Read Online Rumors Among the Heather by Amanda Balfour - Free Book Online

leads to the
kitchen. I heard Maggie tell Mary if she wanted to take her beau
someplace special, they should go to Leddie’s Crag. She said her
beau brought her here, and she never enjoyed a sunrise more, and
then they giggled, so I guessed it must be an excellent place to
go,” he replied innocently.
    Julie’s lips twitched.
“Er, I see. It seems they were right.”
    Matthew smiled too. He
must admit Julie had worked wonders with Ian. At the best of times,
he and his nephew were at loggerheads. He could not look at him
without a reminder that Ian could have been his son. He shook his
head at the thought, and erased the smile from his face.
    Blast this cursed
island , he thought.
    It had not always been
this way. He remembered long, lazy summer days spent with his
brother during their school holidays. They were extremely close and
then suddenly everything changed. They grew up with a vengeance,
and each went in a different direction.
    His brother became the
laird when their father died and continued in his footsteps, while
Matthew roamed restlessly and sought his fortune in England as well
as foreign lands. He received rewards of wealth, and a title
bestowed on him by an English king he served but did not
support.
    In those wild
rebellious days, Matthew felt no allegiance to anyone or anything,
let alone himself. Those were his reckless, wandering years, and
perhaps they were not over yet. He laughed to himself that he
should be thinking about still-painful memories after all these
years. He reasoned it must be the sea air or the melancholy winds
which blew relentlessly across the little island that made him feel
this way every time he came home.
    Coming out of his
reverie, he heard the approach of the two early morning
adventurers. Quickly, he stepped back out of sight. Julie and Ian
passed by, unaware they were observed. The morning’s outing seemed
to have bolstered Ian’s mood, and for that Matthew was
grateful.
    * * *
    By the time they
reached the castle, Julie and Ian were giggling as if they were of
the same age. They entered the back stair door by the kitchen and
listened. When the coast was clear, they attempted to slip up to
their rooms unseen.
    They made it halfway
up the stairs when they heard an all too familiar voice. “Noah!
Noah Ribble! You come here this instant. Where are me tarts? I told
you not to take another one without my say-so. I had plans for all
those tarts,” Mrs. Walker said, her foot tapping out an angry
cadence.
    “I dinnae ken what yer
talkin’ about,” growled an indignant Ribble.
    “My tarts, you old
reprobate! What do ye think? When I went to bed last night, I put
twelve butter tarts and twelve strawberry tarts under cover, and
now three are missing from each. How do ye explain it?” Mrs. Walker
waited for an answer.
    “I dinnae take your
blasted tarts, woman,” he said and slammed the door as he walked
out.
    Julie and Ian ran the
rest of the way to the schoolroom, taking the steps two at a time.
They immediately collapsed into another fit of giggles. Julie tried
to collect herself and correct the damage done to her position as
governess, but she could not stop laughing long enough. Later, she
would tell Mrs. Walker about the tarts and get Ribble out of
trouble, but for now she would enjoy their little joke because it
made Ian seem more like a child of nine years instead of a tired
old man.
    After a more
substantial breakfast, they started on their lessons. The outing
had refreshed Ian, and he was eager to begin. His reading had
improved over the last six months. He liked to have Julie read
stories to him, and he liked to read to her.
    “What shall we read
today? Let me see what we have not read lately,” Julie said,
looking through the bookcase. “How about one of my favorite poems
by Christopher Marlowe? You could read ‘The Passionate Shepherd to
His Love’ just for me,” Julie coaxed.
    “Well, I guess I
could. I don’t know why you like all that love stuff. I’d