Amelia’s heart went soft as melted butter as Blair nudged at Scone’s now-sprawled form to rifle through the papers once more.
“Cullingham and I were able to get a great deal done in Edinburgh. The paperwork for the license application is already complete, and a bottle supplier arranged. And…there’s more.”
“Oh?”
Blair strode around the desk to where she stood. “I set Cullingham to work making two copies of all the papers we need. With a great deal of hard work and a fair dose of luck, I’m hoping Brenmore can follow Glenrose’s new plan.”
A breath rushed out of her. “Truly? Brenmore could produce whisky?”
“Our crop yield was never as strong as Glenrose’s, but we needn’t produce the same volume of whisky to stay afloat. Of course, it will take time. We’ll have to be rid of all the sheep, for starters. And find the crofters who’ve left. I already managed to track down Collum Feargus, the man from whom my father bought his whisky. He’d turned to factory work in Glasgow. With the right enticement, I hope he’ll come back to Brenmore as our master distiller.”
“That is wonderful!”
He took up one of her hands in both of his. “My aim is to have Brenmore back to her glory before Livie comes of age and gains control of Glenrose. That way, by the time she inherits, we’ll have our own Highland home waiting. Of course, once the crofters return, the children will need a schoolhouse, just as they will here at Glenrose. I trust ye might be able to help me with that.”
She hadn’t thought it possible, but somehow her heart swelled even bigger inside her chest. She loved this man—who he was, what he was doing, and where they were going. Together.
Blair must have noticed the emotion welling in her eyes, for he gave her hand a squeeze, his gaze softening. But then he leveled her with a faux-serious look. “Ye know what this means, do ye not? Once we’re married in a few days’ time, ye’ll be the Countess of Cheviot, at least for a wee while until everything is sorted. I suppose I should have warned ye when I proposed.”
Amelia tilted her head back and laughed. “I can live with that, my lord.”
Her laughter turned into a sigh when he covered her lips with a kiss. Yes, she could very much live with this.
The End
Can’t get enough heartwarming holiday romance, grumpy Scottish Earls, and the governesses who melt their hearts?
Read To Kiss a Governess, book one in the Highland Christmas series. Available now on Amazon.
A Scottish Earl on the brink of ruin…
Edmund, Earl of Kinfallon, is desperate to save his crumbling Highland estate, but looking after his ailing sister has hindered his efforts, leaving him in need of help. When he sends for English governess Thea Reynolds to serve as a companion for his sister, he’s counting on her reputation for unconventional methods. Yet he never imagines the mysterious beauty will capture his heart under the mistletoe.
An English governess who just might be able to save him…
An assignment at a remote manor deep in the heart of Scotland is just what Thea needs to escape her past. But when she arrives at Kinfallon Castle, she quickly realizes that her charge—and her ruggedly handsome employer—are not what she expected. Never one to balk at a challenge, Thea begins to make inroads with the Earl’s deeply scarred sister, but her growing desire for Edmund threatens her tenuous position. When her secret is exposed, will it destroy their budding love?
This is a low-heat (kisses only), novella-length, holiday-themed Scottish historical romance, but it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story any time of the year.
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Author’s Note
As always, it is one of my great joys in writing historical romance to combine a fictional romantic storyline with real historical details. Plus, it’s such a treat to share not only an emotional love story with you, lovely readers, but also to give you a glimpse at my research into the history surrounding this book as well.
Glenrose, Brenmore, and all the main characters in this story are fictitious, but the backdrop of the Clearances was unfortunately quite real. As I mention in my note at the end of To Kiss a Governess, the Clearances, or the effort to remove farmers and replace them with Blackface or Cheviot sheep, took place mainly in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Because sheep grazing was more profitable than farming, landowners on many estates dislocated tenants from traditionally common lands and moved them to poor, unworkable regions. Many farmers were relocated to coastal lands, where they were forced to become fishermen or kelpers (collecting kelp/seaweed to burn or sell), while others moved to cities to work in factories, or emigrated to the Americas or Australia.
Some landowners incentivized their crofters to leave, others used violence and force, and some evicted their tenants using laws against illicit whisky. Though whisky distillation goes back earlier than written history in Scotland, the Act of Union with England in 1707 brought substantial and ever increasing taxes to the trade.
Scottish distillers were driven underground for roughly 150 years, except for the small few who paid through the nose for legal status. Many Highland distillers went to extreme lengths to hide their operations, including digging trenches underground to tunnel smoke from their secret distilleries into their homes’ chimneys, as I describe George MacMunn doing.
Whisky, both legal and illegal, was a booming business in the nineteenth century. Though Highland whisky was
