Betrayed Read Free

wake the dead. She supposed that was what had alerted the laird of Loch Brae to watch his cattle more closely. What on earth was she
to
do?
    “Well, Mistress Hay? Will ye buy my cattle, or will I drive them back down the ben to their own meadow?” Angus Gordon demanded.
    A proposal, outrageous but possibly workable, entered Fiona's mind at that moment. He could not accept, but he would certainly be shamed by it and leave her in peace. “I have only one thing of value that I might give ye in exchange for the cattle, my lord,” she told him, refusing to admit even now that they were his. “It is my most precious possession. Will ye have it?”
    “Take it
” James hissed at his elder sibling. “Honor will be satisfied, and none will call ye weak, Angus.”
    “I would know what this valuable property is first, Jamie-boy,” the laird told his brother. He looked againat Fiona. “What is this most precious possession that ye would offer me in exchange for my cattle, Mistress Hay? A dozen head of cattle don't come cheap, lass.”
    “Eight, my lord,” Fiona replied softly.
    “Twelve, including the ones you stole from me last autumn,” he answered her as softly, his eyes meeting hers.
    “Twenty head total. I'll need eight more head to dower my two youngest sisters, but they're only seven and ten years of age now, so I would not want them until Jean and Morag are old enough to wed. I canna feed them.”
    She was the most outrageous lass he had ever encountered, Angus Gordon thought again, amused in spite of himself. She audaciously stole his cattle, yet when caught, attempted to bargain with him for more of them. He was not as hard-hearted as Jamie thought, but if he allowed the girl to evade the consequences for her thievery, he'd have no end of trouble. He managed to keep the look on his handsome face severe, but it was not easy. His brother was right. Fiona Hay was a very clever wench. However, he was no fool. “Twenty head of cattle is a costly amount, Mistress Hay.
Ye
must be certain that what ye offer me in exchange for them has an equal or even greater value. Just what do ye propose to give me in exchange for my beasties?”
    “My maidenhead,” Fiona said quietly, her gaze never leaving his. She stood tall and proud and defiant.
    ‘Jesu!”
    The laird's amazement was evidenced only in a slight widening of his dark green eyes. It was the most brazen proposal he had ever heard. Then he realized that the girl did not expect him to accept her offer. He was obviously supposed to be so taken aback by her boldness that he would demur and depart, leaving herwith his cattle. He smiled wolfishly at her. “I accept yer offer, Mistress Hay.
Yer maidenhead in exchange far twenty head of my cattle.
It seems a fair bargain, although I think ye may have gotten the better of me.”
    He had accepted her!
Fiona grew very pale with shock. What kind of a man was he that he had accepted her? What kind of a fool had she been to have even made such an offer? The laird of Loch Brae spit into his palm and held it out to her. Her knees were suddenly threatening to give out on her. The Hays of the Ben might be poor, but they were honorable, or so her mam had always said, and Fiona had no choice now, lest she bring disgrace upon her family name. Spitting into her own palm, she reached out and shook his hand. “Done, my lord!” she told him, never once looking away, although her stomach was roiling with nervousness.
    “Oh, no, Fi! Ye canna do it!”
two young voices cried in unison.
    The two girls pushed through the Gordon clansmen to where their elder sibling stood. They were auburn haired, amber eyed, and identical in features. Their distress was more than evident.
    “The bargain is now struck, sisters,” Fiona said.
    “But if ye give him yer maidenhead, who will have ye to wife one day?” asked Elsbeth, tears in her bright eyes.
    “If I don't give him my maidenhead, who will have
ye
to wife, Elsbeth? Or Margery either?” Fiona