The elevation grew steeper and when she crested a large hill, she stopped. Below the densely forested hillside lay the coast and the sprawling port city of Dornoch. She searched the hill for Robbie and caught sight of him picking his way down the mountain. She followed.
The city was large enough that Phoebe hoped Robbie wouldn't recognize her among the bustle of the crowded street. He rode at such a slow pace that she realized he was less likely to notice a woman strolling the boardwalk, than a woman on horseback. She stopped in front of a shop, dismounted, and tied the reins to the post outside the shop, then sauntered down the street in Robbie's wake.
He continued through town without stopping. When the crowd thinned, she began to fear that Dornoch wasn't his destination. The sun had begun its descent and she would lose him if she was forced to retrieve her horse. She breathed a sigh of relief when he stopped on the edge of town in front of a three-story house with an overhead sign that read Madam Duvall’s Boarding House. Robbie dismounted and went inside.
Two men approached her on the walkway. Phoebe paused and gazed through the window of a general store. She studied a pot that was displayed, while waiting for the men to pass. As they neared the boarding house, a window on the second floor opened and a woman stuck her head out. A woman, Phoebe noted, who could not be mistaken for anything other than the prostitute she was.
“Cheri,” the woman called in a thick French accent.
The two men paused at the door and looked up.
“Adele,” one man replied and threw her a kiss.
The woman disappeared back into the house and the man in the lead opened the door to the brothel and entered with the other close behind. Phoebe turned, looked both ways, then crossed the street and headed back into town.
CHAPTER TWENTY
At the sound of a sharp knock, Kiernan swung his gaze from Madam Duvall to the drawing room door. The door opened and her butler entered.
“Someone to see the Lord Ashlund,” he announced in formal tones.
Kiernan looked at Madam Duvall, who sat on the settee beside his chair. “Was I to see someone else today?”
“No monsieur,” she replied. “Only Robbie and, as you know, he arrived over an hour ago.”
Kiernan turned his attention to the butler. “He didn't say who he was?”
“Said you would know him, sir.”
Kiernan rose and removed a pistol from a nearby desk. "Show him in, Phillip. Letty, meet our guest at the door, if you please.” Kiernan strode to the door and leaned against the wall to the left.
A moment later, a familiar figure entered the room.
“What the devil?” Kiernan exclaimed.
The Earl of Stoneleigh whirled to face him. Regan eyed the gun Kiernan pointed at him, then ran his gaze down the length of Kiernan's kilt.
"Never seen you looking so…"
Kiernan lowered in the weapon. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Regan replied.
“No, you can’t.”
Regan turned his attention to Letty, though he addressed Kiernan, “You’re being rather rude, you know. Madam.” Regan lifted her hand to his lips.
“Sir,” she replied with a tilt of her head.
“Letty,” Kiernan said, “do you mind? I need a word with our visitor.”
Kiernan waited until Letty closed the door behind her, then said, “What are you doing here, Stoneleigh?”
"Stoneleigh?" Regan grimaced. "I have annoyed you." He threw himself down onto the sofa. “It’s been a long trip. Aren’t you going to offer me something a drink?”
“Will it get anything out of you?”
“You know how relaxed I get after a drink.”
“Begin the tale,” Kiernan said, “and I might not have you drawn and quartered.”
Regan lifted a brow. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you so testy before.”
Kiernan went to the sideboard. He set the pistol on the cabinet, then lifted the stopper off the decanter of port. “I wasn't expecting guests.”
“Then you’re due for another shock.”
Kiernan paused in pouring the drinks to look at Regan. “What does that mean?”
“Your wife is here. I assume,” he added, “given that you're staying in a brothel, you didn't bring her with you.”
“Phoebe? Here?” Kiernan shook his head and finished pouring the drinks. “Impossible. She’s back at Brahan Seer, and she would have no idea I’m here—speaking of which, how did you know I was here?”
“Your horse.”
“The Andalusian?” Kiernan picked up the two drinks and crossed to Regan. “So, you happened to be in Dornoch and spotted my horse?” He handed a drink to Regan, then sat down in his chair.
“Right.”
"Not many Englishmen happen to be in Dornoch, Scotland, Regan."
"I had no idea you were here."
"Then why are you here?"
Regan sipped the port. “It’s been far too long since I’ve had good port." He met Kiernan's gaze. "It was, indeed, Phoebe I saw."
“She has no way of knowing I'm here. Not to mention, my father would never let her go.” The memory of how both he and his father had ‘let her go’ the last time they had been at Brahan Seer came to mind.