“Who’s paying you for your services, Mr. Hoover?” she asked, her back and tone of voice stiff, alpha-like.
“For the management of your properties, you are, miss. Uh, I guess, I’m no longer managing your properties if the MacNeill clan will be responsible for them in future. For this other matter, your cousins are.”
“My cousins,” she said.
Cearnach was about to rise from his chair to force the solicitor to say what he had wished to say, but Elaine stayed him, a hand on Cearnach’s arm. “If you can’t share the information, it really doesn’t matter,” Elaine said. “I want to see each of these places. Would it be possible?”
“Aye. The occupants of the two manors are human. I’ve told everyone that you have arrived in Scotland and might wish to see your properties. One of the buildings is an ancient keep. One of our kind lives there.”
“A kinsman of mine?” she asked, her brows furrowing.
The solicitor hesitated to say, then shook his head. Lying? Hiding some truth?
“Can I see them today?”
“They’re spread out over Scotland. One of the properties is located about three hours from here.” He pointed to one of the manor houses on the sheet of paper Ian was looking at. Mr. Hoover closed up his laptop. “I’ll see about changing the names on the deeds.” He rose from the chair.
Cearnach and Elaine stood.
Mr. Hoover bowed his head a little, looking like he wished nothing more than to leave immediately. Why? Because of the news about Elaine and Cearnach’s mating?
Cearnach suspected her kin would be furious, and the little man did not wish to be the bearer of ill tidings.
“Aye. Good day, ma’am, sir, my laird.”
“Will you show him out, Cearnach?” Ian asked.
Cearnach felt torn. He didn’t want to leave Elaine alone with Ian, afraid of what he might say to her while he was gone.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Elaine promised Cearnach, giving his hand a squeeze, her smile a promise that everything would be okay.
He kissed her cheek. “All right.” Then he gave Ian a warning look, which made his brother give him a raised brow in return. Cearnach reluctantly escorted the solicitor out of Ian’s office and shut the door.
Elaine retook her seat.
“My mother didn’t force this on you, did she?” Ian asked, his eyes narrowed as he studied her response.
“No. Not Flynn, either. Cearnach said I forced it upon him.”
Ian didn’t say anything for a moment as if he was taking that in, then nodded as if he agreed. She’d expected him to laugh or smile or something. Not just seriously agree.
“You were the one we were trying to track down for weeks in the St. Andrews area. Cearnach was certain someone evil had taken you hostage, and he needed to rescue you.”
“I’m sorry he worried about me for so long.”
“We all did.” Ian leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “What do you think the Kilpatricks and McKinleys want with you?”
“If no merchandise is hidden anywhere, or if it was discovered years ago, then I don’t know why they would want to have anything further to do with me.”
Ian shook his head. “They wouldn’t want you to be mated to one of us. Certainly not to Cearnach, of all people.”
“Why him?”
“His friendship with Calla. Now she’s called off the wedding between her and Baird. They wished to speak with you about some matter, and now you’re here and siding with us.”
She made an annoyed little huff under her breath. “That was easy to do after all they’d done to Cearnach and me.”
“Aye, but they won’t see it that way. They’ll feel justified in everything they’ve done.”
Cearnach stalked into the solar. “Was anything important discussed while I was gone?” He took a seat next to Elaine again and put his arm around her shoulders.
Ian laughed. “You must have run the solicitor out of the building.”
“Duncan met me on the stairs and is giving him the royal escort out.”
“Not only have you created ill will with Elaine’s clan over Calla but now also concerning Elaine,” Ian said.
Cearnach shrugged. “Couldn’t be helped. That clan is bad news.”
Ian nodded. “I’ll ask Guthrie and Duncan to see if they can learn anything about what the solicitor alluded to. I suspect we will have more trouble.”
“They won’t give back my ID and the rental car and all,” Elaine said.“I suspect not. But we have our ways,” Ian assured her.
“By force, you mean?” she asked.
“If we have to, aye.”
“What do you think this is all about, Ian?” Cearnach asked.
“I believe that Elaine’s kin know where more of the stolen goods are hidden. Or maybe not exactly where, as they would have already procured them. Somehow Elaine is the key.”
