Beyond the Highland Myst(495)

"Milord?" Farley inquired cautiously. Gwen giggled and Drustan sighed. Farley refused to address him by any other title, no matter how persistently Drustan corrected him.

"Mister MacKeltar," Drustan muttered. "Why is that so difficult for him?" He was determined to adopt twenty-first century customs. Unfortunately, Farley was just as determined to preserve the old ones and had decided that since Drustan was the apparent heir of the castle, he was a lord. Period, the end. "Aye?" Drustan replied more loudly. "Sorry to be disturbing you and the lady, but there's a man here to see you, and I ken'tis no' of my business, but I'm thinking I should have you know that he seems a bit the dangerous type, though he's polite enough as it is. Now the lass with him, och, in my opinion she's a sweet wee and proper lass, but him, well,'tis more of an air about him, you ken? I'm thinking you mightn't hold well with me saying so, being as he looks so much like you, though no' like you at all. Ahem."

Farley cleared his throat, and Gwen felt Drustan go rigid behind her. She'd gone rather tense herself.

"Milord, he's saying he's your brother, but being as you've no" mentioned a brother, despite the resemblance…"

Gwen didn't hear another word because Drustan shot from the bath so fast that she got a thorough dunking and her ears were filled with water. By the time she surfaced, Drustan was gone.

Dageus had neglected to mention that his brother lived in a castle. Sheesh, Chloe thought, shaking her head, I should have expected it. Where else would such a man have come from? Old World, indeed.

It was an elegant castle, with a great stone wall and authentic barbican, with round turrets and square towers and probably a hundred rooms or more.

Chloe pivoted, trying to look everywhere at once. She'd not uttered a word since they'd entered the tree-canopied drive and begun their approach. She'd been too stunned. She was in Scotland, and they were going to be staying in a castle!

The interior of the great hall was enormous, with corridors shooting off in all directions. An intricately carved balustrade encircled the hall on the second floor, and an elegant double staircase swept down from opposing sides, met in the middle, and descended in one wide train of steps. A lovely stained-glass window was inset above the double entry doors. Brilliant tapestries adorned the walls, and the floors were scattered with rugs. There were two fireplaces in the hall, both tall enough for people to walk around in, bigger than the bathroom in her efficiency had been! Her fingers curled as she wondered how many artifacts she might get to examine.

"Do you like it, lass?" Dageus asked, watching her intently.

"It's magnificent! It's—it's—" she broke off, sputtering. "Oh, thank you," she exclaimed. "Do you have any idea how thrilling it is to me to be standing in an authentic medieval castle? I've dreamed of this moment."

He smiled faintly. "Aye, the castle is magnificent, isn't it?"

He couldn't have sounded more proud if he'd built it himself, Chloe thought. "Did you grow up here?"

"Sort of."

"I could get tired of that answer in a hurry," she said, eyes narrowing. "I'm not exactly hard to talk to. You should try it." Since he'd told her that he and his brother had had some kind of falling out, she was better able to understand his withdrawn attitude. But if he thought it would keep her from asking questions, he was wrong.

"Ever the curious lass, aren't you?"

"If I waited for you to offer information, I'd never find out anything. Speaking of which, we need to talk about this curse-thing soon too. I can't help you if I don't know exactly what we're looking for."

Wariness flickered through his eyes. "Aye, I know. Anon, lass. For the now, let's see if I survive the wrath of my bro—"

He broke off abruptly, his gaze flying to the stairs.

Chloe's gaze followed, and she sucked in a sharp breath. A man who looked exactly like Dageus was standing there, halfway down the stairs, looking down at Dageus. She looked between them rapidly, disbelievingly.

"Oh, God, you're twins," she said faintly. Faintly, because the man at the top of the stairs wore only a towel around his waist.

"Stay right there!" the man on the stairs thundered. "I'll but get my trews. My apologies, lass. I had to see him with my own eyes." He turned around and loped up the stairs, three at a time.

Dageus mumbled something that sounded almost like, if he drops his towel I'll kill him, but Chloe decided she was imagining things.

The man skidded to a halt at the top and cast a sharp glance directly at Chloe. "Doona let him leave, lass," he roared at her.

"Wow," was all she could manage.