"They are very expensive shoes."
"The best there is, the shoemaker claims. I am Charles Whitfield, and you?"
"George Graham."
"Care for a ride to town, George?"
"I would be ever so grateful." He hated to, but he put his shoe back on and began to tie the laces.
"You're a Scot? I saw you at Marblestone Mansion."
George nodded. "You must be the lad MacGreagor's man shot at?"
"He missed."
"So he said."
Charles reached down and patted the side of his mare's neck to steady her. "I hoped to get a look at his wife."
"You are too late; he sent her back to Scotland."
"So soon?"
"She only came to beg him to divorce her." George finally finished tying his shoe and stood up.
"On what grounds?"
"Adultery. Apparently, it infuriated him and he agreed more quickly than she expected."
Charles moved his foot out of the stirrup, offered his arm, helped George mount behind him and headed for town.
*
McKenna was more than worried about her brother. He had been in his study for the better part of three days, checking lists and placing orders, now that he could do it by telephone instead of writing letters. She often heard him raise his voice, but it was not in anger, it was to make his order heard through phone lines that did not always carry a clear conversation. As well, Cameron called each day, normally late at night Colorado time. Hannish had not come to the kitchen in the mornings or joined her for lunch, and as the third evening approached, she decided to see if he was coming for dinner.
"Come in," she heard him say when she knocked on the door. She entered, looked around the undecorated room and frowned. "A mounted bear head or two on the walls would tidy the place up a bit."
He smiled. "Must I shoot the bears myself?"
"Of course, how could you brag about your hunting talents otherwise?"
"Perhaps I might consider it for the billiard room." He closed his accounting book, put it in a drawer and stood up. "Come, I have something to show you." He took her by the hand, led her to the back of the house and then up the first flight of stairs. He stopped, looked upstairs and down to make certain no one could see, and then pushed on an inside section of the wall.
McKenna was astonished when the door opened into a small room. A table, just inside the door, held candles and matches to use if necessary, but from somewhere above, the sun gave off enough light to climb the spiral staircase. She did not hesitate to start up. "A secret room, how thrilling."