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

her own pun before turning to flip on the infraredgrill at the center of the Wolf cooktop. She tossed the vegetablesin olive oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper before dumpingthem on the grill.

Hugh returned to the kitchen with a bottleof wine and a relaxed grin, searching the drawers in companionablesilence for a corkscrew, and the cupboards for glasses. Momentslater he was handing her a glass. “It says it’s an Oregon PinotNoir. I’ve ne’er heard of the region so I thought tae beadventurous and try something new.”

Claire clinked her glass to his and raised ateasing brow. “Trying something new? How shocking! I’m sure you’venever before had a chance to do that!”

“Nae, ne’er,” he rejoined with equallyplayful facetiousness as they drank.

Claire felt those smiles, his and her own,all the way down to her soul. The banter was nice, lighthearted.Enjoyable. Hugh Urquhart, for all fate had dealt him, was turningout to be a pretty likeable guy. There was nothing like a road tripfor a bonding experience, and Claire felt that somewhere betweenthe KitKat and the Whatchamacallit, she and Hugh Urquhart hadbecome friends. The tension born of wariness and uncertainty wasdefinitely gone, even if another sort of tension had taken itsplace. Claire decided that continued denial in that area wouldserve her well. “Give me five minutes for your steak and we’ll beready to eat.”

Hugh nodded and looked around the roombefore opening one of the glass-paned French doors and stepping outonto the huge deck that ran the length of the house. Puget Soundwas just feet away, however though the moon reflected of the smoothwaters, it was too dark to have much to look at. A moment later hereturned. “’Tis a charming cottage, quite—what was the word yeused? High-tech?”

“Uncle Robert does like his toys,” Clairesaid by way of agreement. “Feel free to look around. There’s apretty nice library past the living room. Robert and Sue are bothbig readers.”

Hugh nodded and wandered that way, lookingthis way and that as Claire poked a meat thermometer into the filetmignon she’d put on the grill with the veggies. The steak had beenexpensive and certainly they wouldn’t be eating this way everynight, but she was sure that Hugh would appreciate some redmeat.

A short while later, she heard him call fromthe other room, “I found one of Arouet’s books! I can scarcelycredit it, though it is a work I’m nae familiar wi’. How can I tellwhen was it written?”

“The date should be behind the title page,”she called from the kitchen. She flipped the big steak with thetongs and tested the top of it with her finger for doneness.Satisfied, she filled two plates with the grilled vegetables andturned to retrieve the steak. “Come and get it!

Hugh emerged from the library with the bookopen in his hands. “It wasnae written until after I left Europe.Many years after, in fact.”

“I’m more surprised thereis even a book in there by this Arouet guy. What is it called?”Hugh snapped the book shut and held it out to her, but Clairedidn’t need to take it from him. The tongs holding his steak wereforgotten in her hand as she stared agog at the title clearlyvisible on the cover. “That’s Candide,” she said in disbelief. “Ithought you said your friend’s name was Francoissomething.”

“Aye, Francois-Marie Arouet,” Hugh nodded,flipping the book open once again. “He wrote some of his work underthe nom de plume Voltaire. I confess I ne’er thought it wouldlast.”

“You knewVoltaire?” Claire askeddumbly, punctuating the words with a wave of the steak.

“Aye, I met him in Frederick’s court inBerlin and stayed wi’ him at Chateau de Cirey for many months,though his mistress dinnae appreciate my presence,” Hugh saidoffhandedly as he perused the first several pages of the book.“They had a wondrous library of over twenty thousand books.”

“You knew Voltaire?”

“Aye, Sorcha, did I naejust say so?” Hugh raised a brow, cautiously eyeing the meat shewas waving around. “Perhaps ye should put that down while it isstill edible. Voltaire, as ye call him, had some interesting notions on politicsand religion as well. I always thought it would be interesting taewitness an exchange between him and Hume on the subject. I daresaythat would hae been quite a remarkable debate.”

Claire groaned, finally laying the steak torest on the plate. “Not David Hume?”

“Aye, we went tae University in Edinburghtogether. Hae ye heard of him?” Hugh asked, still engrossed in thebook. “I know many of his first writings were nae met wi’success.”

Claire carried the plates and silverware totable and set them on the end opposite the half-done puzzle.Retrieving her wine glass, she took a long, fortifying sip as sheslipped into the chair Hugh was holding out for her. “I might haveheard of him once or twice,” Claire said by way ofunderstatement.

Hugh knew David Hume. Morethan anything she had been subjected to over the past couple ofdays that blewher mind so completely Claire could only poke absently at a pieceof zucchini with her fork. She’d had a fascination with religiousphilosophy as an undergraduate, filling her electives hours withHume and Kant.

“Are ye nae going tae hae any meat?” heasked, nodding at her plate of vegetables as he sat and began tocut into his filet.

“No, I can’t eat that,” she respondedabsently, still awed over his revelation. “Seriously, why …”

“Cannae eat it? Why ever nae?”

“I’m a vegetarian,” she told him, and whenhe looked blankly at her, added, “Basically, it means I don’t eatmeat.”

“Ye dinnae eat meat,” herepeated slowly, watching her as he chewed. “Ye dinnae eat meat?”

Claire released her breath with a laugh.“That just doesn’t compute for you, does it?”

“Why would ye nae eat meat?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knewVoltaire?”

“I dinnae think it of import.”

“There you go,” Claire nodded practically,pointing her fork at him. “But what is of importance is who elsedid you know?”

Hugh shrugged at the question. “How am I taeken who would hae been important? We were simply men sharing ideas,challenging one another to deeper thought. What puzzles me is thatye find it strange that a man might travel in his youth, or take aGrand Tour. How else is a man tae learn of