“Perhaps that was a wee bit of an exaggeration.”

For a moment she thought about picking up her book and moving away from him, but she’d missed him in this last week of coolness. “So you owned a cottage?”

“It was a pretty little place with a thatched roof and deep windows. My mother grew roses on one side and I’d wake up to the smell of them.”

“You’ve never mentioned your mother,” Edilean said. “Or for that matter, your father.”

“Died long ago,” Angus said in a tone that told he’d say no more. “It was just my sister and me left and she…” Pausing, he shook his head. “She fell in love with a man who is very lazy, and takes great joy in belittling other people, me in particular.”

“Worse than Shamus?”

“Different. If you held a penny in your hand and Shamus wanted it, he’d break your arm to get it. But my brother-in-law, Gavin, would say how greedy you were and that if he had a penny he’d give it to the church. Of course you’d have to give it away. Either way, you’d end up penniless.”

“How drunk did you get at the wedding?”

Her question startled Angus and made him laugh. “Oh, lass, but I’ve missed your humor. But you’re right. I drank so much I had a sore head for a week. My sister and her new husband were to move in with Gavin’s mother, but Kenna-that’s my sister-stood it only six months. Gavin’s mother was just like him, and she used Kenna as a maid.”

“So they moved in with you?”

“Aye, they did,” Angus said. “And three months later, she had her first bairn.”

“Three months? Doesn’t it usually take longer than that? Or is Scotland better in that too?”

“They started early. It seems there’s one thing Gavin isn’t lazy at. My sister’s had three babes in two years of marriage.”

Edilean couldn’t keep from smiling. It had been a long, boring week, with Angus and she speaking so little.

“About this week,” he said softly. “It’s not been easy for me.”

“Nor for me,” she said.

“But this time has given me a chance to think,” he said. “What could have happened to me there in Scotland? I was where I was going to be. But thanks to you, I have a possibility of a new life.”

“It took you a week to think of that?”

“Three days,” he said, grinning. “Since then I’ve been talking to everyone who’s been to America and asking questions. I think a man could make something of himself in this new land.”

“And what would that be?” she asked.

She saw by Angus’s face that he was about to make some smart retort to her question, but he seemed to change his mind.

“My own home,” he said at last. “My own horses. My own… all of it. Everything owned by me. No more spending my days wet and cold and looking for another man’s missing sheep.”

“But I thought you loved the climate of Scotland. And you hate wearing James’s clothes, but that’s what a landowner wears.”

“Maybe I could grow used to shaving every day,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

She looked back at his sketch. “If this were my house, I know just how I’d make the interior.”

“And how would that be?

She picked up the quill to do the sketching but put it back down. “Few rooms. Tall ceilings. I’ve heard that Virginia has a warm climate, so you’d need height for the hot air to rise. And a big central hallway on both floors so you can open the doors and let the air come through.”

“So you like what you’ve heard of this Virginia?” Angus picked up the quill and began to sketch the floor plan she’d described.

“Captain Inges told me it was a beautiful place. He said that when he retires he plans to live there, and he said the Boston winters are brutal.” She was watching him intently as he drew, and she was glad that he’d decided to quit railing at her that she’d destroyed his life. It was too heavy a burden of guilt to carry.

“What will you do when we get there?” she asked softly.

He was intent on his drawing. “I think I’ll go to this Williamsburg Mr. Jones told me about. It seems to be the center of all that’s about to happen.”

“What does that mean?” she asked quickly. “What’s about to happen?”

“Americans are talking about becoming independent from England.”

“That’s absurd. How can they become independent? How can they do without a king?”

“Bloody well, I’d think.”

“How can you say that? A king is someone who’s born to rule. It’s a God-given right. The king-”

“Do you mean to start another fight between us?”

“No,” she said softly.

“Lass… I mean, Mrs. Harcourt, I’ve had a great deal of time to think this week and I see how different you and I are. Do you think there’s even one subject we agree on?”

“No, I guess not.” She wanted to tell him how afraid she was of being alone in the new country, but she could tell that he had no fear. He was a young man on his way to an adventure, and thanks to her gift of the jewels he’d have a lot of money. For a moment she thought of saying she wanted the diamonds back. If he had no money maybe he wouldn’t run off and leave her alone on the docks as soon as the ship dropped anchor.

“And what is that long face for?” he asked.

“You’re looking forward to arriving in America, aren’t you?”

He looked at her for a moment before returning to the paper. “Have you considered that Harcourt will have made arrangements for him and his wife in America?”

“No,” she said slowly. “I haven’t.” The thought lifted her spirits a bit. “You mean maybe he’s arranged accommodations?” The idea of a place to go to made her feel better. She’d never lived in a hotel before and didn’t want to, and she dreaded having to.

“I think that everything he did was a long time in the planning. Did you know that he booked passage on this ship seven months ago?”

“But how could he? He didn’t know what my uncle was going to do.”

“Are you sure? Lawler was closemouthed, but those two men who nearly lived with him weren’t. I think Harcourt planned everything for around your eighteenth birthday. I doubt if he eloped with the earl’s daughter, so he must have been courting her while telling you he was going to be with you. My guess is that Harcourt meant to go through a false marriage ceremony with you. Then, when he had your gold…” Angus shrugged.

Edilean sat there blinking at him, thinking about what he’d said. She didn’t want to think about James’s betrayal, but having a home was a different matter. “So you think that maybe in America there’s a house or at least somewhere for me to live? Not that I can go there, but…”

“Why not? It’ll be a month before Harcourt can get a letter here, and everyone will know you as Mrs. James Harcourt.”

“And you as my husband,” Edilean shot back.

Angus smiled. “I will quietly disappear the minute we’re there, so you’ll be free to be whoever you want to be. A widow perhaps.”

“And what do I do when James shows up?”

“Show him the marriage certificate saying he’s married to the earl’s daughter, not to you. If there is a house, I doubt if it’s been paid for, since he was waiting for your gold.”

“But-” Edilean began, then broke off. “I think you have the mind of a criminal.”

“Thank you,” he said as he handed her what he’d been drawing. “Is this what you meant?” He showed her a floor plan that was perfectly proportioned. Downstairs was a wide hallway with a big stairway in it. The hall was flanked by four rooms, each looking large and airy. The second floor was nearly the same, but on one side the two rooms weren’t equal size, with one half again as large as the other.

“The big room is for your books,” he said. “You can put shelves floor to ceiling on three sides and fill them with books.”

That he’d thought of her while drawing almost made tears come to her eyes. “Where did you learn to draw like this?”

He shrugged. “Not all the men who’ve visited your uncle have been like the two you met. When I was a boy, younger even than Tam, a rich young man came to stay, and he wanted to draw the old castles of Scotland. He paid me to travel with him up into the Highlands while he drew. I watched and I learned.”