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

the world if he does naesee it wi’ his own eyes?” Hugh took another bite of his steak,chewing thoughtfully. “I am also puzzled by what benefit could comefrom avoiding meat.”

“We can have that talk later,” Claire saiddismissively. “Seriously, tell me about your life, and no moreavoiding the subject. Now I just have to know. Tell me about yourfamily, your parents.”

“I had two,” he said unhelpfully. “A motherand a father.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “Hugh!”

“Verra well,” Hugh sighed, raising hisglass. “Since it is inescapably clear that ye willnae let thematter rest, I will tell ye. I hae three sisters, all older than I.We were raised by our uncle, who was mother’s brother, as myparents are both deceased.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “I dinnaeremember them. I was verra young when they died.”

“Was your uncle famous, too?”

“He is the Earl of Cairn.”

“Of course,” Claire nodded, remembering thathe had mentioned the name before and thinking just how greatly shehad underestimated Hugh Urquhart. “Did he live at Rosebraugh aswell?”

“Nae, he had estates of his own west ofDingwall but he schooled me in my responsibilities wi’ his ownsons. I was fostered tae the MacDonnell at Glengarry when I waseight, and at fourteen attended the University of Edinburgh, as wasexpected in our family. Afterwards, my grandmother insisted that Ihae a Grand Tour in the tradition of her family. She was English,”he added at Claire’s inquiring glance.

Fostered at eight, Claire thought insurprise. Grand tour? “I thought you hated the English.”

“Nae the English so much as their politicsand their incessant need tae dominate all around them,” he amended.“Surely as a descendant of the colonists, ye ken that.”

Maybe not the Americans of today, but surelythe founding fathers had. “I suppose I do. So what was this GrandTour?”

“An extended journey tae the Continent … taeEurope,” he clarified, still eating heartily. “I traveled wi’ mycousin, Keir, though he was far more interested in the ladies thanin anything else. Your Voltaire was a fine source of that sort ofknowledge as well. He had an eye tae be sure. As I said, wetraveled to Venice, Austria, and Paris. We returned home tae assumeour responsibilities. I ran my estates and saw my sisters well wed,but after some years, the lure of further knowledge drew me backtae Paris, where I joined the Academy of Science. In recent years,I spent time in France and Berlin, where I was invited taeFrederick’s court. The king was an interesting man. Eminentlyknowledgeable on many subjects, though ye might know as much. Didye know he composed hundreds of pieces for the flute? Or that hewrote nearly as much as Arouet? There were some trifling rumors ofhis sexual preferences, as he neglected women, including his wife.Some say his lifelong friend, Hans Hermann von Katte, was actuallyhis lover, but many at court argued that the king merely hadgreater things tae contemplate than women.”

“From there I returned home at my uncle’sinsistence tae take up arms in support of the Jacobites,” Hughended, dropping his knife and fork on the plate and leaning backwith a satisfied sigh. “Thank ye for the meal, Sorcha. It was mostdelightful.”

Claire nodded, swirling her wine around inher glass. She had finished her own small portion some time ago,and had just sat in wonder as he told his tale. Frederick was noneother than Frederick the Great. And not only had he known Voltaireand David Hume, he had met Johann Sebastian Bach as well. She feltmortified for ever having thought him little more than a countrybumpkin, and told him so.

Hugh only laughed her apology away. “Iaccept yer apology and wi’ it will grant ye this one weeconcession: I wasnae inclined tae say so before but yer impressionof my people as a whole was nae far from the truth. Thecircumstances and education of men of my ranking are far removedfrom those of the average man. There are many—too many—of mycountrymen who lack education of any sort. There are some who wouldlike to mandate schooling for all, but who is tae say tae a fatherthat he maun lose his strong sons at harvest time tae aschoolroom?”

“What about the girls?” Claire asked.

“What of them?” he challenged provocatively,crossing his arms over his chest.

“Don’t you think they should have beeneducated, too?”

“A highly provocative question, which Ishall abstain from answering,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Come on!” she dared. “Tell me what youreally think.”

“I believe my thoughts and philosophies areobviously better suited tae another era, and that is all I willoffer on the subject.” Hugh pushed away from the island and stood.“Now shall I assist wi’ the washing?”

“That’s a rather cowardly change of subject,Hugh,” Claire said, expecting him to bristle as he always did whenhis manhood was challenged, but Hugh surprised her with a wink anda broad smile that deepened his dimples as he gathered the platesand carried them to the sink.

“If there is one thing I hae learned in allmy life that I adhere tae more than any other, it is that oneshould ne’er argue wi’ a lass in a righteous temper.”

“Humph! Where did you learn that?”

“From my grandmother.”

They laughed comfortably together as Clairejoined him at the sink. “Smart woman,” she quipped, laughing up athim, and Hugh glanced down at her, his smile slowly slippingaway.

Only then did Claire realize how close shestood to him, how she could feel the heat of his body warming herarm. How wonderfully handsome he was. His eyes were deep bluebeneath his heavy dark brows. The planes of his cheeks weresmoothly sculpted but for that devastating dimple that was slowlydisappearing. Despite his afternoon shave, there was already abeard shadowing his jaw, but for the first time she could see thetendons of his lean neck and his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed.It was so tempting, that urge to reach out and touch him. Touch himnot to comfort or soothe but to simply feel the warmth of his skinbeneath her fingers.

Hugh shifted slightly, his chest suddenly ateye level, drawing Claire’s gaze to the V of the T-shirt and to therise and fall of his chest. She could lay her head there … or pressher