Love and the Clans Read online

  ‘It is what I ought to do and what I must do,’ his head told him – but not his heart.

  Then he remembered that he was not only trying to save himself but also Sheinna.

  It was just unthinkable, completely and absolutely unthinkable, that she should be forced to marry Sir Ewen and it was appalling that her father, the Earl, seemed to be ignoring how unpleasant the old man was.

  Yet he could understand.

  He resented the MacFallins intruding on what had originally been his land.

  They had reasoned for themselves that Sir Ewen’s estate joined onto theirs and if the two were to be united by matrimony, the MacFallins would take a large step forward in influence and prestige.

  In the North of Scotland at any rate they would be almost on equal terms with their old enemy, the McBarens.

  ‘I must prevent that eventuality at any cost,’ the Duke told himself, ‘for the sake of my Clan.’

  Then as he walked into the house, Rory, the butler, came running out to meet him.

  “Your Grace made a good catch this morning!” he smiled taking the salmon from him.

  “I was lucky,” the Duke answered him modestly.

  “Things be cheering up now Your Grace be home,” Rory remarked, “and that be all that matters.”

  He disappeared with the salmon before the Duke could think of a suitable reply.

  Then he told himself that, whatever they might say or think, he was behaving like a gentleman in refusing to marry an American just because she proffered money.

  That was the right way to lead his people and make them happy.

  When he looked back at his childhood, he could remember how happy his father and mother were together and how the Castle seemed to be filled with laughter and light.

  ‘One day that is what we will have again,’ he told himself. ‘Whatever people may say, love is something that cannot be bought and sold over the counter with money.’

  He could almost feel his cousin Moira laughing at him.

  Yet as he gazed out of the window at the bright sun shining on the sea he told himself again that what he really wanted more than anything was love.

  Although it might take him years, he was quite sure that eventually he would find it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Sheinna returned home feeling very apprehensive.

  Anything indeed was far better than being forced to marry Sir Ewen.

  Yet she was only too aware that her father would be horrified at her saying she proposed to marry the Chieftain of the dreaded McBarens.

  Ever since she had been old enough to talk, she was taught that the McBarens were bad and wicked people.

  Her father and all his Clansmen hated them.

  As she grew older she wondered why they were so violent about them. She was told that they had fought one another for generations.

  And nothing would stop them now from looking on the McBarens as their greatest enemy.

  Then she had gone to England and found there were no Clans there. Men and women became friends with all different sorts of people and not only with those they were related to by name or blood.

  She had, as she lived with her grandmother, grown up to feel tolerant towards almost everyone and it had been the same when she visited France.

  Of course there were those who were snobbish and who thought people who had titles were superior beings, but on the whole most people accepted those they met at their face value.

  Sheinna actually found herself exceedingly popular with everyone she came into contact with.

  “The Clans are out of date,” she had once said to her grandmother, who had laughed and replied,

  “You will not find it so in Scotland. Your father is convinced that he is the King of his own Clan and he will not have anyone interfering with him.”

  Sheinna had laughed heartily at the time, but when she came home she found that it was only too true.

  Her father considered himself of great importance and he expected all the Clansmen who bore his name and over whom he ruled to obey and respect him dutifully.

  Sheinna had often laughed to herself and felt that her father expected her to curtsy to him when they met!

  He was furious if anyone omitted to address him as ‘my Lord’.

  Of course she was proud of her family, which went back for many generations and she had read the history of the MacFallins and was impressed by all that the various Earls who preceded her father had achieved.

  Equally she guessed that the MacFallins were not of any particular significance among the other Clans. There were many Highland Chieftains more distinguished than her father.

  She had, however, done her very best to behave as he would like and she had always listened obediently to his endless stories of the battles the MacFallins had fought and always seemed to win.

  Appreciating the fact that everyone surrounding her wore a kilt, it had at first seemed to her strange after being away so long.

  She was used to seeing the young men in England very smart in their evening dress and the French took great interest in their appearance and that of their women.

  Living again in the MacFallin family house which was several centuries old was a new experience for her.

  At first she found it very interesting but at the same time extremely uncomfortable and she missed the luxuries she had found in her grandmother’s house in London and had enjoyed in Paris.

  The cupboards, heavily made out of Scottish wood, were far too short for her gowns and the carpets in some rooms were threadbare, but they were considered much too precious to be removed because of their age.

  It all, Sheinna felt, came down to the same custom.

  If an item had been in the family for generations, it must be almost worshipped as if it was a sacred record of their achievements.

  Her father, the Earl, liked things done in old style. The piper walked three times round the dining room table after dinner and was then rewarded with a dram of whisky.

  To begin with Sheinna thought that this ritual was entertaining, but as it happened every evening, she began to find it boring and extremely noisy.

  It lasted far too long because the Earl wanted the piper to play the best tunes for the pipes as well as the Lament and the MacFallins’ War Song every night.

