Part 2 (1/2)
”Well, thank you for that acknowledgment, at least! I think we've been really good for it,” Toni said, feeling her jaw clench.
”Ah, then, back to the buses!”
David, who had apparently been charming the guests in the ma.s.sive kitchen, came bursting back into the hallway, the large group of tourists behind him.
”Now, now!” David said as his group began to splinter. ”The buses are waiting!” But he had lost control, and their guests began to mingle before leaving, stopping by Toni, Gina, Ryan and Bruce. The four of them, including Bruce MacNiall, received glowing compliments for their performances.
”Oh, it was great!” a woman named Milly--from Chicago, if Toni remembered correctly--cooed to Bruce MacNiall. ”I mean, it was all just so wonderful. And then you on this magnificent beast here--pure magic! Thank you so very much. I'll never, ever, forget this trip to Scotland. What a dream fulfilled it has been!”
”Thank you, dear,” Kevin said, quickly sweeping up behind her to draw her away.
”I loved it!” Milly said.
”Buses are waiting!” Kevin said cheerfully. ”Mustn't hold them up!”
”Really!” Milly called to Bruce MacNiall as she was ushered out.
He had the grace to slightly incline his head to her. ”I'm delighted that you're enjoying Scotland,” he said.
The crowd moved on, pa.s.sing by the constable and Eban, the tourists chatting and boisterous as they moved out to the courtyard, ready to board their buses.
Thayer, however, was now in the room.
”My cousin! He is a Scotsman!” Toni said. Her words sounded defensive, as though, because Thayer was a Scot, they couldn't possibly be in a mess here.
”A Scotsman, or an American of Scottish descent?” MacNiall queried.
”Glasgow, born and bred,” Thayer said, frowning. He stepped forward, offering a hand. ”Thayer Fraser, sir. I've overheard just a bit of this. And I'm really sorry regarding this and my own confusion. We may well be at your mercy. Toni did the paperwork from the States after finding this rental through the Internet. The agreements went through a rental agency, a corporation. But we had a lawyer--and I saw the ads for the place myself, down in Glasgow.”
MacNiall shook his head. Toni once more felt a fierce irritation. Again, the men's club was meeting, and she and Gina were entirely ostracized. MacNiall was decent enough about horses, and give him a fellow Scotsman and he could almost resemble polite.
”There's definitely a problem, I'm afraid.”
”Aye, but they been good, Bruce, really good a fixen 'er up!” Eban announced suddenly.
”We really have put a lot of hard work into it,” Ryan said.
Apparently the tourists had been loaded back onto their buses. David and Kevin came back into the hall. For a moment, they were all a tableau, at an impa.s.se. David moved up awkwardly. ”Laird MacNiall?” he murmured. ”David Fulton, and my friend, Kevin Hart. We're only beginning to understand the gist of what went wrong, but, honestly, no group could have put more toil and loving effort into making improvements here. If you'll take some time and look around, you'll see what very real elbow grease has gone into our stay here.”
Then, to Toni's amazement, Bruce MacNiall uttered an oath beneath his breath, and made what to him must have been a very generous statement. ”All right. Ifs Friday night. Jon is here with us and can validate who I am, but the legal offices are in town and they won't be open again until Monday morning. Until then, I believe you'll have to stay.”
”We'll have to stay because we paid a great deal of money to be here, and we have legal doc.u.mentation,” Toni said stubbornly.
Gina jabbed her with an elbow to the ribs. She winced, realizing that maybe she was pus.h.i.+ng it. But she wasn't going to blindly believe this man, or even the local yokel constable, when she had brought the agreement to an attorney, and he had read over the deal.
”We do have an attorney!” she murmured.
”Solicitor,” Thayer murmured to her softly. ”We have solicitors here.”
”I get the feeling he knows what an attorney is,” Toni murmured back softly.
Jonathan Tavish cleared his throat. ”Ladies and gentlemen, I'm truly sorry now that I didn't try to stop you. As I said, I didn't know for certain that Bruce hadn't decided to rent out the old ancestral place. But I am afraid that someone knew about the castle--and how much Bruce traveled--and took you for a soaking.” He cleared his throat and looked at Bruce with an uncomfortable shrug.
”Should I take those papers now? Not much I can do on this till Monday, though. Law enforcement spends the weekends goin' after the dangerous fellows running around out there, I'm afraid. All the law offices are closed.”
”We'll keep the papers until Monday,” Toni said. Gina stared at her, but the papers were all that they had. She wasn't letting them out of their own keeping.
”Fine,” Tavish said. ”When you come in Monday, bring all your papers.” He cleared his throat. ”If you say that everything is in order for the night, Bruce, I'll be going.”
Bruce MacNiall inclined his head toward the constable, as if he weren't just the laird here, but world royalty. ”Thanks, Jon,” he said. ”Come Monday morning, we'll get these papers they're talking about into the hands of the proper authorities. Hopefully they'll be able to track down the frauds who soaked them for their money.”
”Hopefully,” Jonathan Tavish agreed. He gave a smile that seemed to offer some sympathy to the group. ”Don't feel too badly. Won't be the first time Americans have been taken in. And it won't be the last. We'll see what we can do.”
”Thank you,” Thayer said.
Jonathan Tavish gave them all a nod.
”Good night!” Gina called cheerfully.
”And thank you,” Kevin added.
”I'll be movin' along, too, then, lest y'be needin' me,” Eban Douglas said, looking at Bruce MacNiall.
”I think I can manage, Eban,” MacNiall said.
Eban turned and left. He didn't have a hunched back, nor did he limp, but he somehow gave the appearance of both.
”Do you, uh, stay here when you're in town?” Ryan asked politely.
The answer was a little slow. An ironic smile seemed to twitch MacNiall's lips. ”With the ancestral home filled with unbelievers? Indeed.”
”Want me to see to the horse? I did some work in the stables. He isn't usually there, is he?” Ryan asked. ”I only ask because the stables were in serious disrepair, and this fellow is so obviously well tended.”
”He was boarded in my absence.”
”How long were you gone? Twenty years?” Toni muttered.
Once again Gina jabbed her fiercely in the ribs.
”I'll take him out, bed him down,” Ryan offered.
Toni wanted to knock him in the head for the offer, but she knew that he wasn't being subservient. Ryan simply loved horses. And she had to admit that the animal was magnificent.
”Sure,” MacNiall said. ”Thanks. His name is Shaunessy.”
”Shaunessy?” Toni couldn't quite help herself. ”Not Thor, Thunder or King?” Gina's third strike against her rib cage nearly caused her to cry out. She winced. ”Shaunessy,” she said. ”Great name.”
Ryan came to lead the horse out. ”I'll give you a hand!” Kevin offered quickly, and they departed.
”There's tea!” David said suddenly into the awkward silence. ”And scones. Great little scones.”