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Glancing from her sketchbook to William and Emily, Kit said, “I did these for you as a reminder of our time together and everyone cooperated.”

“I knew you were making sketches,” replied Emily, “but I had no idea they were for us. How thoughtful!” She looked up at her husband. “Won’t these make wonderful keepsakes?”

“Aye, they will, Leannan. We thank you, Kit.”

Kit directed her attention to her sketches, opening the first of the two large books. “I want to show you the couples first, beginning with the one of Martin and me.”

Martin laughed when he saw it. The picture showed Kit sketching and Martin sitting in a chair watching her, affection in his eyes. “You have the right of it, sweetheart. And I expect our hosts appreciate all those hours I gazed with longing at my beautiful wife with other things in mind.”

Kit regarded her husband with mild disapproval. “And didn’t I make up for it?”

“You did.”

Flipping the page, Kit said, “Here are Mary and Hugh as we might all think of them.”

Muriel inclined her head to see the drawing of Hugh and Mary riding two of William’s fine horses.

“Hasn’t she captured us well, Hugh?” asked Mary.

“Indeed, she has.”

“The next one,” Kit went on, “is of Nick and Tara, together on the Albatross. It’s how I remember them as we sailed from London to Arbroath.”

“A good likeness,” remarked Muriel. “The shipmaster and his lady aboard a ship.” Kit had captured the essence of Nick’s love of the sea and his wife. “A great talent.”

Nick and Tara studied the sketch, nodding their approval.

Turning the page, Kit revealed a sketch of Aileen, Nash staring at her with adoring eyes.

“You sketched us together?” asked Ailie. “We have been so busy since the wedding, when did you find the time?”

“I didn’t do this one after the wedding, but long before. It was the day we went deer stalking. I had begun one of Nash in the library one morning and finished it the night we all talked about the avalanche, adding you, Ailie. Not until that day did I know how things might turn out between you.”

Nash, whose arm was around his bride, kissed her. “Told you.”

Robbie raised a brow. It occurred to Muriel that he must not know of his twin’s valiant act saving Ailie from the avalanche.

“And this one is of Robbie,” said Kit, “though he’s in others as well.” Muriel thought the sketch a good likeness of him before he’d been shot. Now he had a scar that would forever distinguish him from his twin brother. In the bottom corners were drawings of an otter and a lion as they had discussed that afternoon in the parlor.

Robbie gave Kit a surprised look. “You added the animals you envisioned when you were drawing my face?”

“Of course. Those are the two sides of you,” said Kit. “The playful rogue and the dangerous spy, though at the time, I did not know of your work for the Crown.”

Muriel recognized her own image in the next drawing. It depicted that day in the library when she had puzzled over her cards while fiddling with her pearls. The sketch even captured the feather rising from her head into the air. “Our card game, I presume.”

Emily laughed. “Yes, I believe that was the moment when I fetched you the Madeira, giving you time to consider your next move.”

Muriel lifted her chin. She would not apologize for her small deception. “I did not even win that round. As I recall, that one went to Robbie.”

Kit turned another page. “The last one of the couples is of William and Emily under the kissing bough.”

“Oh my,” said Emily, bringing her hand over her heart. “You caught us kissing.”

William put his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Just as I would want to remember us this holiday. The first kissing bough at our home in Arbroath being christened. Something to tell the bairn about.”

“This next one,” explained Kit, turning the page, “is twice as large as the others, taking up two pages. It’s my sketch of our time when you skated on the frozen pond. You’re all in it, save Muriel and myself. We were sitting on the bench. And there are smaller drawings of some whose actions caught my eye.”

“That would be me taking a fall,” put in Robbie. “Nash is the one gliding around the ice with Ailie.”