Free MacLarens of Balmorie 05 - Once Upon A Time In Scotland by Kam McKellar

navigated the muddy track, knowing his uncle would be surprised by the unexpected visit, and even more surprised by the offer Liam brought with him.

    He wasn't sure who had come up with the name, The Great & Terrible, but he was guessing it had been Ross or Jamie when they were lads. The name had stuck and, over the years, it had eventually made its way to the village, so that anyone speaking or hearing the name knew exactly who the words referred to. It had become a title, and one that folks respected.

    There was only ten years between Liam and Malcolm. And there had been a small window of time—before Malcolm outgrew them—when they'd all played together as lads. Even back then, Mal had earned his name. He was bigger and tougher and more confident than all the young MacLaren cousins combined.

    Liam would have presented Ian's offer to Ross first and saved Malcolm for last, but Harper's appearance yesterday at the party had changed all that.

    It had been great to see her. Harper had been kind to him as a lad, always giving him the time of day, gracing him with her smile and southern charm. One look at her on the steps yesterday, at the woman she'd become, and he'd known right then and there that his big brother was in for a massive wake-up call. And, aye, she might be in Balmorie looking for her father's lost bourbon-making recipes, but Liam knew there was a wealth of unresolved issues between them, so he'd leave his brother alone to deal with Harper and hope to hell they worked things out.

    Liam took a drink and tried not to get his hopes too high. He wanted his brother back. Ross no longer seemed to find joy in anything, and Liam was bloody tired of trying to help and getting pushed away.

    Harper was going to shake up Ross' life in a way Liam had never been able to do.

    And that thought put him in a fine mood indeed as he navigated up the steep incline to Malcolm's crumbling pile of stones.

    Liam parked and stepped out of the truck. As expected, Malcolm's pack came rushing around the side of the house, all five hounds with tongues lolling. Like a herd of deer they loped toward him on long gray legs. Liam braced himself as they crashed into him, bumping him back into the truck and surrounding him, demanding his attention.

    “Aye, you crazy mutts. Cousin Liam is here.” He took turns rubbing and patting each massive Deerhound and then pushed through them to follow their path of origination around the stone wall, figuring if they were outside then the almighty Great & Terrible must be too.

    The hounds stayed close, bumping his legs and trying to get their bony heads under his hands.

    If he thought Ross was bad, Malcolm took the prize.

    He'd been living on the small estate adjoining Balmorie , alone, in a crumbling pile of stone with his unruly hounds for company. Malcolm had effectively retired from social life and was a prime example of what Liam didn't want his brother becoming. Rarely did Mal show his face. And the only times he graced the family with his presence in the last year had been for a funeral, Ian's wedding—just the service, not the reception—and he'd gone to see Piper, Devin and Kate's baby girl. His rare visits to the village were always brief and, if he could, he had things delivered rather than leave the house. The only other time the village and the folks around Balmorie saw him was when he graced their local games with his big, burly, victorious presence.

    Malcolm and the pile of stones that loomed over Liam as he walked had seen better days. His uncle was restoring a ruined abbey from the fifteenth century. Small by abbey standards, but large by any other. When it was finished, it'd be as large as a country manor. It was a huge undertaking, but Liam guessed it was Malcolm's way of working through issues concerning the death of his older brother. Whatever the reason, it was good to see the place being revived, but it did leave Liam wondering, at the end of the restoration, if Malcolm