Falling for the Highland Rogue. Ann Lethbridge

      Chapter One

      Edinburgh—August 1822

      ‘Ye’re late!’ the voice on the other side of the door grumbled to the sound of a grating metal bolt being withdrawn from its socket.

      There’s gratitude, Logan thought, glancing back down the line of ponies filling the dank and dark alley behind him. ‘Aye, well, let us in quick, man, or your whisky’ll be filling the revenue man’s cellar come morning. Either that or McKenzie will have it off ye.’ Above him, the darkness in the narrow slit between the tenement buildings gave way to the grey of morning. At any moment they could be seen. ‘Hurry, man. McKenzie’s men are up and down the Royal Mile from Holyrood to the gates of the castle.’ He wouldn’t help the man out again in a hurry if this was his welcome.

      Finally, the door swung back.

      A hugely fat man, with a day’s growth of beard on his heavy jowls and a sagging belly covered in a stained white apron, peered out. ‘Good heavens. Is Gilvry so desperate for men he must needs take them from their mother’s teat?’

      Logan ground his teeth. All right, so he was younger than most in the trade, but at twenty-two, he’d been at it for years and he was tired of people commenting on his youth. ‘You are Archie, right? Do you want the whisky or no?’

      ‘Aye, bring it in.’ The man stood back.

      At a quick gesture, Logan’s men leapt into familiar action, pulling barrels from their racks on the ponies, passing them down the line with one or two of them running them down the cellar steps. The innkeeper, his eyes as shrewd as a stoat, counted each barrel as it passed. ‘Twenty?’ he said as the last of the wooden casks passed him. ‘Is that all you can spare me?’

      Logan signalled to his men to depart for the stabling he’d arranged at the edge of the city. He grinned at Archie. ‘It is lucky you are to get that. We’ve been dodging McKenzie’s men half the night and the excise officers the other. Not that we had to worry about them.’

      Archie grimaced. ‘McKenzie’s men no’ saw you, I hope. He’ll be round breaking staves if he gets even a hint I bought elsewhere.’

      Logan chuckled. ‘He couldna’ catch a pig in a passage.’

      Archie grunted, closed the cellar door in the floor and covered it with wooden boards. ‘Aye, weel, I was beginning to think you were no comin’ an’ me with a house full of cursed Sassenachs all demanding uisge beatha.’

      Englishmen all wanting what the Scots called the water of life for some reason. Scottish whisky. And the Gilvrys made the best there was. Logan doubted the Sassenachs appreciated the finer points seeing as they also drank Geneva by the bucket full. Still, the imminent arrival of fat auld King Georgie was a gift from the gods, with McKenzie making it nigh impossible to sell their whisky in Edinburgh under usual circumstances. What they really needed was a buyer in London. Another reason he was here.

      Noise battered at the door leading into the lower level of the tavern. Archie was also making hay from the Royal visit. Like everyone else in the city, Dunross included. ‘Aye. Well, here I am the now. And I’ll be having my due.’

      Archie bolted the door to the street. ‘You’ll have a drink on the house while I get your gold, I hope.’

      ‘Aye. But I’ll be having ale, if you dinna mind. Tonight has been thirsty work. And you’ll not be giving me any of that swill you keep for yon visiting Sassenachs.’

      The innkeeper grinned and went to the other door, pausing to look back. ‘Ye’ll excuse the company, I am thinkin’. I heared as how these London gentlemen,’ his voice held a sneer as he said that last word, ‘like to gamble away their fortunes. So I thought I would give them the chance.’

      Logan arched an admiring brow. ‘You’ve opened a hell?’

      ‘Why the hell not?’ He chuckled at his own joke. ‘Wi’ King George bringing all and sundry from London, and all the Scots comin’ in too, there’s a good few with a wee bitty extra gold burning a hole in their pockets.’

      ‘Ye’re a right cunning auld bugger,’ Logan said, and followed the waddling innkeeper into one of the upper cellars filled with tables instead of barrels. The noise—men and dice and raucous laughter—filled his ears. Smoke from pipes and cigars set his eyes to water and his throat stinging. He set his elbow on the bar and took the foaming mug the innkeeper drew off for him. He raised the tankard in a salute and downed half of it in what felt like one swallow.

      ‘Wait here,’ Archie said and lumbered off to fetch Logan his purse.

      Logan turned and leaned back, both elbows on the bar. A mass of men of all shapes and sizes and walks of life, rich and poor, filled the place. One old gentleman, with a nose like a cherry and too drunk to stand upright, leaned on his lanky friend. They stood like two books leaning inwards for support. One tap of an elbow and they’d fall to the floor. A young man wiped beads of sweat from his brow as he glowered at his cards. Another, laughing, shook the dice box as if his life depended on a good throw. The place reeked of sweat, liquor and smoke.

      There were women too. Doxies, not ladies, hanging over their mark for the night. A barmaid fought off the clutching hand of the patron with a laugh and a slap as she passed by with her tray held high.

      And then he saw her. On the other side of the room beside the hearth. At a table with four richly dressed fops. Everything else in the room receded. The noise. The smells. The men. It was as if she was sitting on an island surrounded by dark empty water.

      An oval face, skin pale as milk, dark eyes, wide-set, long lashed, tilting slightly upwards at the corners. High arrogant cheekbones lightly rouged. Lips full and lush hinted at a pout. A proud face for all its stunning beauty, a head held high on a long neck, softly sloping shoulders and an expanse of creamy flesh where a necklace of gold and diamonds dipped into the valley between her bounteous breasts.

      He swallowed hard, forced his gaze back up to her face. Their gazes met. Clashed like finely honed swords, giving off sparks as they met thrust for thrust in some deadly encounter.

      A finely arched brow lifted slightly. The pout changed to a faint smile of derision and she looked down her small nose, taking in the rough home-spun of his coat and no doubt the streaks of sweat and dirt on his unshaven face.

      A slight turn of her head brought her lips close to the ear of the man beside him, her lips moved slightly and, as if weighted by the words she was breathing, her eyelids lowered a fraction, the long dark lashes casting shadows on those magnificent cheekbones.

      Logan felt the breath that carried her words in his own ear. Heard the darkness reflected in her expression as if he heard her low voice. His blood heated. To his disgust, his body hardened.

      The man beside her turned his head to her, muttered something. His companions roared with laughter. Logan narrowed his eyes. Wealthy gentlemen from their dress. The woman helped the man to his feet with her shoulder beneath his arm. He staggered, grabbing her for support, his fingers digging into her delicate flesh.

      Logan started forwards at the slight grimace that tightened those beautiful lips. She glanced up as if she sensed his movement and in those dark cold eyes he saw a warning. He hesitated.

      The man leaned down and scooped a pile of winnings from the table. He handed the woman one of the coins and put the rest in a pocket. A faint wash of colour stained high on her cheeks, but the coldness in her expression, the hardness in her eyes, gave the blush the lie as she tucked the coin inside her glove.

      Then they were turning away, the heavy-set man leaning heavily