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father.
    As Iain knew, Seton had been siphoning off profits from the Rosyth estate for years now. Very soon he’d have enough to buy back his own family’s lands. The lands his idiot older brother had gone and lost because he didn’t have the foresight to sign them over to someone who wasn’t a known Jacobite, the way the Rosyth laird had done. Damn him! If the dolt hadn’t fled to France, Seton would have wrung his scrawny neck himself.
    No, Bailliebroch was his by right, especially now Duncan had died without an heir. He would get it back, whatever it took.
    ‘ Yes, ours,’ he said firmly. ‘The Rosyth laird doesn’t need it. What does he care for this place? Hasn’t set foot on Scottish soil for years and isn’t likely to either. That’s played right into our hands and besides, I’ve been busy garnering support from a certain quarter. When the time comes, which it will soon, there will be no objection to us buying Bailliebroch.’
    Iain frowned again. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing. Those Redcoats can’t be trusted, you’ve said so yourself.’
    ‘ With the right incentive, they can. Gold is a powerful motivator. Either way, we don’t need the likes of him,’ he nodded in the direction Mr Aaron had gone, ‘sticking his nose in where it’s not wanted.’
    ‘ Well, I doubt he’ll come back,’ Iain said with a grin. ‘After the way he was treated here, he’d be a fool to.’
    ‘ Amen to that. I sincerely hope I never set eyes on him again.’
     
    Marsaili also breathed a sigh of relief when the stranger left. After stripping the bed he’d used – more washing, blast it! – and straightening the covers, she retreated to the kitchen. There Greine was in a slightly better mood since she was allowed to get on with her normal duties, rather than heating endless cauldrons of water.
    ‘ Did our guest enjoy his parritch?’ she asked with a grin. ‘I seem to have accidentally spilled a mite too much salt into it.’
    Marsaili laughed, but she regretted that such measures were necessary. It seemed cruel, but she remembered what the Redcoats had done to a lot of the Highlanders in the not so distant past and hardened her heart. ‘I’ve no idea. I sent Isobel up with the tray and she’s so shy she probably dumped it next to him and fled.’
    Kirsty came down the back stairs and peeked round the door frame. ‘Is it safe for us to come out now?’ she asked, her pale blue eyes searching the room.
    Marsaili smiled. ‘Yes, all clear. The ogre is gone.’
    ‘ Thank goodness for that. I hate skulking upstairs all
day long. I don’t know how Flora puts up with Mother’s endless chatter. I mean, she doesn’t actually say anything. She has nothing to talk about since she never goes
anywhere.’
    Kirsty sat down at the big, scrubbed pine table in the centre of the kitchen. She picked up a paring knife and began to help Marsaili peel onions. ‘So was he really that bad then, the visitor? I heard tell he was rather good-looking.’ She threw a twinkling glance in Marsaili’s direction.
    ‘ If you like brash, self-centred men, certainly.’ Marsaili tried her best to adopt a nonchalant expression. If she let on that Mr Aaron had rattled her in more ways than one, she’d never hear the end of it. Kirsty was a determined match-maker who wanted everyone to be as in love as she was herself. She could never understand Marsaili’s reluctance to even consider the candidates she promoted.
    ‘ It sounds like a perfect match for you,’ Kirsty teased.
    ‘ Kirsty,’ Marsaili warned. ‘I’ve told you before, I’m not interested.’
    ‘ Oh, come now, just because your mother was ill-treated by your step-father doesn’t mean all husbands are like him. And with your looks, I’m sure you could find one you can wrap around your little finger.’
    Marsaili gave her a scornful look. ‘What would be the use of such a weakling? If that’s what Iain’s letting you do, he’s not half the man I took him