Border Bride Read Free Page A

decided to cast out another line of cordiality. "Aye, I've three sisters."
    A dimple dented her cheek. "Oh, how wonderful for you. Are they here?"
    He almost laughed and revealed how peaceful his home had become without his gregarious siblings. He had no business speaking so casually to Alpin MacKay. He did have business with her, however. The very gratifying business of retribution.
    He tossed the towel aside. "Nay. The eldest married the earl of Hawkesford last fall. The other two are with Mama and Papa."
    Alpin threaded her arm through his and strolled across the yard, pulling him along. "I can't imagine why they'd want to leave this place."
    Looking down, he could see the mounds of her breasts and a familiar Roman coin at the end of the chain. His mind fogged with hazy images of a skinny ass and stick-thin legs shinnying up the drainpipe on the castle tower. Lord, she'd changed. "You always hated Kildalton Castle."
    "Oh, Malcolm. I was such an angry child." Her guileless expression softened his heart. Her lush assets had an opposite and unwelcome effect. "I had nothing, no one, back then. It seems so safe and protected here now, as if your Scottish ancestors are standing guard over everything and everyone."
    "Well, aye," he found himself saying. "Kildalton Castle has a way of capturing your soul."
    "See?" She hugged his arm. "I knew we were still friends, and I'll wager the gifts I brought for you and Saladin that you're a romantic at heart."
    Malcolm's wariness returned. He could think of no good reason for her to befriend him, let alone his confidant, Saladin. "How did you know Saladin lived at Kildalton?"
    "The two of you are the talk of Whitley Bay. Is Salvador here?"
    She spoke of Saladin's twin brother. "Nay, he's with my stepmother."
    Her lips pursed with regret. "I'll miss seeing him again."
    She'd ever been a solitary child. Before his death her guardian in Barbados had lamented in his letters to Malcolm that he feared she'd never find a kindred spirit. Now she was destitute. What farce did she play? "You've had quite a change of heart," he said.
    "Of course I have." Her hand touched his. "I'm a woman now."
    He didn't need his father's fake spectacles to see how gloriously maturity had embraced her. "You used to call me a sniveling cur."
    "You used to call me 'runt.'" She looked at his arms, his chest, his neck. An artless feminine smile again produced the dimple. "Don't expect me to call you names now. You're a formidable presence, Malcolm Kerr."
    If he didn't know better he'd think she was flirting. The prospect both baffled and inspired him. He stared at the ancient coin. "You're an interesting surprise, Alpin MacKay."
    "Oh! Do you truly think so?" She squeezed his hand and turned her attention to the row of new barracks against the castle wall. "Wasn't the butcher's shop there?"
    He felt as if she was coaxing him out on a branch and planning to hack away at the limb. With her, he knew the feeling well. Memory stirred his ire. "Aye. The butcher used to be there. You tossed his knives into the blacksmith's forge and set fire to his chopping block."
    "You remember?" She shook her head and set the curls at her temples to swaying. "I was so selfish."
    "Except to strays and injured beasts."
    A wistful smile enhanced her youthful appearance. "I couldn't bear to see any animal hurt. What ever happened to Hattie?"
    "Your three-legged rabbit?" Years ago in an attempt to win the favor of Malcolm's father, Alpin's uncle had forced her to give up her pet to Malcolm. Alpin had been so forlorn. An hour later she had rallied, and in a wickedly premeditated move she had wrecked Malcolm's future. Even now the wound smarted. "Hattie turned out to be an exceptional breeder." The irony of the subject made him grin. "Sweeper's Heath is overrun with brown rabbits."
    "I'm so glad you cared for her. Thank you. Will you take me to Sweeper's Heath? I'd love to see Hattie's offspring."
    Like a blow from a well-trained opponent, reality