A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader TXT) 📕

grumbled. “I assure ye, I do. It’s gone. Gone the same asmy family, wi’out a trace. As if we never were.”

Hugh turned away, raking his fingers throughhis hair with an aggravated groan that might have been thebyproduct of a suppressed shout of rage. “Those Sassenach bastardsundoubtedly burned it tae the ground.”

Claire looked at thescreen again, double-clicking again and again until she was zoomedin almost to the ground on the spot where Hugh claimed with suchcertainty that his castle should sit. Even if it had been destroyedcenturies before, surely there would be some indication of a ruin.Even Hadrian’s Wall left a mark after hundreds of years. Romanroads were still evident after a thousand. But there was no scar onthe land where Hugh’s Rosebraugh shouldhave been. Nothing. Not a stone or indention. Was that evenpossible? “I’m sorry, Hugh,” she said hesitantly. “I should havelooked first. I just thought… ”

“Ye’ve done nothing wrong, Sorcha,” he saidharshly, his brogue so thick with emotion that he was once againalmost beyond comprehension “I am nae angry wi’ ye.”

No, he wasn’t angry with her.

Only with the entire world, and who couldblame him? Claire wished she could somehow comfort him and had eventurned to do so when an awful thought struck her and Clairescrambled for her new cellphone, dialing her brother Danny’snumber.

“Danny, I need a favor …” she said a littledesperately. It hadn’t occurred to her the night before. She couldalways call Danny. He was about as untraceable as an American couldget these days … and smart enough to beat even the federalgovernment at their own games. “How do I wipe the search historyfrom my laptop, permanently? So no one could ever find it?”

“Well, Sis,” her younger brother drawled.“Here’s what you do. You put it in a car and drive west …”

Claire rolled her eyes at his unsurprisingsarcasm. Well, she was going that way anyway, wasn’t she?

Chapter 11

“Cannae ye lower thevolume of that noise?”

Claire rolled her eyes. It wasn’t the firsttime Hugh had asked, but there didn’t seem to be anything she hadsaid or done in the past few hours that could turn the bear he hadbecome back into a rational human being. “Music, Hugh, its calledmusic.”

“I’ve heard music beautiful enough tae makeangels weep,” he said crossly. “That isnae it.”

With a soft snort, she bobbed her head fromside to side to the drumbeat of White Lion’s “Radar Love.” She hadan entire playlist of songs on her iPod specifically chosen fortheir ability to shorten a long drive. Queen’s “Fat-BottomedGirls,” Train’s “50 Ways to Say Goodbye,” the Black-Eyed Peas’ “TheTime (Dirty Bit)”… She’d had some scornful laughs over that one inthat past but had always argued the “don’t knock it until you’vetried it” philosophy. It was the best pick-me-up song when fatiguestarted to roll in.

The drive between Spokane and Seattle wasn’texcessively long, but it was too long to drive in complete silencewith a man who had redefined the term “angry Scot.” “A long drivewithout music to pass the time is hell.”

“Listeningtae it is hell,” he shot back.

Ha, Claire thought with an inward smirk, ifhe didn’t like this she couldn’t wait to see his expression whenToby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” came on. “Well, that’s gratitude foryou. You might as well get used to it, Hugh. I’m not about to drivehundreds of miles to the dulcet tones of brooding silence, so thereis no escaping it.”

“I would be happy enough tae escape thiscar.”

Claire sighed sympathetically. “Aren’t youdoing any better? Waiting until after noon to leave might have beena mistake. It’s given you too long to think about it.” They hadwaited until early afternoon to leave town on the I-90 heading westwith Hugh hunkered down in the backseat until Claire had feltcertain – after watching the rearview mirror more than the road –that they weren’t being followed. The retreat in broad daylight hadbeen Hugh’s idea, and Claire agreed it was a good one. They had toassume that Jameson and his crew would expect their prey to rununder cover of darkness. Claire was also hoping that Jameson wouldassume that any assistance given to his “national threat” would beforced, not voluntary. Hopefully they would be on the lookout foran escape strategy more akin to a kidnapping than to collusion. Forthose reasons, Claire also ditched her first instinct to take theback roads and minor highways and opted instead for taking theinterstate highway all the way to Seattle.

It was a bold move she hoped would beunexpected. Besides, another part of her wanted to get away fromSpokane and Phil Jameson as quickly as possible. And she was movingpretty fast, exceeding the posted speed limits until she wascruising at a steady seventy-two miles per hour.

“It is wicked fast.” Hugh repeated hissentiment from the previous day but she thought his death grip onthe door handle might have relaxed a bit as they ate up the miles.“Might ye at least allow me tae hear my thoughts and misgivings insilence? I assure ye, they gi’ me nae greater pleasure.”

There was enough self-deprecating humor inthe request for Claire to acquiesce, and she turned the volume downbut not off. “Compromise?”

Hugh nodded, deliberatelyreleasing his grip on the armrest and on his lingering resentment.“I suppose it is rather fascinating that we will travel in hours a journeythat would take days on horseback, even at a steadycanter.”

Claire couldn’t imagine facing such anordeal, and told him so, gaining a new appreciation for thepioneers who had once made this trip in covered wagons. Running ahand around her steering wheel, she gave it an appreciative squeezeand sent up a prayer of thanks.

Hugh continued, “Aye, ’tis easy tae see theappeal of this mode of transportation, but also I wonder why yerconveyance is so much smaller than many of the others I’veseen?”

“Small?” Claire repeated with a frown. Itwasn’t as if she drove a Bug. Her Toyota Prius was fairly roomy onthe inside, and the backseat was large enough to perform itsprimary function without breaking any kneecaps. “It’s just a matterof preference, I suppose, but Goose and I get along fine, don’t weGoose?” She patted the dashboard.

Hugh’s