Beauty and the Beastly Highlander by Kenna Kendrick
Chapter Four
“Yer faither only wants thae best for ye, Blaine. But ye ken how he is. Ye ken he doesnae express himself very well.”
Blaine looked at his mother, Caitriona, and gave her a soft smile. “Ye always have tried playin’ peacemaker between me and da.”
Blaine and his father seemed to be perpetually at odds. And for as far back as he could recall, it had been his mother who stood between them, doing everything she could to keep the tensions between them from boiling over. She had always had a knack for smoothing down the near-constant ruffled feathers with her soft, soothing words. Caitriona had always been able to keep them from going after each other with naked steel. It was a delicate balancing act, but one she’d been able to pull off with grace and ease.
She chuckled softly. “Mebbe if ye both werenae so bleedin’ stubborn, I wouldnae have tae work so hard at it.”
They walked along the path that ran along the rear grounds of the keep. Glaslaw Castle, his family’s ancestral home, set atop a finger of land that jutted out into the ocean. A low, stone wall ran from the rear of the keep and around the entire finger, giving it an enclosed feeling. Blaine often liked sitting on the wall when he was younger, watching the waves roll in off the ocean.
He loved listening to the waves crash against the craggy shoreline below and enjoyed the thick scent of the sea air and the cries of the ocean birds above. Blaine had always found a sense of peace out there. He loved sitting on the wall staring into the ocean as much as he loved wandering through the forest. He just loved being out amongst nature as a whole. It fed his soul and never failed to ease his mind and heart. Until now, anyway.
“If da wanted thae best for me, he would have let me finish me schoolin’. He would have let me have a life before he chained me tae thae bleedin’ clan,” Blaine groused.
His mother frowned. “He felt ye were focused tae much on havin’ a life than ye were on yer studies, Blaine. He’d been told ye were more interested in wine and women than ye were on yer studies. And if half of what I heard is true, I’d have come tae thae same conclusion.”
Blaine picked up a small stone and hurled it over the cliff and out into the ocean. “As if he dinnae dae his share of drinkin’ and womanizin’ when he was at university.”
“I’m nae sayin’ he dinnae. And I’m nae sayin’ he’s bein’ entirely reasonable. But ye’ve responsibilities here, son.”
“Aye. Daenae I ken it.”
A long moment of silence stretched between them as Blaine continued to glower and silently curse his father. His mother, though, looked at him with an expression of compassion. He thought she seemed genuinely sorry for what happened. Not that it mattered—certainly not Blaine’s hopes and dreams. Nor his mother’s whims or wants. No, inside that keep, the only thing that mattered was what his father wanted. His father always got his way. He was the Laird and his word, after all, was law.
She sighed. “It wouldnae have made a difference if yer faither had kent, Blaine. He was set on gettin’ ye home tae start groomin’ ye tae be thae Laird.”
“And what if I dinnae want tae be thae Laird?” Blaine asked, wincing at how petulant he sounded. “I could have had a career as a physician. I could have done some great things. I could have had a life of me own.”
“Ye can still dae great things, Blaine,” she said quietly. “I remember when ye used tae talk about thae changes ye’d make tae thae clan. I remember ye talkin’ about making thae clan great again. Ye used tae talk about makin’ these lands thae envy of all of Scotland.”
A wry grin crossed his lips. “I was a lad. A naïve, stupid lad,” he replied. “I dinnae ken how thae world really worked back then.”
“That can be how thae world works when ye take thae Laird’s chair, son,” she said. “When ye’re in charge, ye can dae anything ye want. Ye can make any changes and run thae clan any way ye wish.”
“But I daenae if I want that life.”
Her smile was a little sad but patient. “I daenae ken if ye have thae option, Blaine,” she said. “Yer place is here with yer people. With yer family.”
In addition to being the designated peacekeeper, his mother had constantly reminded Blaine of his place in the family. She’d taken great pains to remind Blaine that his position would be at the head of the family—eventually. She told him he could be a greater Laird than his father and lead the clan to heights greater than even his father could have imagined.
Blaine didn’t doubt that. His father was tough and ruled with an iron fist and did not suffer fools. He made Clan Drummond a martial force to be reckoned with and a significant player in Scottish politics. Those were achievements Blaine would never deprive him of. But his father was a man who lacked imagination. He saw things in black and white but never seemed able to recognize the shades of gray that made up most of the world.
His father saw things one way and one way only. Especially when he had his mind made up about something. When he saw something he wanted, he was single-minded about attaining it. He was like a dog with a bone and suffered from tunnel vision. On the other hand, Blaine could see those shades of gray and knew that seeing things one way, especially in pursuit of something grand, made it less likely to happen. Blaine knew you had to adjust and adapt to the world rather than expecting it to conform to you.
“I have tae go,” Blaine said. “I’m supposed tae meet Wallace.”
Blaine stood up and walked away from his mother before she could reply. He loved his mother with his whole heart, but he didn’t want to sit there and listen to her try to convince him to accept his place at the head of the clan. He knew what his duty was—and he would do it.
But that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.
