Isla’s scent lingered on Jack’s body throughout the night. Each time he closed his eyes, he remembered the softness of her body as it pressed into him, and he wished he hadn’t held himself back from kissing her after she confessed to thinking about their kiss earlier.
Dawn broke and he forced himself out of bed because he had to meet with other Clansmen. Jack needed to go for a ride to clear his head.
When he walked out of his chamber and got to the ground landing, he saw Elliot and Aideen standing at the Castle’s door.
“Is there a problem?” Jack asked after descending the stairs.
“My Laird,” they greeted. The pale look on Aideen’s face made a knot form in the pit of his stomach and the first thought that came to his mind was that something terrible had happened in the village.
“The stable lad went missin’ last night, and nayone has seen him since,” Elliot reported. “I have also nay seen him this mornin’.”
Jack frowned. He remembered the lad who had worked for the Castle even while his father lived, and Jack noticed he always played on the fields with his sister.
“What about the sister?” Jack asked. “I ken she works in the Castle here as one of the kitchen servants.” Jack remembered them both because he had brought them into the Castle personally after their parents died last year.
They had nowhere else to go, so offering them a place in his Castle was the right thing to do.
“Nay one has seen her either. They are both missin’,” his cousin replied.
He didn’t like waking up to terrible news. It always made his day feel hectic from the start. “Let’s have the men search the entire Castle and the village,” he told his brother. “I want to know if they were seen when I return from the moors.”
“Aye, My Laird.”
Jack got to the stables, took his golden-haired mare, and rode far into the moors where he could enjoy the strong windy atmosphere and let the breeze ruffle his hair.
Jack rode until he got the edge of the cliff surrounding Humphreys Castle. He then got down from his saddle, walked to the edge of the cliff, and stood there. This was the one place where he could always hear himself think while enjoying the wind blowing against his face and stealing his breath away.
Standing at the edge always made him feel on top of the world. The only sensation that had topped that was being close to Isla and kissing her.
Jack’s insides felt alive for the first time in his life. His thoughts wandered to all he had learned from Isla and smiled as he processed them. Then he realized she had mentioned the treasure of Ardenhill.
What if she was right? What if it wasn’t a myth?
Jack laughed as the thought entered his mind, then he shook his head hard and laughed again to himself.
That’s crazy. Now I sound crazy like her.
He remembered telling her they could use the treasure if the need arose, and this was the perfect time for it. Once they found the treasure, whatever it was, then he could use it to fund all his Clan’s needs and make sure they had enough weapons in their armory.
Also, he wouldn’t need his betrothal to Isla anymore once they could stand on their own. It was a perfect idea because Isla would leave eventually and then what would happen to his Clan?
But what if it’s only a myth?
When the doubtful thoughts entered his mind, Jack decided to stop thinking about the treasure. Even if the treasure was real it would take years to find it, and it was why no one had found it since.
He shrugged them off again and focused on enjoying his time by the cliff. Jack stayed by the edge of the cliff until the morning sun started to show, then he rode back to the Castle to start his day.
Jack rounded up the meeting with his councilmen who for the first time had little dissatisfactions to complain of. For the past seven years not once had he had a peaceful council meeting until today.
At least they no longer hammer on me finding a lass to wed.Jack had settled that aspect of his Clansmen’s fear.
His men who rode out to the village still hadn’t found the stable lad and his sister, and Jack grew worried because it was unusual for one of his servants to go missing.
His cousin briefed him on the situation at the borders. “We have the Calloways refusing to grant our merchants access to their border roads unless we pay their entitled fund.”
Jack hadn’t raised money for that yet, but he was sure to come up with something soon. He rubbed the back of his neck and stopped walking when he reached the foot the stairs. “Send men to them and ask that their leader visit my Castle. I will do the negotiations in person.”
“What about the funds from the dowry? Surely, we have enough to pay the Calloways now, so why not pay them?”