Free A Highlander for Christmas by Debbie Macomber, Christina Skye Page B

meet our new artist. Ms. Kincade has just arrived from the States.”
    The butler bowed slightly. “I found your inlay work to be most extraordinary, Ms. Kincade. Do you use flux or solder for your joinings?”
    Maggie blinked. “Both. It’s more whim than technique, I suppose. If I went by the book, there would be no room for inspiration.”
    “Perfectly understandable.” As the butler arranged the tray, Maggie saw that in addition to his very correct dark suit he was wearing neon orange running shoes. “And inspiration is all, is it not?”
    “For me, it is. You’ve done metalwork before?” Somehow it seemed hard to imagine that proper English butler handling a blowtorch.
    “A bit here and there. I’m nowhere near your league, I’m afraid.” Marston arranged the linen napkins expertly, then straightened. “There is a caller for you, my lord. ” He hesitated for a moment. “The gentleman is in the study. I believe he was hoping for your swift return.”
    Nicholas looked at Kacey, who made a brushing gesture with her hand. “Go away, love. This will give me a chance to corner Ms. Kincade about that necklace she’s wearing. I’m under strict orders to buy something of Ms. Kincade’s for Kara MacKinnon. Otherwise she’ll never speak to me again.”
    “Not the Kara Fitzgerald MacKinnon of Dunraven Castle?” Maggie frowned. “The editor of New Bride magazine?”
    “One and the same,” Nicholas chuckled as he headed to the door. “She and my wife have become thick as thieves. But Kacey can tell you about that better than I.” He appeared slightly distracted.
    Kacey Draycott poured a cup of tea as the door closed behind her husband. When she handed the cup to Maggie, a carved pendant slid from beneath her shirt.
    Maggie drew a sharp breath. “That’s lovely work.”
    Kacey stroked the intricately carved oval of rare lavender jadeite. “It was a gift from Nicholas on our first wedding anniversary, and I seldom take it off. He told me it was very old.”
    Maggie studied the design of entwined dragons. “From the carving style, I’d say it’s about sixteenth century. And the stone is genuine jadeite, Burmese, no doubt. The best always is. You don’t see that shade of lavender very often today.”
    Kacey caressed the smooth stone. “Sometimes I could almost swear I feel the other women who’ve worn this piece, along with their joy and pain. It actually feels warm against my skin.”
    “Good jade always does. The ancient Chinese believed that jade protects better than any medicine. Poisoned food was even supposed to crack a jade dish, which made it a handy stone for suspicious emperors worried about a possible assassination. In fact, my father always said…” Maggie stopped, then drew a level breath. “My father was an expert in jades as well as faceted gems. He could have told you what hill village your piece was mined in and probably the name of the court carver who sculpted it. There wasn’t much he didn’t know about fine period stones, from Han jade to old mine diamonds.”
    “Daniel Kincade, your father,” Kacey said matter-of-factly.
    Maggie nodded, already steeling herself for the questions to come.
    “My mother had a pair of his earrings, pink diamonds on tiny silver chains. She never had more compliments than when she wore them.” Kacey hesitated. “I’m … sorry about what happened.”
    Maggie tried to forget the incessant ringing of the doorbell in the house above the Hudson. Day after day the restless reporters had gathered for a glimpse of her, like wolves to the kill. What better sport than to stalk the daughter of the jeweler who had tried to cheat two governments out of a fortune in uncut gems?
    “Just for the record, my father didn’t steal anything. They said he’d been given those stones to cut and polish, and instead he’d stolen them, but it just isn’t true. He couldn’t have done a thing like that. ”
    Kacey met her gaze directly. “Just for the record, we