Passion and Plaid - Her Highland Hero (Scottish Historical Romance) Read Online Free PDF

from all that happened, he’s threatened to stop paying the house help.”
    “You can’t be serious,” John said. “That’s what
got us all interested in his business in the first place.”
    “Well that and a certain flame-headed lass,” Lynne
added.
    “That too. But without Red Ben Black’s wife
wanting us to break into the Laird’s mansion to collect payment he promised but
never delivered, we would never have known about her at all.”
    “He’s down stairs, too.”
    “Laird Macdonald?” John’s eyes got wide.
    Lynne pursed her lips and sighed. “I’m guessing he
means Ben.”
    “Right , Ben. He and Alice are downstairs.
So is Elena.”
    “Wait, wait, wait, what time is it? Why are all of
you here so early?”
    “Early?” Rodrigo laughed. “It’s an hour to
midnight still.”
    “Oh. So that explains the levity of your mood,”
John said to Lynne.
    “Come on, get up. We have to move fast.”
    “Of course we do. Fast this, fast that. Why can’t
things ever go at a nice, slow pace around here?”
    “You’ll have to forgive him, Rodrigo. John’s not
yet had his full eleven hours’ sleep.” She and Rodrigo laughed. “Get up, grandfather
John. Let’s go. I’ve been wondering when we’d have some more fun.”
    “What? We haven’t been having fun?” By the time he
answered, Lynne and Rodrigo were both halfway down the hall.
    “Hey! Wait for me! I thought we’d been having fun!”
    “John Two-fingers! Get down here and drink,” a
big, loud, smiling voice said from somewhere he couldn’t see. “We’ve got things
to discuss!”
    John smiled to himself as he traded trousers for
kilt and tucked his baggy white tunic into the top. He missed Gavin and Kenna,
but they were gone north. Their lives were elsewhere. His loud, burly, red-bearded
friend Ben, though, was right down the stairs.
    “Coming!” he shouted from the doorway. “Get me a
mug and a dram!”
    Only moments later, Red Ben Black, John, Lynne,
Alice Black, Rodrigo and Elena were back together warming seats with a bottle
open between them. Every time Ben took a swallow, Alice glared at him playfully
and asked if he was going to stop before he fell asleep.
    “So what you’re telling me,” John said, “is that
we have to get back into Ramsay Macdonald’s house and spirit off one of
his maids?” The whisky was good going down.
    “Aye, but not just any maid,” said Ben. “Here,
Elena will tell it better. I knew the woman but these two damn near lived on
top of one another.”
    “Olga a very good woman, but do not want to leave.
When moved to here, she...um...Olga she took me under her care and teach me how
to do everything I need. She help Kenna get out of Macdonald’s house. She help
everybody but won’t help herself.”
    “Why not?” John asked. “Is she scared something
will happen?”
    “I think she am – is – I think she just want to
see the best in everyone. She don’t hate Macdonald for keeping Kenna and all
that things. But he not going to pay her. Not right. And I want her safe.”
    For a second, John and Red Ben looked at each
other, both trying to think of something to say. It was Rodrigo who broke the
silence.
    “Then we go. We go tonight – go now – and get her.
She deserves better than Macdonald’s abuse.”
    “I’ll need my key,” Red Ben said. “I left it at
home.”
    “Well then, that solves the next question I was
going to ask, which was ‘how are we going to get in this time?’ But it doesn’t
solve another problem. Are there guards? Even broke, the Laird canna be so
ruined he has no guards.”
    Elena shook her head. “Olga, she say the guards
all leave. He won’t pay, they won’t work.”
    “They’ve got some sense at least.” John looked
back and forth between the two men. “Right, so we go to the Black’s house, get
the key, and then what? Just ride to the house and walk in the back door?”
    “Well, aye, that’s about the short of it.” Ben
said with a huge grin