The Scottish Bride Read Online Free PDF

to inherit before you?”
    â€œVery nearly,” Tysen said. “It’s sad. They’re all dead. Ian, the last of the heirs and Old Tyronne’s last grandson, fell off a cliff into the North Sea not above six months ago. Then, I suppose, Great Uncle Tyronne just gave up. Although, as Douglas pointed out, the old man was eighty-seven years old. That left only theEnglishman—namely, me. I doubt anyone is very happy about that.”
    â€œBut who is there to be unhappy?”
    Tysen just shook his head. “Actually, I have no idea who is living at Kildrummy at the present time or if there are any relatives remaining. I will see Donald MacCray on the morrow. He will provide me with all the information I need. Now, Sinjun, before I face my daughter I should like to fortify myself with a cup of tea.”

4

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    August 24, 1815
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    T HREE - YEAR - OLD F LETCHER K INROSS told his uncle Tysen that Big Blue was displeased with his name.
    Tysen stared at the precocious little boy in his father’s arms and asked, “What is the name he would prefer, Fletcher?”
    Fletcher put his thumb in his mouth, leaned toward Big Blue, who was looking back intently—actually looking at the little boy—Tysen was sure of it. “Papa, you must let me down,” Fletcher said. When released, he walked right up to the big gelding, and to Tysen’s surprise but no one else’s, the soon-to-be–former Big Blue lowered his head and lipped Fletcher’s hand, blew on it, and stomped his left front hoof several times.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Sinjun said. “No animal would ever hurt him. Isn’t it amazing? Ah, yes, I believe Big Blue has spoken.”
    Fletcher patted the horse’s neck, then turned back to his uncle Tysen and said in his clear child’s voice, “Hetells me he is not blue. He tells me he doesn’t even like colors. He wants to be named Big Fellow.” The thumb went back in the mouth, then his small arms went up for his father to pick him up again, which he did. Colin Kinross said, “Well, Tysen, what do you think—can you bring yourself to call him Big Fellow?”
    Meggie started laughing. “Oh, Aunt Sinjun, it is marvelous. Big Fellow—I like it.”
    â€œIf that’s what he wants,” Tysen said, and he sounded utterly bewildered.
    Phillip Kinross, sixteen and quite a handsome young man with his father’s dark hair and wicked smile, just shook his head and said, “It isn’t bad, Uncle Tysen. Fletcher was mad at me when he renamed my horse. I can tell you I was worried with what he could come up with, but his name is now Edwin, which, actually, suits him just fine, and me as well.”
    â€œWhat was his name before?”
    Fletcher grinned at his very serious uncle, who’d always been very kind to him.
    â€œIt was Claymore,” Phillip said. “Fletcher said my horse was peace-loving and thus the name Claymore made him very nervous.”
    And so the following morning, Big Fellow, with Tysen astride, rode beside the carriage that held one lone passenger—his ten-year-old daughter, who had been wise enough not to argue with her father about her displacement as his tiger. It was a beautiful day. Fleecy white clouds in wondrous shapes filled the sky, a slight breeze moved in from the sea to dry the sweat on Tysen’s brow, and the scent of wildflowers filled his nostrils. He saw clumps of heather ranging from deepest purple to snowy white, in the most unlikely places—poking out of crevices in black rocks, pushing through low-lying stone fences.
    A day and a half of beautiful summer weather broughtthem to Kildrummy Castle. Tysen saw the ten or so chimney stacks rising high into the air, the round turrets curving outward on each corner of the huge square manor. It wasn’t at all like the older castles he’d seen—soaring stone buildings with slitted windows high