let's not ruin it."
    But she persisted, joining him