Baird spoke eagerly. ‘Ah, but you made a decision. You’ll come with me to New Zealand, and you’ll stay in my house until you’ve met my parents? I’ve already told you that Lola from next door will help you with anything you need.’
Amy said, ‘Yes, you’re right. It went round and round in my mind, and I did come to a decision. I decided that if I go to New Zealand with you it will be only on one condition.’ The expression on her face had become stubborn.
Baird frowned. ‘Condition? What do you mean?’
‘I want Cathie to be with me—on the flight and in your house. No doubt this Lola person is kindly and capable, but she’s a stranger, whereas Cathie is—family.’
‘Cathie herself has suggested this to you?’ he queried silkily. ‘Perhaps it was while helping you dress this morning?’
‘Indeed she did not,’ Amy retorted. ‘I have not discussed it with her. Are you saying you object to her being with us?’
Baird stared at her but remained silent.
Cathie laid a hand on Amy’s arm, then leaned forward to say in a low voice, ‘Can’t you see that he doesn’t want me in his house?’
‘Why not?’ Amy demanded sharply.
‘Have you forgotten that I’m a—a Campbell?’
Amy became impatient. ‘This is sheer nonsense. My dear, you are already in his house.’
Cathie felt confused. ‘His house? But—didn’t his father inherit this house?’
‘No, he did not,’ Amy declared bluntly. ‘Baird became the heir to the Glengyle Estate, not his father.’ She turned to him in a weary manner. ‘Why don’t you explain what happened? I’m feeling too tired to try and sort it out.’
Baird’s shoulders lifted slightly. ‘It was the story of a crusty old man not getting his own way. He expected my father to take over his interests and to be ready to step into his shoes. But Father had other ideas. He wanted to build something for himself—which was exactly what Grandfather had done when he’d been young.’
Amy put in, ‘Naturally, at that time Baird’s grandmother was alive, you understand.’
Baird went on, ‘To make matters worse, my father and his fiancée decided to emigrate to New Zealand. It was during a period when our immigration laws made this quite easy to do, but because they were not yet married the old man was sure they’d be living in what he called sin. My grandmother became very upset about it, and he declared it brought on her long illness. He never forgave my father, and before his death he made out his will in favour of me instead of his son.’
The silence which followed his words was broken by Cathie. ‘You are obviously very like your grandfather,’ she said quietly.
‘What makes you so sure of that?’ he demanded abruptly, his eyes glinting with suspicion.
She forced a smile. ‘It’s easy to see you’ve inherited more than Glengyle. You’ve also been endowed with his unforgiving streak, and even now you’re well on the way to becoming a crusty old man.’
‘Thank you,’ he rasped, his jaw tightening.
Amy heaved a deep sigh. ‘Well—I suppose there’s no more to be said. I’ll ask Elspeth to put my two suitcases back under the stairs. I can see it’s quite useless.’
His dark brows shot up. ‘You’d actually reached the suitcase stage? This I can scarcely believe—’
‘Yes—but unless Cathie is with me I’ll not budge an inch.’
Eagerly, he turned to Cathie. ‘You’ll come with us, of course.’
She returned his gaze steadily. ‘I’m not so sure. I’m not amused by being with a man who resents my presence—and as for staying in his house, that’s the last thing I wish to do.’
‘But you’ll do it for Amy’s sake,’ he declared smugly.
‘If I refuse to do it, my grandmother will kill me,’ she said.
Unexpectedly, he reached across the table to take her hand, and, his face unsmiling, he said in a serious tone of voice, ‘Miss Campbell—I hereby invite you to be a guest in this, and in my New Zealand home.’
She snatched her hand away. ‘I accept, Mr MacGregor—but only on sufferance.’
Amy became exasperated. ‘Really, you two—if I hear any more of this Mr and Miss business I’ll bang your heads together.’
Baird laughed. ‘You and who else, Amy?’
‘Elspeth will be delighted to help me,’ she snapped at him.
He laughed again. ‘Before you start I’ll remove myself in the direction of the travel agent. There are arrangements to be made. You don’t mind how soon we leave?’
She hesitated, then admitted, ‘There’s just one place I’d like to visit before going so far away—if you wouldn’t mind driving me there.’
His expression and voice softened. ‘You know I’ll take you anywhere, Amy. Where is this place?’ he asked gently.
She took a deep breath then said, ‘I’ll like to take a last look at the Braes of Balquhidder. There’s a church there—as well as Rob Roy’s grave. Your grandparents often attended church services there, and sometimes, after your grandmother’s death, he would go there to sit alone with his thoughts. Later, after we were married, he occasionally took me to attend a service.’
‘I’ll take you tomorrow,’ Baird promised. ‘Today you must rest and makeup for the sleep you lost last night.’ He then turned to Cathie, his face still unsmiling. ‘If you’ll give me your flight ticket I’ll make the necessary arrangements for you to be with us.’
‘Thank you—I’ll fetch it,’ Cathie said, and as she went upstairs she felt overwhelmed by Baird’s kindness towards her great-aunt. Unexpectedly, she found herself wishing that the affection he gave to Amy included herself—but it didn’t. He was merely tolerating her presence in his house for Amy’s sake.
As soon as he’d left Amy was persuaded to return to bed for a short sleep while Elspeth began sorting through clothes she considered should be taken to New Zealand. Cathie found herself unable to get Baird out of her mind, and was conscious of his absence. She felt at a slight loss, so she made her way to the small library where she discovered that one of the shelves held a row of books, each giving a history of the various Scottish clans.
Here was her chance to learn of her own Clan Campbell, but for some reason she was unable to define she passed over it in favour of the book entitled Clan MacGregor. She carried it to an easy-chair, then settled down to read.
During the next two hours she became lost in the fighting days of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when most of the clans had been at each other’s throats. The MacGregors had merely done what everyone else was doing, except that they’d done it so much better, until eventually they’d brought sufficient trouble upon their own heads to have the entire clan outlawed and exiled.
She learnt that this state of affairs had come about in 1602 after a fight at Glenfruin when Clan Colquhoun planned to trap the MacGregors. It had resulted in more than two hundred Colquhoun widows taking their husbands’ blood-stained shirts to lay before James VI at Stirling Castle. Each shirt had been carried on a spear.
Cathie shuddered at the thought, then continued reading to learn how the MacGregors had then had their lands taken from them, and had been hunted down by bloodhounds and beagles. Nobody who killed a MacGregor could be punished,