“Just because of the clues I have. When Robert tells me what he knows, hopefully we can decipher the location, if anything still exists,” Elaine said.
Ian looked at his desk as if he was deep in thought. “I’m not sure.”
“What are you thinking?” Cearnach asked.
“Did they ask you to share what you knew about the treasure without coming to Scotland?” Ian asked Elaine.
“Yes. But I wouldn’t tell them what I knew, assuming they’d find the goods and cut me out of them entirely.”
“Are you certain?” Ian asked.
She frowned at him. “Of course, I’m certain. They were all a bunch of pirates.”
“Nay, lass, that’s not what I mean,” Ian said gently. “Are you certain that Kilpatrick was only interested in the information about the treasure? If you had given it to him over the phone and not bothered to come to Scotland, would he have been satisfied?”
“What are you saying?” Elaine asked. “That they wanted me just as much as they wanted the goods?”
“Aye, that’s what I’m thinking. Though it could very well be that it’s just your information they want.”
But from the tone of Ian’s voice, that wasn’t what she thought he meant at all.
Chapter 22
As they sat in Ian’s solar discussing the reasons why Robert Kilpatrick wanted Elaine in Scotland so badly, Cearnach asked her, “Could it be that your kin wanted to get hold of your properties because they are profitable?”
“It’s possible that’s what this is all about.” She sighed. “I don’t wish to delay this any further. I want to see the properties,” Elaine told Ian. “I want to see if they might hold the goods my uncles stole from you and just take a look at the places also.”
“I’m certain your cousins would have searched them thoroughly. It appears to me that your uncles used the stolen goods to make sound investments. These, in turn, are now back in MacNeill hands, but are more valuable than the original goods your uncles stole from us,” Cearnach said, as if worried she might be disappointed.
She agreed he might be right. Yet, she wished she could have seen the goods. She envisioned a dragon hoarding its treasure. She had hoped they were more than a few barrels of useless stuff. She’d never realized her uncles had been good at making investments. Her mother and father had been, but she’d always thought of her uncles as the kind of men who lived off of one cache of stolen goods to the next. Never did she imagine that they could have been wealthy landowners.
It saddened her to learn she’d had an older brother, lost to an earlier war, whose death had upset her parents so much that they’d moved to the Americas. Had they worried about losing her, too? Why hadn’t her parents ever told her about him? Or about the other son who died before he was born.
“If you wish to survey your lands, I’ll make the necessary arrangements. You will have a guard force at all times,” Ian said.
She frowned, not wanting to create more work for his clansmen. “Do you believe that’s really necessary?”
“Aye. I don’t know what the McKinleys and Kilpatricks are up to where you’re concerned. You’re one of us now. I won’t permit either you or Cearnach to travel alone until we learn that the treasure doesn’t exist or discover some other reason why Robert is so desperate to see you—alone.”
“I don’t want you or your people to feel put upon.”
Ian and Cearnach gave each other smiles. “The thing of it, lass,” Ian said, “is that we live for adventure, train to fight, and protect. I will have a time choosing some clansmen to accompany you without offending those who are not chosen.”
Elaine smiled at that. Instead of a group of men taking a step backward when asked for volunteers to accompany them, she envisioned kilted warriors, swords in hand, all stepping forward.
“If you’re sure…”
“I am, lass.”
Elaine stood and said to Cearnach. “I want to go on a treasure hunt. The first manor Mr. Hoover mentioned is not too far from here.”
“I’ll send word at once to have a force of men attend you,” Ian said. “As to the keep, it’s about five hours south of Argent Castle. I’ll ask Guthrie, Duncan, and Oran and a few other men to check out the place. The men will be thorough. The renter might be one of your kinsmen, despite what your solicitor said. I didn’t care for his hesitation when he responded after you pointedly asked if the wolf was related to you.”
“Make sure they take notice if the property is near a loch or has a waterfall nearby.”
“Aye, lass. They will make sure of it.”
***
Despite not expecting to be overly impressed, Elaine was when they arrived at the first estate.
Heavy stone walls and massive oak doors gave the immediate impression of the medieval three-story building being just as hardy as the Highlanders accompanying her.
“No loch,” she said to Cearnach, thinking of what her uncle had eluded to.