My Laird's Love (My Laird's Castle Book 2) Read Free Page A

ye hail from the Colonies as well.”
    “I do!” I said, almost chuckling at his use of the term “Colonies” and thrilled that he was taking me to an American. Not that the Scots weren’t great, but an American could understand what it felt like to be lost in a country that was not my own.  
    “I’m looking forward to meeting her. Did she marry a Scottish lord?”
    “Aye, Laird Colin Anderson. They are great friends of mine. I was just this night at Gleannhaven for supper and music.”
    “Was that you playing the bagpipe? I heard some music a short while ago.”
    “I was just playing a few tunes to while away the time as I rode home,” he said with a warm laugh. “I meant to leave Gleannhaven earlier with good light, but the ale was flowing, and I overstayed. Black and Robbie ken the way home, and I have little to do but play the pipe while I ride.”  
    “You play wonderfully,” I said. “There was a bagpiper in the pullout, a middle-aged man, kind of thinning reddish-brown hair, a thick mustache, red kilt. Do you know him?”
    “I dinna ken such a man as ye describe. I canna say that I ken what this ‘pullout’ is of which ye speak.”
    “You know...on the road. A pullout? Like when cars pull over to see the mountains or the valley?”
    “Nay, I dinna ken of such, but ye do remind me more of Beth with every word ye speak. She will ken such things.”
    “Oh, good!” I said.  
    The horse, Black, did indeed seem to know his way in the dark, and the ride was smooth. Fortunately, this was not my first time on a horse, but it was my first time being held in the arms of a strange man.  
    I had at first tried a rigid pose, keeping my back from melding into his warm chest, but I soon gave that up as both painful and impractical. Now, I rested against him and felt the steady thudding of his heart against my back. The occasional tingle ran up and down my spine.
    “So, you live nearby as well?” I tried to focus on anything but the sensation of being in his arms.
    “I do,” James said. “At Castle Lochloon. It was my grandfather’s place. I grew up in the north, but upon my grandfather’s death, I inherited the castle. My mother wished to return to her ancestral home when my father died, and she lived there for some years before she passed. I live there now.”
    “Are you married? Do you have family?”
    “Nay, I havena yet had the pleasure.”
    I chuckled then, the sound loud in the darkness.  
    “What makes ye laugh?” His baritone purred against my ear.
    “Oh, not everyone would see marriage as a pleasure, that’s all.”
    “I would,” he said, his voice quiet and sincere.  
    The tingle ran up and down my spine again, and I changed the subject.  
    “What do you do for a living, James?  
    “For a living?” he repeated. “I manage my estate.”
    “Oh!” Well, clearly he was rich. He lived in a castle, didn’t he? And he must have had enough land to keep him busy. So why was he riding a horse home? Didn’t he have a car? Or was riding horses between neighboring estates just the norm here in the Highlands?
      “Do you have a car?” I asked.
    “A car?” he repeated, almost as if he’d never heard the word. “I canna say that I have such. Is that something particular to yer country?”
    I laughed. He was eccentric, if nothing else.
    “Okay,” I said. “We’ll leave that alone. How much farther is it to the castle?”
    “We have a bit yet to travel. I imagine ye would appreciate a horse wagon just now, but I wasna expecting company.”
    “No, I’m thankful you came along, on horseback or otherwise.” I tried hard to avoid thinking about the feel of his arms around me. Sam wouldn’t have appreciated my thoughts.
    “Did ye say ye were traveling with yer cousin? Julie, I thought ye said. She must be fair worried about ye by now.”
    “Yes, I think she must be. I don’t know if she’s still waiting by the road or whether she headed on to our hotel in Glasgow. Somehow, I