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"I see" I stared down at the ground, thinking "You don’t suppose he’s been fiddling the accounts or anything sordid like that?" I hoped not; I liked Jocasta’s butler very ht there was both fondness and respect between the her

Jaers and accounts, and everything is in order--verra good order indeed I’m sure he is an honest man and a faithful servant--but he wouldna be huer"

He snorted briefly

"My aunt h He didna say a word to prevent : only told me what my aunt meant to do, and then left it to me what I should do Or not"

"You think he knew that you wouldn’t--" I stopped there, because I wasn’t sure ht have caused him to want to thwart Jocasta’s plan, but that didn’t mean he meant to reject her offer, either

He didn’t reply, and a sh me I shivered, in spite of the war reassurance in the solid feel of his flesh beneathfruit from the orchard eet, so heavy on the air that I could alht of te skin

Temptation not only for him, but for me For him, the chance to be what he was made for by nature, what fate had denied hie estate, the care of the people on it, a place of respect a men of substance, his peers More importantly, the restoration of clan and fa for wealth, of itself; I knew that Neither did I think he wanted power; if he did, knohat I knew about the future’s shape, he would have chosen to go north, to seek a place a the founders of a nation

But he had been a laird once He had toldhe had said rang in my memory Of the men who shared his confine of them kept me alive And I remembered what Ian had said of Simon Fraser: "Care for his men is now his only link with humanity"

Yes, Jaht with But not to own

Past the orchard, still in silence, and down the long walk of herbaceous borders, with the scents of lily and lavender, aneent and heady that si oneself headlong onto a bed of fragrant petals

Oh, River Run was a garden of earthly delight, all right…but I had called a blackof Joe Abernathy, and Brianna, gavein two places at once I could see their faces in my mind, hear their voices in my inner ear And yet reality was thewith his stride, head bent in anxious thought

And that was my teracious rooowns or social deference Jamie

If he did not take Jocasta’s offer, heelse" was erous lure of land and enerous offer, in its hat he built would be his own, the legacy he wanted to leave for Brianna If he lived to build it

I was still living on two planes In this one, I could hear the whisper of his kilt where it brushed my skirt, feel the humid warmth of his body, warmer even than the heated air I could smell the musky scent of hihts into the border, unbelt him and let the plaid fall froainst hireen plants, and force hihts to mine

But on the plane of memory, I sers was no warranite of a tombstone with his name

I didn’t speak Neither did he

We had made a coe, where gray stone steps led down and disappeared under a lapping sheen of water; even so far upstream, the faint echoes of the tide could be felt

There was a boator a leisurely excursion

"Will ye coht he et away froh distance in which to think clearly, without danger of interruption

I ca my hand on his arh, he turned toward ently, once, then heldon my head

"I don’t know," he said quietly, in answer to my unspoken questions He stepped into the boat and offered me a hand

He was silent while we ht, but the reflections of starlight froht to see, once lim?" he asked abruptly, at last

"It’s not htness into do with stays

"No?"

"She’s your aunt It’s your life It has to be your choice"

"And you’ll be a spectator, will you?" He grunted as he spoke, digging with the oars as he pulled upstream "Is it not your life? Or do ye not mean to stay with me, after all?"