  The Earl would sit back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face and Sheinna became increasingly aware that he took it as a personal tribute to himself, giving him a feeling of grandeur that nothing else could.

  *

  When Sheinna had bade farewell to the Duke by the river, she climbed up to the road and there coming towards her was a groom and the pony-cart to collect her.

  The groom grinned at her when he saw that she was carrying two salmon.

  “You’ve been real lucky, my Lady,” he greeted Sheinna. “That’ll please ’is Lordship.”

  “I’m sure he will think me very clever.”

  “That you were,” the groom replied. “And you got ’em in without a gaff, my Lady, unless you left it behind.”

  Sheinna drew in her breath.

  She had completely forgotten that she would either have a net or a gaff for the fish with her.

  Of course the Duke had landed them for her.

  Now because she was frightened of what the groom would think, she said quickly,

  “Oh dear, I have left my net behind, Torquil, but I will go fishing again this afternoon and collect it then.”

  The groom grinned.

  “Let’s hope then you’ll have plenty need of it, my Lady.”

  “That is just what I’m hoping too,” replied Sheinna.

  They drove on in silence and soon she could see the huge and somewhat ugly house ahead of her and then she thought how exciting it would be to see Barenlock Castle.

  The groom drew the cart up outside the front door and as he did so, he enquired,

  “Shall I takes the salmon to the kitchen, my Lady?”

  “Yes, please do, Torquil, and
thank you very much for fetching me,” Sheinna replied.

  The butler, who was waiting in the hall, asked her,

  “Did your Ladyship have any luck?”

  “Yes, I did, Donald,” she answered. “Two lovely salmon and I hope we will have one to eat tonight.”

  “I’ll tell cook, if that’s what you be a-wantin’, my Lady.”

  He spoke with a broad accent and she thought in his kilt he looked very unlike the suave smart butler who had presided over her grandmother’s house, where the footmen had worn a trim livery.

  She was also comparing the climb up the stairs to the dining room, which she had always considered totally unnecessary, but it was correct in large Scottish houses.

  She preferred the large dining room on the ground floor, which had been filled with her grandmother’s friends where the food was always delicious and, if the gentlemen were to be believed, the wine was even better.

  She had only been back at her home for a very short while, but already she found the heavy meals provided by the Scottish cook monotonous and predictable.

  If she compared them with all the wonderful dishes she had enjoyed in France, they were almost inedible.

  Of course there was salmon and venison to eat and as they were near the sea there was fresh cod and mackerel, but she longed for the delicious Parisian sauces.

  Whatever the Scots might brag about their venison, to Sheinna’s taste there was nothing as good as spring lamb or a young chicken.

  ‘I am a Scot and I really must not criticise my own people,’ she had told herself over and over again.

  But she could not pretend that she did not miss the elegance and comfort she had found South of the border.

  When she entered the breakfast room, she found her father already seated at the top of the table.

  “Where have you been?” he asked. “I was told you went out very early!”

  “I went fishing,” Sheinna replied simply.

  “You should have asked me where you should go,” her father said. “I know every pool in the river better than I know my own name and I would have made sure you had a catch.”

  “As it happened I landed two.”

  “Two!” the Earl exclaimed. “Well, that was clever of you.”

  He spoke almost reluctantly as if he had no wish for her to achieve anything without his help and guidance.

  Sheinna kissed his cheek before walking over to the sideboard, where she helped herself to the inevitable bowl of porridge.

  Secretly she had no liking for porridge, but was afraid to say so.

  However, she took as little as she could in the small wooden bowl that had been given to her at her Christening.

  She knew her father in the correct Scottish manner had already eaten his porridge standing up and had put salt on it rather than sugar.

  She sat down at the table to eat hers.

  The tradition of men standing up to eat it had been handed down from generation to generation and it was in case, while eating their porridge, an enemy stabbed them in the back.

  She could not help thinking that now in the security of his very own dining room, her father would be far more comfortable sitting rather than standing.

  “Where did you catch the salmon?” he asked.

  “I am not quite certain of the name of the pool,” she responded. “But it was near to where our part of the river begins.”

  Her father made a sound which she knew was one of contempt.

  “Keep away from that part of the water!” he cried. “I have no wish to be told by the men who work for that absentee Duke that you were trespassing.”

  “If they had been there, they might have taken my fish away from me,” Sheinna parried lightly.

  “They would certainly have done so. If you ask me they often trespass on my land when they think there’s no one about.”

  His voice sharpened as he went on,

  “In fact I am almost certain that I saw one several evenings ago, but he disappeared before I could get near enough to tell him what I thought of him! I cannot move as quickly as I used to.”

  “I am sure that there’s plenty of fish for everyone, Papa, without any of us being unpleasant about it.”

