Elaine Coffman - [Mackinnons 06] by When Love Comes Along Page A

aye,” she said with little enthusiasm, trying not to
appear horribly rude. Mildly rude was all right, but horribly rude would bring
a chastening word from her grandfather, and more than likely a scripture or
two, something about helping those in need, or entertaining angels unawares.
    She narrowed her eyes and gave Fletcher a speculative look.
If there was anything this man did not look like, it was an angel.
    “I wouldn’t want to be a bother,” Fletcher said. “I will
make a few inquiries in town.”
    “I have heard the Widow Davidson has a room to let,”
Cathleen said quickly.
    “I won’t hear of your staying anywhere else,” David
insisted, ignoring her. “Why, just the other day I was discussing with Cathleen
the possibility of renting the crofter’s hut.”
    Cathleen wanted to gag her grandfather. He was involving
himself in a matter that was none of his business, and she felt helpless to
prevent it. Call it her woman’s sensibility or simply an inclination, but this
man was up to something dangerous, something her grandfather had no business
involving himself in. She could not help being worried any more than she could
help being so stubborn in her opposition. She just could not give in to this.
She did not know why.
    “Well,” Fletcher said, unable to say more, for at that
moment Cathleen interrupted.
    “The hut is overly small and quite humble. I am certain you
are accustomed to more,” she said, hoping he wasn’t as thick-witted as he
appeared.
    Fletcher gave her a pensive look, one that sent a shiver
over her.
    “You might be surprised,” he replied. Then, looking at
David, he went on, “I would be delighted to take your offer of the crofter’s
hut, but only if you would let me rent it from you.”
    David laughed. “Weel now, I wouldna be a true Scot if I
didna like the clink of money, would I? Parsons were ever a poor lot.”
    She saw the look of understanding that passed between them.
“Then I will stay there tonight,” Fletcher said. He turned to Cathleen. “If
that is all right with you.”
    She glanced at her grandfather, who gave her a perfectly
innocent look. “Whatever my grandfather wishes,” she said, thinking that she
sounded a bit melodramatic.
    A quick glance at Fletcher said he was thinking the same
thing, for a wide grin stretched across his face.
    “How long will you be staying?” David asked.
    “I don’t know. I feel certain the answer lies here in
Glengarry, so I will stay as long as it takes, rather than go back and forth.”
    David agreed. “Aye, it is too long a ride from Caithness to
make every day.”
    “Of course you will be going back… frequently , I would
imagine,” Cathleen said.
    His eyes lit up with amusement. “Oh, I don’t know how frequently ,
but I do plan to return there from time to time, to see how things are going.
But Caithness is in very capable hands.”
    David laughed. “Aye, if your aunt, Doroty, is still tending
things.”
    “She is,” Fletcher said, “and she has taught me much.”
    “You have her blessing, then, to spend time here, looking
for proof?”
    “She said she would have done the same thing if she were in
my place…only sooner.”
    David laughed and shook his head, a look of fond
recollection upon his face. “I have a feeling she would have, too.”
    “I know she would have,” Fletcher said. “She likes to
complain that she is too old, that she is creaking with age, but she is too
much like my mother to forsake something she believes in.”
    David’s look turned serious. “What if you don’t find what
you seek?”
    “I will look someplace else, and I will keep on looking
until I find it. The proof is out there somewhere. I know it is.”
    “Aye, I ken it is as well,” David said, “and I want to help
you find it.”
    No! Not you, Grandpa. You canna involve yourself in this! At her grandfather’s words, Cathleen’s heart seemed to swell painfully. How
well she remembered the time a young man named Ian