Under an Enchantment: A Novella Read Online Free PDF

results of his quest. Perhaps not. He couldn’t afford to worry about her.
    His father, for so he couldn’t stop thinking of James MacLaren despite the truth, was prosperous and generous. Malcolm was his heir, fair or not, and he had already been given a large farm and four hundred acres of decent soil. He’d left his inheritance behind in the capable hands of his steward and come to St. Columba in search of his destiny.
    That destiny started with the Wallaces. With the five brothers and the sister. He’d move on to Torquil Spens in his own good time.
    The Wallace house loomed before him, and he eyed it with calm interest that was only partly feigned. It wasn’t as large as his father’s manor house, or as pretty. Its lack of grace suited him well.
    The household was in disarray. He could hear the loud voices raised in argument as he waited in the overdecorated anteroom that looked more as if it belonged in an Edinburgh brothel than a highland manor house. The servant who’d told him to wait had scurried away, and doubtless had forgotten about him in the uproar. He could make out a woman’s shrill, complaining tone, and the sound of a deep male voice, bullying and blustering. There was another voice, quieter, and he wondered who among them were his enemies. All of them, if their name was Wallace.
    The door to the room was flung open and a very pretty woman with the face of an angel, the expression of a shrew, and the belly of a woman eight months into pregnancy stormed into the room. “She’s being impossible, Angus. I told her she wasn’t to come down—someone will take her back to that wretched little hovel and keep her there. She’s an embarrassment—she ought to be put away.”
    The man who followed her into the room was largish, inclined to fat, with the small eyes and thick lips of a bully. “She’ll come down for tea if I have to beat her,” he announced. “She does it on purpose, Fiona, playing her little tricks. She’s smart enough when she tries—she can behave herself if she wants to. And by God I’ll make her want to.”
    Neither of them noticed Malcolm standing in the shadows, utterly still, watching them with no little interest. He knew perfectly well who they had to be discussing. The daft Ailie Wallace Spens.
    “ She has no sympathy for my situation,” Fiona continued in a voice that was halfway between a screech and a whine. “Just because she’s barren ...”
    “ We don’t know that for certain,” Angus said. “Though it seems likely enough by now. Bring her down, Fiona. Torquil’s waiting to see her, and he might as well see her at her worst. It won’t come as any surprise—he’s seen her often enough when she was married to his cousin. If he’s going to cry off, he might as well do it now. Then we can see about putting her away someplace.”
    “ Very well,” Fiona said, sulking, turning toward the door. At that moment her eyes caught sight of Malcolm, and they widened. “Who are you?”
    Angus followed her gaze, taking a belligerent step forward. “Aye, who are you, to be listening in on a family conversation?”
    Malcolm calmly considered how far he’d get if he shoved his fist against Angus Wallace’s mouth. It might provide some immediate satisfaction, but he was after something more complex, more complete.
    “ I didn’t mean to intrude,” he said politely enough. “I’m Malcolm MacLaren, newly arrived on St. Columba. I was informed that you were the owner of a certain house I’m interested in leasing.”
    Angus’s eyes narrowed, but the light of greed shone forth. “What house is that?”
    “ It’s a tumbledown place out by the seal rocks. It doesn’t look as if anyone’s been living there for a while, but it would suit me.”
    “ The old MacDugald place? It’s been empty for almost thirty years. The old couple who lived there died out, soon after their only child drowned. Why would you be wanting that particular spot?”
    Malcolm managed a charming,