“That’s it there. It’s about fifteen miles as the crow flies,” Hugh replied, pointing to a flat area toward one side of another hill. “The Bruce used Strathmore Castle as a staging ground for his troops before the battle of Bannockburn, though it was not as complete a castle then as it is now.”
Mary heard the fierce pride in Hugh’s voice as he spoke. Every moment that she spent with him in this place showed him in a different light. And every moment, her love for him grew.
She turned away from the view over the battlements and forced herself to take several long deep breaths.
“I am glad you came. I hadn’t realized how much it would mean to me to show you my home,” said Hugh.
Mary nodded, incapable of speech. The next few weeks here with him at the castle were going to be a trial for her heart. The way he made her feel, she feared she may not survive it.
Chapter Ten
Hugh had initially thought to simply show Mary around the castle and introduce her to a few of the castle stalwarts—people he trusted and loved—but by the time they returned to the keep, he sensed something else was at play. From the moment he had taken her by the hand and led her up the castle steps, his perception of her had begun to change.
Several times over the past days he had caught her staring at him, an odd expression on her face, as if she was studying him. And then at other times when he looked, she seemed distant and closed off from him, as if lost in herself.
He recognized himself in that behavior, knowing that he often retreated into his own thoughts to escape from the world. And what is it that you seek to escape from Miss Mary Gray?
“Ah, there you are. We were speculating as to where you had got to,” said Ewan.
As Hugh and Mary entered the great hall, he saw the rest of the Radley family members all gathered near one of the castle fireplaces. A fire was burning in the huge iron grate, but even at ten feet from one side of the hearth to the other, it struggled to create much warmth in the cavernous space.
“I was just showing Mary the view from the ramparts,” Hugh replied. He ignored the small shared looks that he saw exchanged between Adelaide and Charles, but the look that passed between Lady Alison and Aunt Maude gave him pause.
Not you as well. Please don’t meddle.
He had expected his sister and brother-in-law to try and play cupid—Adelaide was never one for subtly—but he was more concerned by his mother and aunt’s apparent interest in Mary and himself.
When he looked to Ewan, he was greeted with a raised eyebrow. He sighed, relieved that at least his brother and Lady Caroline were being sensible about things. Mary was his friend, and a guest at the castle. Whatever else developed between them from her stay in Scotland, he wanted it to be fresh and unencumbered. He had not brought her all this way simply to use the time alone with her as a means to seduce her into marriage.
He pushed his tongue against the back of his teeth, but a little voice in his brain told him it would take more than that to believe the lie he had just told himself. He wanted Mary; the question was, did she want him?
“We are heading to the village to buy some tablet if the two of you would like to come,” said Adelaide.
Hugh noted the use of the term “the two of you? and suspected it would not be the last time he heard it over the Christmas period.
He looked to Mary. She blinked, then put a hand to her face and wiped something away from her eye. Was that a tear?
His family were making more of the relationship between him and Mary than currently existed. A quiet word or two might need to be had to calm the matchmakers down. He did not need his family interfering with his plans, or making Mary feel uncomfortable.
“The road to the village is icy, so you will all require your tackety boots today,” said Ewan.
Hugh could have hugged his brother for the delicate change of subject.
“Well then, it is fortunate that Hugh procured Mary a pair of boots along with a number of other items of clothing while we were in Edinburgh,” said Adelaide.
Hugh could have swatted his sister for the not-so-delicate remark.
“Right then. So, if everyone who needs to change their boots can go and do so, the rest of us will wait here and then we can all walk to the village together,” said Aunt Maude.
Hugh watched with interest as Mary made her first tentative steps in her new boots. “How do they feel on your feet?” he asked.
“A little strange when I place my feet on the road, but they are comfortable. I never thought to actually wear boots with metal plates and nails in them,” replied Mary.
“That’s because you have never been to Scotland and had to walk on black ice,” said Aunt Maude.
The party of six, Caroline and Ewan having stayed behind at the castle, were making their way down the road to Strathmore village. The walk, if it could be described as such, was a constant game of sidestepping hazards. The road surface was covered with icy patches, interspersed with frozen puddles of muddy water. Every step held the promise of a hard and wet landing for an unsure foot.
Hugh had offered Mary his arm, but she told him she needed to learn to walk in her new boots. He accepted her reasons with good grace, but still walked close enough so that he could rescue her if she did slip.
While he had often turned to Mary for assistance while he was at Cambridge, he now found himself in possession of a
