from my lap. “Give Mr. Douglas some tea when he arrives and tell him I’ll be down soon.” I handed her the tray. “You can take this with you.”
She frowned. “You didn’t eat much, Miss Murray. Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
“Quite sure,” I said firmly. Taking her arm, I led her to the door and closed it behind her. I stared at the lock for several seconds before deciding against it. Replacing the olive green jacket and slacks she had pulled from the closet, I chose a pair of loose-fitting jeans, a navy turtleneck sweater, and a camel-colored blazer. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I looked critically at my complexion in the mirror. I definitely wouldn’t pass for twenty but still not bad.
For a long time now, I’d subscribed to the old adage that “less is better as one gets older.” Keeping that in mind, I decided on nothing more than lipstick and a brush or two of mascara. “Thank goodness for a good haircut,” I said out loud to the mirror as I brushed my shoulder-length hair into a smooth curve. Grabbing my purse, I reached for the blazer and headed for the stairs.
Ian was already seated in the drawing room with a pot of tea when I walked into the room. He stood immediately and, to my surprise and delight, closed the door behind me and pulled me into his arms. His kiss was hungry and demanding, and then his lips softened, moving gently against mine, expertly coaxing a response. When he lifted his head, my knees gave out, and I stumbled against him.
He steadied me with a hand at my waist. “Easy, Christina.” His voice shook. “We’d better leave or Mrs. Ferguson will lambast me for compromising your reputation.”
“Mrs. Ferguson?” I concentrated on the movement of his mouth, barely hearing the words.
“Your housekeeper.”
“Oh, you mean Kate.” I was suddenly embarrassed. “It never occurred to me to call her by anything other than her first name. Do you think I’ve offended her?”
He brushed my cheek with his hand. “She would have told you if you had. In case you haven’t noticed, Kate Ferguson isn’t reticent about speaking her mind.”
“I wonder,” I said slowly. Kate certainly ran things her own way, but she was extremely careful about expressing an opinion that conflicted with mine. Perhaps that was normal. Unemployment was high in Scotland. She was probably safeguarding her position.
Ian was speaking, and this time I listened. “I contacted Professor MacCleod,” he said. “He’s delighted that you’re in Scotland again. I mentioned that you were interested in the inhabitants of Traquair, and he promised to tell you all he knew over lunch.”
“He’s a wonderful old man,” I said warmly. “I can’t wait to see him.”
Ian held out his hand and I took it. “Shall we go?” he asked.
I was relieved that we didn’t encounter Kate on the way out, although why it should matter that Ian held my hand, I couldn’t explain. For some reason, I didn’t want her to speculate on something I was not yet sure of.
We took the picturesque, single-laned road that was once a medieval pony path to the connecting A7 Highway leading into Edinburgh. It had been several years since I’d visited Scotland’s capital, but the evidence of its history in the silent, brooding castle that hovered over the city never failed to stop my breath. Occupied since the sixth century, the castle site with its forbidding walls, formed by the core of an ancient volcano and wrought by glaciers moving east and west, claimed by Pictish, Celtic, and Saxon monarchs, had seen the rise and fall of countless dynasties.
The modern citizens of Edinburgh hurrying down High Street and the Royal Mile, past Lawnmarket and Canongate to the shops and restaurants, the pubs, offices, and teahouses of Princes Street, rarely gave a thought to the fact that they lived in the shadow of a proud and tragic history. It was left to the tourists of the world, the Americans, Canadians, and Australians, those whose nations began less than two centuries before, to marvel and gape, to pay exorbitant fees and brave stifling crowds, to stand at the grave sites and worship the effigies of men and women who had long since vanished into the shadows of time.
Long before we reached the outskirts of the capital, I could see the nearly vertical north face of the castle foundations. This, with the south side a close second, was my favorite view. It