“I’m going to e-mail you another photo. It has a different background with a strange-looking wall decoration. Could you maybe add that to your file?”
“Send it,” he said, then added, “This is really worrying you, isn’t it? Kind of a surprise. I know you’d want to help regardless, but in that sketch, she doesn’t come across as being full of sweetness and light. Certainly not someone to touch the heart. But evidently she’s managed to touch yours. You have to remember we can only do so much, Jane.”
“I know that.” She was silent for a moment. “But I was thinking about her and I realized if I hadn’t had you and Eve, I might have been as defiant and angry as Lisa is. I was already on my way down that road by the time you took me in.”
“No, you weren’t. You were always tough, but not belligerent. You survived the streets and would have come out on top regardless of who you had in your corner.”
“Bullshit. I was incredibly lucky. Now it seems I have to give back.” She added lightly, “Eve thinks I was chosen. So help me find this girl so I can do what I need to do. Okay?”
He chuckled. “It shall be done. Send me the new sketch. Bye, Jane.” He hung up.
She took a photo of the sketch and e-mailed it to Joe. Then she sat there looking down at that face. Definitely not sweet or gentle, as Joe had commented. But the more she gazed at it, the more she found herself drawn. All that fire and passion and defiance. Warrior … Lisa looked like a warrior who had been attacked, taken down, but never surrendered.
Only you.
Her finger traced the words on the sketch.
Okay, it’s a deal. I’ll help you out. But you’d better work on an attitude adjustment. Understand?
EDINBURGH AIRPORT
Jock Gavin was waiting when Jane walked out of customs. His smile lit his face as he gave her a hug. “The laird asked me to come and pick you up. I think he was afraid that you’d go running back to your gallery in London instead of coming back to Gaelkar. MacDuff is sure that he’s found the right lights this time. It’s some new space-age technology.”
MacDuff had been trying for years, without success, to find a lighting system that would pierce the heavy mist on the north side of the lake, and permit them to explore and hunt for the treasure in that area. “And what do you think?”
He shrugged. “I hope it’s true. You know MacDuff needs the money. It takes a fortune every year to keep MacDuff’s Run a private residence and not have to turn it over to the National Trust.” He picked up her two suitcases and headed for the exit. “We’ll set up the lights tomorrow and check them out. But he wants you there in case we can move forward along the north bank.”
“I might not be of any use,” Jane said. “I’ve always told him that, Jock.”
“Aye, but he thinks you’re his lucky rabbit’s foot.” Jock’s face was full of mischief as he turned to her when they reached his car. “Though I’ve always thought that concept a little unpleasant and certainly unfair to the poor rabbit. Ever since the two of you discovered each other when you were both doing research on Cira, the founder of MacDuff’s clan, he’s been sure you’re kin to one of his ancestors.”
“I’m no such thing,” she said flatly. “I’m very happy with who I am. And that’s not Scottish aristocracy.”
“Be who you wish to be,” Jock said as he stored her suitcases in the trunk. “As long as it’s my friend.” He slammed the trunk shut. “I won’t give that up, Jane.” He opened the car door for her. “Now get in and I’ll see if I can find a good place to have tea on the way to Gaelkar. Airplane food is generally ho-hum at best.”
He was smiling again, and she found herself smiling back. It was almost impossible not to smile at Jock. He was possibly the most beautiful human being she had ever seen. She had thought that when she had first met him as a young boy, and he was even more riveting now. He was a tall, lithe young man with fair hair and silvery blue eyes and there was a strength to his symmetrical features that doubled their high impact. “I’d like that, if you don’t think that MacDuff will be too impatient about showing off his space-age lights.”
“He needs to be kept under control,” Jock said lightly. “Everyone kowtows to the laird, and I consider it my duty to make him realize that even an earl has his limits.” He started the car. “There’s a small tearoom on the grounds of a castle on the way.…”
Jock was joking. No one loved MacDuff more than Jock Gavin. They had been friends for years. Jock had been the son of the housekeeper at MacDuff’s Run and he had grown up running in and out of the castle. And though MacDuff had been older, they had become like brothers. They still were, and there was nothing Jock wouldn’t do for MacDuff. “Did you go to Australia with him?”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t needed. I decided to go to MacDuff’s Run and check it out while MacDuff was gone.” He added grimly, “And then I went on to New York to make sure that the investments MacDuff and I have funded there were being handled properly. The broker was being careless and I had to make certain he wasn’t also being criminal. I wasn’t about to let MacDuff lose money.” He shrugged. “But it only took one meeting to straighten him out. There won’t be any more problems.”
“I’m sure there won’t,” Jane said drily. He had probably terrified the man. These days, Jock could be everything that was warm and charismatic on the surface. It was only when he was angry or upset that he became the Jock that she had first met all those years ago at MacDuff’s Run. He had run away from home to see the world when he was fifteen and the world he’d seen had been a horror story. He’d become the subject of mind-control experiments conducted by Thomas Reilly, a terrorist who was trying to develop the perfect assassin. In Jock he had reached his prime goal, and the body count had been horrifying. By the time MacDuff had found Jock, he was in a sanitarium after trying to commit suicide, and could barely function mentally. It had taken years for him to come back to something close to normalcy, and Jane was aware that buried deadliness might be unearthed at any moment. “And did your broker turn out to be a crook?”
“Marginally.” Jock smiled. “But after our discussion, he made restitution to MacDuff and me and seven other clients out of his own accounts.”
“Did you fire him?”
“No, he’s brilliant. He’s going to make us a pot of money. The reason I set up the portfolio was just in case MacDuff doesn’t find Cira’s treasure. It was insurance. I can’t let him lose MacDuff’s Run.”
“And you’d rather deal with someone who came close to cheating you?”
“Close is the key word. It won’t happen again.” He met her gaze and his silver eyes were ice-cold. “He understood the consequences. I explained that I’m very protective of my friends.”
“Did MacDuff know what you were doing?”
“It wasn’t necessary. Why bother him with something that I could handle myself? It would only have worried him.”
She nodded. “Because MacDuff is protective, too.”
His lips twisted. “And he likes to keep me away from temptation. He’s never sure if I’m going to break the chains he’s hammered to keep me in check.”
“He cares about you,” she said gently. “You’re worth caring about, Jock.”
“Am I? I suppose I do have a few valuable qualities.” His smile was suddenly brilliant. “Or you wouldn’t waste your time being my friend. I’m glad you’re back, Jane. It’s time we wound up this search for Cira’s gold. MacDuff needs to get on with his life.”
“And what about you?”
“I keep myself busy. I have a few degrees behind my name these days. That makes MacDuff happy. He knows where my real talent lies and he’s always hoping that it will be submerged by higher learning.” He shook his head. “Now stop frowning. We both know that I’m right. I accept it. I am what I am.”
“You don’t know who you are, yet.” She paused. “When you were in New York, did you visit Cara at Juilliard?”