A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,74
ever brought home. The rumor about us having met before has spread, and the gossip is that we had planned this meeting all along.”
“That I would run you off the road for a clandestine meeting?”
He reached over and took her hand and squeezed. “All part of the master plan.”
She sighed. “Here I thought I was only coming to Scotland on a treasure hunt. But you know what? I don’t need the treasure any longer.”
Cearnach studied her expression. She looked so sincere that he realized she meant what she said.
She sighed. “Everyone in my family took risks. I was the one wolf who usually only ventured into what I considered safe territory. I’d thrown caution to the wind when I’d ventured coming to Scotland the first time with my uncles, to escape from Rafferty. And now this time, wanting to find my uncles’ treasure.
“Some of it was because I figured they owed me for agreeing that Rafferty could have me as a mate. Some of it was plain, old-fashioned curiosity. What had they hidden and what was its ultimate value? I hadn’t wanted my cousins getting their hands on it. Now? It really doesn’t matter. But as to your family, nothing’s going to change the fact that I’m kin to the McKinleys and Kilpatricks, Cearnach.”
“What do I care of that, lass? You are not truly one of them, except by blood. Not by actions.”
She humphed. “Your family will not see it that way.”
“It won’t matter to them, Elaine.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her gaze locked on his. Then she seemed to trust in what he said and nodded. “Okay, if you say so.”
Well, maybe she didn’t believe him all the way. “I’m serious.”
She took a deep breath. “What if Ian objects?”
She didn’t have faith in Cearnach. He reached out and took her hand in his and held on tight. “He won’t, lass. Believe me. He knows we’re meant to be together.” Everyone else probably knew it, too. “Tell me what you know concerning the location of the treasure.”
“Uncle Tobias said that he had an uncanny fondness for buttered and salted porridge and sweet Scottish shortbread. He was referring to both himself and his twin brother, Samson. They did everything together.”
Cearnach raised a brow, wondering how that had anything to do with the hidden treasure, but he kept quiet.
“It was his way of saying the bounty was in Scotland.” She looked so sincere that he tried to keep from commenting or laughing at what he didn’t think could be real clues to where the goods were hidden. More likely it was the lass’s very vivid imagination.
“He said the loveliest loch he ever swam and fished in was surrounded by mountains with a picturesque waterfall nearby.”
“That narrows it down a wee bit,” Cearnach said, “but it still could be hundreds of places, if this refers to the treasure at all. Even if we could pinpoint one particular loch, the goods could still be buried anywhere in the surrounding area for miles around.” From what she’d offered as clues, he figured there was no chance she’d ever find what she was looking for.
She forged onward, sounding as though she didn’t think it would be that difficult a task once he knew the rest. “A mound of rocks covered in moss and surrounded by a stand of Scots pine was his favorite place to sit for a while and commune with nature.”
“I didn’t think he and his brother ever left their ship except to board another and take the merchandise.”
“They must have at some point in their lives.”
Cearnach nodded. “All right, but moss-covered cairns are everywhere in Scotland. Oftentimes, particularly that long ago, they could have been gathered up and used to fortify some castle’s walls or some other building. Large-scale pilfering of the ruins of castles to use on clans’ own castles was quite the thing in centuries past.”
She pondered that for a moment as she stirred her spoon around in her nearly empty bowl of porridge.
He finally asked the question he was trying not to ask. “What made you think you could find it, lass, from the clues you have?”
“I have only half the clues. Robert has the others. Or so he says.” She looked steadily into Cearnach’s eyes. “My uncle said he left the key with a woman who was the only one who could unlock his heart and find the treasure hidden within.”
Cearnach folded his arms. “What if he was being poetic? And his words had nothing to do with