  “Unpleasant,” her father exclaimed sharply. “I can assure you, if I see anyone poaching on my land, they will be lucky if they get away alive!”

  He spoke with a violence which was characteristic of him.

  Sheinna had always thought it was more bravado than anything else, but it told her all too clearly what he felt about the McBarens.

  “What are you going to do today, Papa?” she asked.

  “I have to go to the village later this morning. The Minister wants to see me about repairs to the Kirk and I have something else to discuss with him that will take a long time.”

  “What is that?” Sheinna asked him.

  It was not because she was particularly curious, but she thought it polite to show an interest.

  “Well, if you want the truth, it’s your marriage,” the Earl replied. “I was thinking in the night that it would be quite impossible to fit everyone into the Kirk, so I am wondering if we would be wiser to have the ceremony in a larger Kirk than the one here on our doorstep.”

  There was short silence before Sheinna burst out,

  “I have already told you, Papa, I have no wish to be married. I have only just come home and I want to enjoy being with you. As I said yesterday, I will not marry Sir Ewen.”

  “You will do as you are told!” the Earl shouted at her, “and I will have no nonsense about it.”

  “He is old, he is horrible and if you insist on my marrying him, I will run away!”

  The Earl laughed and it was not a pleasant sound.

  “And where, my dear girl, would you go?”

  “Where you could not find me,” Sheinna replied.

  “Then let me make it very clear that you will obey me as your father and the Chieftain of this fine Clan – ”

  The Earl paused for a moment before he added,

  “I told you there was no hurry, but I need to talk things over with Sir Ewen. At the same time, since I am seeing the Minister about other matters, I will certainly be discussing your marriage.”

  His voice deepened as he carried on,

  “And how to make it one of the most momentous and rousing events that the MacFallins have ever taken part in.”

  For a second Sheinna thought of screaming at him and insisting again that she would never marry anyone she did not love, especially such an old man as unattractive and repulsive as Sir Ewen.

  Then she recalled that the Duke had a solution for her and himself and it would thus be a waste of breath.

  She then put aside her bowl and in silence helped herself to one of the dishes on the sideboard.

  The only habit in this house that echoed English manners was the way they helped themselves at breakfast, otherwise the servants waited on them at every meal.

  “Now what I am planning,” her father was saying, “is that you should have a large number of bridesmaids in attendance on you, which will naturally please our relations and our neighbours.”

  His voice was now quite pleasant as he rambled on,

  “The Clan pipers will play you into the Kirk and play you out of it. They will also play almost continuously during the Reception.”

  Sheinna did not answer as she knew that her father was thinking aloud and even if she did make a comment, he was unlikely to pay any attention.

  As it happened, despite the fact of having spent the night with very little sleep, after her exertions this morning she was feeling quite hungry.

  Having finished the fish fillets, she helped herself to scones and butter from her father’s farm.

  “I suppose,” the Earl was saying, “you will need a wedding gown. As the wedding will be a very large one, it must be very smart and spectacular.

  “We have the veil which has been passed down the family for centuries and you will carry a bo
uquet of white heather which will undoubtedly bring good luck to your marriage.”

  Sheinna felt like screaming it would be unlucky. For anyone of her age to be married to a man who was so much older and, as she thought, exceedingly unpleasant, could in no way enjoy good luck.

  But to argue with her father at this moment would do no good.

  Again there was a poignant silence.

  “I suppose,” the Earl said after a long pause, “that you will want to go to Edinburgh for your wedding gown. Although I daresay there could easily be someone nearer who could supply you with one.”

  Sheinna mused that he was being far too optimistic.

  No dressmakers, if there were any in the villages, would be able to supply the sort of gown her father was contemplating for her. She was quite certain that even in Edinburgh they would indeed not be as smart as anything she could be able to find in London or Paris.

  She wondered if she insisted on going to either of these two Capitals to buy a wedding dress that her father would agree.

  Then she recognised, as she had been speaking of running away, he would think it a trick on her part to evade the marriage.

  As she made no further reply, he then rose from the table, saying,

  “When I have seen the Minister, I will tell you what his suggestions are. If you are going fishing again, you are to be back by five o’clock and don’t be late.”

  Having given his orders, he then stalked out of the dining room, closing the door noisily behind him.

  Sheinna put her hands up to her face.

  As she had told the Duke, she was frightened, more frightened now than she had ever been in her whole life.

  It was so hard to visualise what might happen when she announced that she intended to marry the Duke.

  It would certainly cause a terrible commotion.

  Yet it would at least distract her father’s attention from his present plans.

  She walked slowly upstairs to her bedroom.

  She suddenly felt half afraid that the Duke had only been playing with her.

  Perhaps he really had no intention of declaring that they intended to marry each other.

  Then she told herself that, if nothing else, he was a gentleman and he would not raise her hopes falsely on such a serious matter.