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two men. He was going to propose to Fiona McPherson. When asked why he’d do such a thing, when every man and woman within three hundred miles knew the woman was a bit off, well, he couldn’t very well tell the truth. So he lied and told them the water on McPherson land was magic. The mountain, Sidh Chailleann was rumored to be the place where fairies lived and ghosts roamed. ’Twas why everyone stayed the bloody hell away from the spot the McPhersons had claimed centuries ago. Not many wanted to battle fairies for a wee bit of land.
    ’Twas that belief in fairies, ghosts, and brownies, that added to the believability of lie he had told. Which was the how and the why of the current situation at hand. He’d told a lie in order to protect the truth.
    Before him were the McGregor and the McKenzie with tongues wagging like banners in the wind. Mayhap he should look for new friends.
    “I just couldna ask fer her hand meself, ye ken, bein’ as I’m already happily married,” the McGregor explained as he told them again for the fifth time, how Fiona McPherson had denied him. “And I couldna offer me first son to her, either, so I offered me third, and the wench said nay.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I just canna understand it.”
    “Aye,” Leradont McKenzie agreed. “’Tis odd, don’ ye think? Mayhap she prefers the company of women?”
    The McKenzie and the McGregor found the thought quite amusing and laughed for some time over it.
    “I wonder,” the McGregor said through bouts of laughter, “if magic water be worth havin’ Fiona McPherson as a wife? She’d probably no’ care if ye took a leman as long as she had one fer her own!” Tears fell from his eyes as he slapped his hand on his thigh.
    I must really try to find new friends , he mused. He would replace the McGregor first for he was the reason why things had gotten out of control.
    In addition to being a horrible gossip, the McGregor was also a greedy son of a whore. After he learned of the magic water his greed got the better of him and he went to ask Fiona McPherson for her hand. Thankfully, the woman turned him down. So he got in line behind the rest of the greedy bastards who were all vying for the tetched woman’s hand.
    And thus far, she had turned all four of them away.
    In truth, he had no desire to marry the woman. What he truly wanted was access to her land. More specifically — the caves and tunnels that ran under her land.
    Aside from murder, he could not think of another way to gain access. If one of his comrades were to marry her, why, they’d think nothing of him visiting or wanting to see for himself if fairies did in fact exist. Then he’d be able to explore that bloody mountain without restriction. And if what he’d been told was true, it would not be long before he was the richest man in all of Scotia, nay, in all the world! He’d have enough coin, enough gold to buy the bloody throne of Scotland if he chose.
    If it came down to it, he’d kill if he had to, in order to gain the access he needed.

Chapter Three
    F iona masked her fury well as she held the swatch of McDunnah plaid and a McDunnah dagger in her hand.
    “How many?” she asked, directing her question to Collin. She sat at the long table in her private room. Surrounding her were her three brothers, Collin, Brodie and William.
    “Seventeen,” Collin answered. Fiona watched as a tic developed in his jaw. ’Twas rare for Collin to show any signs of anger, but today, he was quite beside himself with it.
    Seventeen sheep stolen in the dead of night.
    Fiona looked down at the evidence before her. The image of a growling wolf with the sun blazing behind it was intricately carved into the handle of the dagger. There was no mistaking the emblem as the McDunnah’s.
    Anger and confusion built. Of all the people she might have listed as possible suspects in the raid that took place late last night, Caelen McDunnah’s name would never have made the list. She’d met