The Laird and I: A Kilts and Quilts of Whussendale novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

be on her own. Her freedom had lasted less than twenty-four hours. Deydie’s veiled prediction that she would turn tail had come true. Sophie couldn’t tell the man beside her either. Hugh had been to the far reaches of the world. And Sophie…well, she’d been nowhere.
    She grabbed her coat from the hook at the back door, where she’d stowed it yesterday—when she’d pretended this was her house…her castle for the next week. Now, today, she was going home.
    She laid her hand on the doorknob and looked back as Hugh downed the rest of his tea. He unfolded himself from the chair and followed her out.
    The drive was empty. “Where’s yere car? The barn?”
    “We’ll walk,” he said. “It’s a mile or so. The weather is only a wee bit chilly.”
    She marched out, glad she’d put on warm tights with her dress. Hugh walked in silence beside her. Sophie waited for him to question her more about why she was there, but she had to know one thing before returning home.
    “This may be too personal, but since we’ve already been in bed together , and I’ve added to the sights I’ve seen,” she braved, referring to his naked backside, “why didn’t you turn the light on when you came to bed last night? It might’ve clued me in sooner that you were there and vice versa.”
    He gazed off in the distance as if the answer lay beyond the Munro. “It’s my habit.” He seemed closed on the subject. But a moment later, he was asking a question of her. “Is there some reason why you don’t want to go home?”
    Sophie couldn’t tell him the complete truth, but she could share a sliver of it. “Ye’ve made arrangements for me to apprentice with yere head kiltmaker for the next week. Or whoever sent those emails did.” Then reality hit. “Or maybe the phantom emailer was pulling the sheep’s wool over my eyes on that, too.”
    “We’ll find out soon enough. Willoughby will be at the kirk. He’s been at McGillivray’s House of Woollens since the day he was born, and he’s at least eighty years old, if he’s a day.”
    One thing would be cleared up soon .
    “Why else don’t you want to go home?”
    She kicked a loose rock. She wasn’t willing to confess how being here was an adventure for her. He would laugh at her inexperience. But she could tell him about the task she’d been given.  “You remember Deydie from when ye came to Gandiegow? The head quilter?”
    “Aye. The crotchety ol’ bat.”
    “She’s not that bad. Deydie has a good heart, but comes off as tough as an old sailor and crusty as a barnacle.”
    “I only remember she gave me an earful about Amy. That I should do better about staying in touch, that family was more important than any business I had to run.”
    “Sounds like Deydie.” Sophie envied the geese flying overhead. They were free to see the world with no one telling them what to do. “Well, Deydie’s the one who wants me to take up kiltmaking. I can’t stress to ye enough how much I don’t want to disappoint her. ”
    Hugh glanced over, as if to see if she was telling the truth. “And the rest of it?”
    Not all of it, but some. “Deydie is also counting on me to come home with some woollen remnants, whatever quality wool piece you can spare. Gandiegow’s Kilts and Quilts is running its first-ever wool quilt retreat in six weeks.”
    “We have plenty of oddments that should work.” Hugh took her arm and guided her around a frozen puddle.
    His grip was comforting, and she had the urge to lean into him. For a moment, she forgot what they were talking about.
    “I can pick you out some nice pieces before you go.” His words snapped her back to the conversation.
    “Oh, no. I’m supposed to do the choosing!” She had to be the one to do it. With kiltmaking off the table, the haul of remnants was the only way to contribute to Gandiegow now. And by God, she would do it.
    At the Y in the road, Hugh changed the subject.
    “There.” He pointed down the lane to a group of