Page 93 of A Scot on the Rocks

Jamie examined the older bottle. “I’ll take the early watch. Ewan can bring up the water, and Alasdair can decide when to begin.”

“You make it sound simple,” Olivia said.

“Is it no’?”

“I can think of a dozen ways it could go wrong.”

“Then we’ll have a busy morning.”

She smiled despite herself. Jamie never seemed threatened when she disagreed with him or suggested a change, and he was just as willing to admit that Alasdair knew more about the still than either of them. It ought not to have been remarkable. Olivia had known plenty of intelligent men in her own century. But a surprising number of them had mistaken confidence for the need to win every conversation, and Jamie appeared perfectly content to let someone else be right.

Alasdair showed her how he chose the heart of the run, letting her taste a small sample from the harsh beginning and another from the rounder spirit that followed. She understood what he meant once she’d felt the difference on her tongue, and when she tried to explain it in the precise terms she’d learned professionally, he waved a hand and told her to remember the taste. She did, though she borrowed a scrap of paper from Ewan and made a few notes while the distinctions were fresh.

By late afternoon her shoulders ached from carrying water, her fingers were sore, and the borrowed apron was filthy. She’d managed to get soot on one cheek without noticing. Jamie came up beside her while she was putting away the cups and handed her a cloth.

“What?” she asked.

He pointed. “Your face.”

She rubbed at her cheek.

“The other side.”

“I knew that.”

“Aye, I could tell.”

She was about to give him a piece of her mind when he caught her wrist gently and took the cloth. He wiped the mark away with his thumb beneath the linen, close enough that she could see the green of his eyes and the rain drying in his brown hair. She thought of the night before and wondered whether he did too.

His hand fell away, and he stepped back as Alasdair called for another bucket. Olivia took the cups to the shelf, grateful for something to do with her hands.

When the work was finished, Jamie walked beside her on the track toward Dunarraidh, carrying the empty water bucket because he’d picked it up before she could reach for it. The rain had passed, and the last of the daylight lay across the cottages below the hill. Somewhere beyond the wall a child was calling for a dog, while woodsmoke drifted from a chimney and the church bell marked the hour. Olivia’s feet hurt, and her hair had come loose from its pins again, but she’d enjoyed the day more than she’d expected.

“What did ye learn?” Jamie asked.

“That Alasdair has been insulting me for hours and somehow I’ve come away knowing more than when I arrived.”

“He’ll be pleased to hear it.”

“Don’t tell him. He’ll be impossible to work with.”

“Too late, lass.”

They crossed the shallow rut where the path climbed toward the castle. Jamie offered his hand over the slick stones, and Olivia took it without thinking. He didn’t let go immediately once they’d reached firm ground. Neither did she.

At the top of the rise, the roofline of Dunarraidh appeared against the clouded sky. Olivia could see the patched shutters and the smoke from its kitchen fire, and she knew which step near the door was loose and which corner of the hall stayed cold even when the hearth had been burning all day. She’d begun learning the castle almost as thoroughly as the still house, though she hadn’t meant to.

“We’ll try that run tomorrow?” she asked.

“If the weather allows it.”

“Then I’ll be there early.”

“I’ve no doubt.” His smile faded a little as he looked toward the castle. “Ye needn’t work yourself to the bone to earn passage, Olivia. There’s time.”

For a moment she couldn’t answer. Jamie had given her a way to reach a home he believed was waiting across the ocean, and she was using the work to postpone explaining why no ship could take her there. He deserved the truth. She knew that, even if she still had no idea how to tell him without sounding mad.

“I want to finish what we started,” she said.