Harry didn’t envy Colonel Horwith’s newest dilemma. Rush orders for portable showers, toilets, and tents for that many soldiers would take up much of his time. As for feeding the group, no mess hall or kitchen existed on Glenkinnon. The army needed to construct a makeshift mess and sleeping quarters to accommodate the influx of soldiers. The local villages had no way to feed or house more than a few hundred tourists each summer. The fewer the number of soldiers, the greater his freedom to track the criminal or criminals without observation.

No doubt about it, Fort Monkton’s invasion was going to make his mission a whole lot more complicated.

Chapter 10

With one hand clamped on Sammy’s shoulder, Elise fumed as she gazed down the drive from her position at the bottom of the castle’s front steps. She checked her watch and sighed heavily. Harry was late. And she was done.

The incompetence of her father’s fulltime staff boggled her. She had offered each of the staff financial incentives to childmind Sammy during his interim at the castle. But one butler, three maids, a housekeeper, and a cook were no match for Sammy’s evasive maneuvers. It shouldn’t be this hard to keep an eight-year-old occupied, but every time she headed outside for a run, a member of the staff had flagged her down.

“Master Sammy is missing. We’ve looked everywhere. Could you please help us find him?”

If this kept up, she might as well give up improving her test times.

To be sure, Sammy was a bright and imaginative child, but he was also the most ingenious escape artist Elise had ever encountered. The lad had the devil’s own luck and a knack for creating trouble. Heaven help the UK if he should take up a life of crime.

A horse and rider clattered up one of the paths from the direction of the stables. No one could mistake Goliath, one of her father’s prized thoroughbreds, or the slight frame of her sister, Sophie, perched on his back.

When their father had hired Sophie to manage his stables’ exercise and breeding operations, no one had been the least bit surprised. Sophie also worked part-time writing a bi-weekly blog for Hound & Hoof, a leading magazine for the jodhpur set.

When Sophie reached them, she reined in Goliath and pushed back her helmet, her bright-blue eyes filled with excitement. “Did you hear? CJ’s Gift qualified. Dad’s entering him at Royal Ascot next month.”

Sophie had witnessed the colt’s birth three years back and had taken a keen interest in him from the start.

“That’s brilliant news,” Elise agreed.

Their father’s stables specialized more in steeplechasers than flat racers. But CJ’s Gift had been different from the start, breaking records on the flats as a two-year-old. Barring disaster, he was sure to place in the winner’s circle this year.