A Forbidden Night with a Scot (Sins in a Kilt #1)

Bonus Prologue

BONUS PROLOGUE

F ifteen years earlier…

Alicia clamped a hand over her mouth as she and Finlay ran through the grass, trying to stay as silent as possible, even as their shoes crunched against the ground. When they reached the bushes, they both slid behind them, the plants just tall enough to hide them as they crouched down, huddling close together.

Her older sister Emmeline would find them, Alicia knew. The bushes were far from the best hiding spot, but Finlay had insisted they should hide there and he was a year older, so Alicia couldn’t quite argue with him, as much as she would have liked to. Besides, Finlay never wanted to climb to the lowest roofs, where they could easily hide. He was too scared of heights and every time Alicia dragged him to the stables so they could scale the walls and sit on one, he immediately refused.

The two of them sat there quietly, waiting for Emmeline to make an appearance. Soon, they heard her voice as she teasingly called for them, her footsteps coming close to the bushes for a moment, before they receded once more, heading the opposite direction.

“See?” Finlay asked. “I told ye she wouldnae find us here.”

Alicia didn’t have the heart to tell him Emmeline sometimes did this, making her and Katherine think they had won fair and square, just because she didn’t want them to be sad. She was the oldest, after all, and the years had made her wiser. In a way, Alicia understood. That was why she told Finlay nothing, but rather sat there and picked at a blade of grass, occupying herself until it was time for them to reveal their hiding spot and end their game.

Finlay seemed to have other plans, though, as boredom got to him. For a while, he only stared at Alicia, but then he began to lean closer and closer, until their faces were mere inches apart, lips puckered as though he was going to give Alicia a kiss.

Crying out in surprise, Alicia swiftly struck him across the cheek, making him jump back in surprise at first before his big, brown eyes welled up with tears. This time, Alicia didn’t care if she had hurt his feelings. She only stared down at him, arms crossed defensively over her chest as Finlay began to cry, his hand coming up to rub at his cheek.

He wasn’t ugly, Alicia thought—it was simply that he wasn’t the one.

“What is happenin’ here?”

He’s the one!

Alicia turned around and craned her neck to look at her beloved Samuel—her father’s friend and the man she was one day going to marry. She had long since made up her mind and so she couldn’t entertain Finlay’s ideas of romance.

Still wailing, Finlay ran away, stomping back to his mother, but Alicia only stood and dusted off her dress so she would look presentable.

“He tried tae kiss me,” she said, pointing an accusatory finger at Finlay’s retreating back. “An’ I didnae want him tae kiss me so I slapped him.”

Samuel’s face did a funny thing, then, his lips twitching up for only a moment before he frowned and gave her a stern look. “It isnae nice tae slap people, Alicia,” he said in his most stern tone, which was admittedly not very stern at all. It didn’t have the same seriousness as her father’s, Alicia thought. It was as though he didn’t quite put his whole heart into it.

“I ken that,” Alicia said with a small pout. “But it isnae nice tae kiss a lass who doesnae want ye tae kiss her either.”

“I…” Samuel began, but then he stopped, humming thoughtfully. “Och aye, that is also true. But ye should have told him that instead o’ slappin’ him.”

“I suppose,” Alicia mumbled, but she wasn’t so much interested in this conversation as she was in Samuel himself. In the time she had known him, Alicia had come to adore him more than anyone else, and she was determined to one day be his wife. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen, after all, with his blonde hair and blue eyes. It didn’t hurt that he could easily grab her and put her on his shoulders, so that she could gaze as far as the eye could see. He was as tall as a tree and unlike those instances when she climbed up a tree to look at something, she didn’t get in trouble whenever she was on his shoulders.

“Anyway, I cannae kiss him because I willnae marry him,” Alicia added, looking up at Samuel defiantly. “I will marry ye.”

Samuel’s reaction confused Alicia, though. He only laughed, a full, amused sound, as he crouched down next to her. “I’m too old fer ye, I’m afraid,” he said. His words only served to perplex Alicia even more. She knew he was several years older than her eight, but he didn’t look that old. Alicia had seen plenty of people who looked much older than he did—people with grey hair and curved backs, people who had wrinkles on their face and long, scraggly beards. Samuel was nothing like them, so he couldn’t be that old.

“How old are ye?” she asked.

“Twenty-two,” said Samuel, still looking amused. “When ye’ll be o’ marriageable age, I will be an old man.”

“Twenty-two is younger than me faither,” Alicia said, as she tried to understand why Samuel insisted, he was old. “How old is Mrs. Callahan?”

“The housekeeper?” Samuel asked, a hand coming up to scratch the back of his head as he pondered the question. “Well… I suppose she must be around fifty.”

“She is old, then,” Alicia said, drawing another laugh out of Samuel. She had quickly begun to think that he wasn’t so much laughing with her as much as at her, and she didn’t appreciate it one bit. It was as though she was missing something crucial, but something she couldn’t quite grasp. “Very old. An’ yet she still lives.”

It was then that Samuel’s laughter devolved into hysterical giggles and he fell to the ground on his rear, burying his face in his hands as his shoulders shook with mirth.

"Why are ye laughin’?” Alicia demanded. “I didnae say anythin’ funny.”

Slowly, Samuel’s laughter subsided, and his hand reached out to ruffle Alicia’s hair in that way she hated. She always got into trouble for it, too, no matter how many times she insisted it wasn’t because of her that her hair was a mess, but rather because of Samuel.

“Go on,” Samuel said, not responding to her question. “Go apologize tae poor Finlay an’ tell him ye wish tae play with him again.”

“But I dinnae,” Alicia said. “I’d rather stay with ye.”

It wasn’t often that Samuel visited them, after all. Much to Alicia’s chagrin, he didn’t live in the castle like everyone else she knew, but only came whenever he had business with her father or simply wanted to see him. It always felt like years to Alicia, the time between his visits, even though her father assured her it was only ever months, sometimes mere weeks, and so she wanted to make the most out of them. Perhaps if they spent enough time together, Samuel would come to realize that she would be a great wife for him. It was true that she wasn’t the best at embroidery or painting or any of the feminine skills her governess was trying to teach her, but she climbed up trees faster than anyone she knew and she was very good and fast at reading.

Her skills seemed to impress everyone else. They were bound to impress Samuel, as well.

“I’ll come an’ get ye an’ yer sisters later,” Samuel promised as he stood. “An’ I’ll teach ye how tae ride a horse.”

“We already ken how tae ride,” Alicia said.

“Who taught ye?”

“Nerian.”

“Nerian doesnae ken his left foot from the right,” Samuel said, and Alicia frowned, thinking that surely a man Nerian’s age would know. Even Katherine knew her left foot from the right and she was younger than Alicia. “I’ll teach ye how tae ride well, alright?”

Alicia didn’t dare refuse. For all she knew, that was all the interaction she would get for the day, and in a few days, Samuel would be gone. If she could spend some time with him, even if during said time she had to share him with her sisters, then she wouldn’t let the opportunity slip through her fingers.

“Alright,” she said with a nod. “But I dinnae wish tae play with Finlay anymore today. I’ll go an’ see if Mrs. Callahan made any tarts.”

“Save one fer me,” Samuel said as he walked away, smiling at Alicia over his shoulder.

Alicia watched him leave before she dragged her gaze to the grass surrounding her, frowning when she saw something shiny there. With careful fingers, she picked it up only to see it was a pin—a small pin Samuel wore, with a simple, carved design.

For a moment, Alicia thought she should chase him and give it back, but then she shoved it discreetly in her pocket. Now, every time she would miss him until they were married, she could look at the pin and remember him.