Unknown Read Online Free

and we will go to the car. No one will be troubling you while you are staying with us.’
    They went out to the car, and were joined a few minutes later by Jeannie, who was having trouble controlling her laughter. ‘Elspeth has given me her word not to mention where you are staying. But she says this man has already arranged to hire a car for the day and is taking old Alex as his guide. Elspeth is Alex’s cousin. Elspeth says Alex will have a wonderfully happy day visiting from house to house seeing all his old friends, and having a dram here and a dram there. She will tell him not to visit our end of the island so that you will be quite safe at Balephuill.’
    Donald chuckled as he drove off. ‘I’m feeling it in my heart to be sorry for the rich young man. Alex can be an old devil when he sets out to enjoy himself. I can see him spending a wee while at each house, seemingly, enquiring about your whereabouts but being deliberately vague. He will manage to have the time of his life.’
    ‘I’m pleased that Alex will have such a fine time, and I’ll enjoy my day all the more each time I think of Morgan Grant becoming more and more tired, impatient and frustrated. It will serve him right following me up here.’
    The afternoon flew by on golden wings. After lunch the children from the farm spent a delightful hour with Katriona and Donald down by the shore. They chased the waves along the smooth sandy beach, played in and out the rocks and pools, before wending their way home along the bum, which was bordered with a fantastic display of wild blue iris in bloom. The children sang their way along, their sweet young voices rising clear and true on the fine Highland air.
    After returning the children to the house by the loch, Donald and Katriona walked on to Kenavarra. The sun was hot and warm on their backs, and the tiny wildflowers spread a carpet for their feet to walk on.
    ‘Let’s sit here for a while,’ Donald said as they stood on the grassy slope above the Caves of Kenavarra, watching the sea pounding on the rocks below.
    The sky was filled with the angry wheeling gulls calling warning o£ intruders in their nesting grounds, and the cliffs from top to bottom were a glorious kaleidoscope of pink, green and white: the bright flowers of the sea pinks, the vivid green of the leaves and grasses and the snowy whiteness of the nesting gulls. The crashing of the waves on the sharp rocks below merged with the shrieking of the gulls to make a wild sweet symphony of sound, hauntingly beautiful.
    Katriona sat down by Donald, feeling washed in sunlight, music and colour.
    After a long companionable silence Donald put his arm around her slim shoulders. ‘You love it here, Katriona. I love you being here. Why not say you’ll marry me and spend the rest of your life on Tiree?’
    When Katriona did not answer he continued, ‘We would be very happy, I can promise you that. You are not a city girl. You always say that the children here have a wonderful life ... well, your children and mine would grow up in the same way. Say yes, my darling wee Katriona, please say yes.’
    Katriona did not pull away from his caress, in fact she leaned closer towards him, her cheek resting against the roughness of his tweed jacket. ‘Oh, Donald, what can I say? You’re my friend. More than that, you’re my family, almost. I do love you, but... but not in the marrying way. In fact I doubt I’m the marrying kind of girl. Please, don’t take it badly. I can’t bear to think I would hurt you, when you’ve always been so very kind to me.’
    ‘You could not hurt me if you tried.’ Donald brushed her bright hair with his lips.
    Katriona thought she would choke on the hard lump in her throat, yet she had to explain her answer to him a little more. She owed him that much. ‘Thank you, Donald. You see, I don’t know how much I’m like my mother... perhaps more than I care to think. I’ve seen her marry three times, and each time she’s