‘Hello, I’m wondering if you can help me. I think I’m a bit lost.’

‘Look, if you’re here for an Outlander tour, you’re sadly mistaken. This is not the castle where Jamie grew up,’ he informed her in a pleasant, perhaps somewhat irritated, voice.

‘Oh. No. I’m not here for that.’ And hello? I’ve already been to that castle, Elle thought with an insulted snort. ‘I’m looking for Stuart? My name’s Elle Kinnaird. I’m sorry I didn’t call before coming out, but the lady at the pub didn’t give me a phone number, only gave me directions to get here.’

‘What lady?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘Glenda somebody?’ she said hesitantly, and swallowed nervously as he continued to watch her with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

Go on, dear, ask the nice man, Gran prodded, making her usual abrupt appearance, her voice sounding like an excited schoolgirl.

‘This may sound strange,’ she continued, and saw his eyes narrow slightly, so she rushed on before he could call someone to release the hounds on her. ‘You see, my gran recently passed away, and she used to tell me a story about some of our ancestors who lived around here … the MacCoinnichs.’ She saw him tilt his head ever so slightly—possibly in interest, but it could also have been in readiness to throw her off the grounds. ‘Anyway, I believe there was a castle around here somewhere, only I can’t seem to find it. Glenda said that you’d know about it.’

‘I know the place,’ he admitted.

Elle waited expectantly for him to continue, only to realise he wasn’t going to. ‘Could you tell me how I can get to it?’

‘I could. But it won’t do you any good.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s on private land.’

Gran swore, and Elle gave a small start. ‘Gran!’

‘Excuse me?’ the man asked, frowning.

‘I said that’s a shame,’ she said quickly. ‘Can you tell me who I need to speak with to see if they’d let me have a look? It really is a matter of life and death.’

‘Life and death, you say? Well, that does sound serious,’ he said with a lazy kind of amusement and crossed his arms over his chest.

‘You have no idea what I’ve gone through to get this far, mate,’ she muttered.

‘You’re from Australia, I take it?’

She eyed him warily.

‘Your accent,’ he supplied.

‘Oh, yes, I am.’

‘That’s a long way to travel.’

‘For nothing, so it turns out,’ she replied, suddenly feeling wearier than she had ever felt before. ‘I came here to do something for my gran, but I should have just said no. Sorry to have bothered you,’ she said, turning away.

You can’t give up now! Gran protested.

‘Stop it. It’s over. I’m done,’ she snapped.

‘Ah, pardon?’ Stuart asked hesitantly.

‘Nothing, I wasn’t talking to you,’ she said, reaching for her door handle.

‘Then who were you talking to?’ he asked.

You are not a quitter, Elspeth Kinnaird! Gran said firmly.