Moreton's Kingdom by Jean S. Macleod Page A

my ex is determined to have full control of it.’
    They motored on with long silences developing between them, although Katherine’s mind was actively at work. She did not trust this man now that she knew more about him. She had been primed to resent him, but she could not fail to recognise his strength.
    ‘Where are you taking me?’ she was forced to ask at last.
    ‘To Sandy. I thought that might be obvious,’ he answered. ‘He’s quite safe, I assure you, but I think you should remain with him till he’s completely settled in. He seems to have become quite attached to you.’
    ‘Settled in?’ she repeated. ‘And where might that be? You have no right to take the law into your own hands,’ she rushed on. ‘This is a—a double kidnapping!’
    He smiled at the suggestion.
    ‘Believe me,’ he said, ‘it’s highly coincidental. You’re hardly a child, and when I have no further use for your services I’ll let you go. It’s quite obvious that Sandy trusts you and I have to protect him from the shock of too many strangers.’
    ‘But you don’t hesitate when it comes to the trauma of separating him from his mother, which is a child’s natural protection,’ she declared angrily.
    ‘No.’ The square, determined jaw was firmly set, the steely eyes cold. ‘You promised to look after Sandy and I mean to hold you to your word.’
    Within an hour they had reached their destination. Turning the car off the road through the glen, Charles crossed a main highway to run along a wide strath where high peaks looked down on them in the gathering dusk, grim mountains crowding in on them from the north and east to make an easy prison from which it would be hard to escape.
    Without the help of her road map Katherine felt completely lost, yet when they finally pulled up at the hotel their welcome could not have been warmer.
    The proprietress came out to shake her companion by the hand, calling him by his Christian name.
    ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you first arrived, Chay,’ she apologised, ‘but everything is arranged.’
    She was a small, stout woman in her early fifties, amazingly reassuring in a well-fitting tweed skirt and matching cashmere jersey, and her curiosity when she looked at Katherine seemed only natural.
    ‘My name’s Katherine Rivers,’ Katherine offered swiftly. ‘I’m looking after Sandy.’
    A quick glance passed between the proprietress and her captor.
    ‘I thought Callum could pick up Miss Rivers’ car and take it into Killin in the morning,’ Charles Moreton said. ‘I hadn’t time to look at it.’
    The small, dark woman held out her hand.
    ‘You’ve had quite an adventure, I understand,’ she remarked guardedly. ‘You must be ready for a wash and something to eat.’ She turned back to Charles. ‘I’ve put the wee one to his bed,’ she explained. ‘He was tired and fair bewildered by all that travelling when Callum brought him in. It was lucky you met him on the road and he could bring Sandy here while you went back to look at the car.’
    So that was how Sandy had travelled so far in the meantime, Katherine thought. Charles had met a friend on his way to the hotel and passed Sandy on to him while he turned back to the lay-by in search of her. He had all the luck!
    ‘Thanks, Morag,’ Charles was saying. ‘I knew you would help all you could.’
    ‘Why not?’ Morag’s dark eyes searched his face. ‘If there’s anything else I can do you have only to say the word.’
    ‘I know that,’ Charles agreed, ‘but we’ll go on in the morning, I think. I want to get back to the Lodge as quickly as possible.’
    To my ultimate prison, Katherine thought dramatically. But surely this sort of thing couldn’t happen in this day and age?
    Charles Moreton’s attitude to their hostess was completely relaxed, and they were evidently on the friendliest of terms as they spoke about local matters standing in the low, raftered entrance hall for several minutes before they ascended