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Eleanor slipped her hand into her pocket and closed her fingers around the leather pouches where she kept the sapphires The only ti in the main parlor of the castle The jewels always reminded her of the man she’d betrayed and left behind Everyone had always believed that they were her dowry, and she’d kept silent all of these years

If only she’d left the necklace and earrings behind with the iven them to her At least their families would have had the sapphires But there’d been no tius, impatient, impetuous, irresistible, hadn’t allowed her any And when she’d initially refused to go with hiht, he hadn’t taken no for an answer He’d simply carried her away

Thank God

Her heart tightened as she thought of how he’d completely swept her up in his belief in their future

Lightning flashed again, illuus had pro that would re behind in Scotland He’d kept his word The lovely lakes andtoo ho those early years He’d kept his proarden He’d even brought soinal, and when it was complete she’d stood with him here just as she’d stood with him beneath the one in Scotland

That hen the legend of Castle MacPherson’s stone arch had begun Over the years she’d lost count of the nuus had told and retold the story of how she’d captivated him, heart and mind, that first tiarden And the story had spread, being told and retold throughout the community Her children had believed in it and they’d each ht here

The little pain around her heart increased In the year since he’d passed she’d missed him so much But she always sensed his presence when she stood here in the place where they’d laughed and loved and dreaether so many times

And the stones had played a part in the drea her In the wo to her knees at the side of the arch and lifting a leather pouch out of a pile of loose stones Inside, the young wos Not the pair or the necklace

Eleanor tightened her fingers around the pouch she held in her pocket As she did, she heard Angus’s voice in her ear, just as clearly as she heard it in her dreams

“Her nah to bury her own dreams and fantasies beneath thes in the stone arch for her to find When she finds it, the Stuart Sapphires will begin to find their way home You can finally rest easy Trust ht we ran away”

The rain had stopped, and a few stars had reappeared in the sky With Angus’s words still in her an to work so was safely buried and she returned to the castle, she slept peacefully

1

Glen Loch, NY

Summer 2012

AN AFFAIR TO remember

That had been the guarantee that Adair MacPherson had given to Rexie Maitland and her parents when they’d signed the contract to hold their daughter’s wedding and reception at Castle MacPherson

And she intended to deliver She had to There were already two big X marks in the failure column of her life She didn’t need a third one

Adair pressed a fir in her sto rehearsal scheduled for today, had gotten off to a rocky start The high-strung bride had gone into a panic attack when the groom-to-be hadn’t arrived on time But Adair’s aunt and business partner, Viola MacPherson, had warded off a full meltdoith a cup of herb tea And the tardy Lawrence Banes, a suave, sort of George Clooney look-alike with a good fifteen years on the bride, had finally arrived, full of apologies

Pulling off the Maitland/Banes wedding on Saturday was crucial to the launch of her new business plan, one that would establish the reputation of Castle MacPherson as a pre destination in the heart of New York’s Adirondacks Adair swept her gaze around the garden

The setting was perfect The gray stone castle she and her sisters had grown up in stood on a rocky promontory at the far eastern end of Glen Loch Lake Three stories high and rectangular in shape, it sat tucked between two ardens, thanks to her Aunt Vi, had graced the pages of several gardening azines

The Maitland/Banes wedding would take place beneath the stone arch her several-tius One had built for the stolen bride he’d brought here fro beneath it flanked by the irl had lined up just behind the arbor that ardens The mother of the bride, Bunny Maitland, had taken her seat in the first row of chairs, and just in front of the stone arch, Aunt Vi sat, her bow poised over her cello, ready to play on signal