Hope Everlastin' Book 4 Read Free Page B

board,
aye?"
    Reith nodded.
    Lachlan glanced at Roan,
who shrugged and said, "There's soon to be plenty o' work around
here."
    "Tell me, laddie, where is
yer family?" asked Lachlan, suspicion still lacing his
tone.
    Reith lowered his head. "Ma
wife asked me to leave."
    "Ye're married?"
    The blue eyes lifted. "Aye,
Mr. Baird."
    "Why did she ask you to
leave?"
    "In truth?" Reith
croaked.
    "Always," said Lachlan
curtly.
    "I shamed her. Shamed ma
clan."
    "Och, and you expect us to
trust you?" Lachlan exclaimed.
    "I be no longer tha'
immature fool," Reith said. His gaze shifted to Roan, then back to
Lachlan. "Sir, have ye never erred and wished ye could turn back
time to right yer wrongs?"
    Lachlan and Roan exchanged
dubious glances and shifted uneasily.
    "All right," said Lachlan,
scratching his nape. He glanced at Roan, who nodded in confirmation
as if divining Lachlan's thoughts, then frowned at Reith. "Tonight,
you'll have to share yer lodgin’ wi' us. But wi' luck, come morn,
our women will be forgivin’ our errin’ and you can have the carriage house to
yerself. Room and board you'll have, but also a fair
wage."
    "That's verra generous,
sir."
    Lachlan scowled formidably.
"Step ou' o' line and you'll answer to me."
    "I'll do ye and the land
proud, sir."
    Roan knelt at the edge of
the grave and scooped up a handful of the rich dirt. He considered
its weight and texture then spread his fingers and watched it fall
back to the earth. "You don't have any idea wha' they were lookin’
for?" he asked Reith.
    "I overheard the men
talkin’ afore they realized I was here. One o' them said if they
found the graves empty, they would have their proof."
    "Proof o' wha'?" Roan
clipped, standing and facing the younger man, his hands on his
hips. It wasn't his intention to appear intimidating to the
stranger, but his stomach was knotted with something he couldn't
quite define, and he was anxious to get away from the
graves.
    Reith didn't answer right
away. His shrewd gaze was fixed on Roan's face as if reading his
thoughts, or at the least, pondering the cause of Roan's sudden
testiness. Finally, he said, "Physical proof. That be the term I
heard. I thought it be a strange thing to say, but even stranger
when the ither mon said somethin’ abou’ the scam already bein’ the
hottest story o' the decade. Photographs o' empty graves would be
worth a wee fortune."
    "Scam," Roan murmured, his
bleak gaze shifting to Lachlan's now blanched face. A memory
flashed vividly through his mind. "Shortby's. Good God Almighty!
There was a mon sittin’ at the counter wi' a camera!"
    "Och, aye, the flashin’!"
Lachlan exclaimed. "Fegs, wha' have I done?"
    "Don’t panic," Roan rasped,
his hands held up in a pleading manner. "Those bastards didn’t get
their bloody photos, thanks to young Reith, here. No, no need to
panic. I'm sure we'll come up wi' a plan to prevent this from
happenin’ again."
    "Do you now?" Lachlan asked
with a scowl. "How abou' if I lie in ma grave and wait for the next
corbie to come along? A weel-timed boo might solve all our bloody
problems, aye?"
    "At the least," said Roan
humorously, "the intruder would shit his breeks."
    "I dinna think so," said
Reith cryptically, pointing.
    Roan and Lachlan looked in
the direction of the manor. The sky between it and the carriage
house was unnaturally lit up. Horns and voices rent the
night.
    "No," Lachlan murmured,
swaying on his feet like a drunkard. "Canna be so. Tell me
it canna be
so!"
    This time Roan took the
lead, Lachlan and Reith closely following as they ran across the
field and into the woods. They stopped and hunkered within a patch
of high brush situated between the houses. From this position, they
could see a horde of men and women, some with varying camera
equipment, others with professional lighting systems. There were
shouts for the occupants of the main house to come out and answer
questions, and heated demands for a response to the accusations of
fraud regarding the