Conall: The 93rd Highlanders, Book Two Read Free Page B

You bloody
bastard,” Conall said angrily. “Bitch in heat, indeed. I ought to
be laying my fists to you right now, brother or no. Watch your
language.” He glanced furtively at the hut and pushed Douglas
farther away. “What nonsense are you talking about? You know I’d
never take advantage.”
    “ Well, I’m
ordering you to stay away from her,” Douglas said, and Graeme
nearly groaned aloud. Didn’t he know ordering Conall around like
that was the same as waving a red flag in a bull’s face?
    “ Ordering me
to stay away from her?” Conall said in disbelief. “As though you
have the right?” He shook his head as he took off his forage cap
and passed it to Brodie. Then he shoved up his sleeves. “I’ll lay
you out for thinking the worst of Mrs. Scott. You’ve insulted her
with your speech and your manner. You’re an uncouth lout, Douglas
Fletcher.”
    “ That’s Major
Fletcher to you, Lieutenant,” Douglas said, whipping off his own
hat and handing it to Brodie, who then wisely stepped back. He
started to unbuckle his scabbard to remove his sword and Graeme
sighed inwardly. This wouldn’t be the first Fletcher brother brawl
he’d had to break up. Young Brodie was no help at all.
    “ Major
Fletcher,” Graeme barked. “Shall I have to report this
misconduct?”
    Douglas made a face and
growled. “You wouldn’t dare. Ach, you’re always taking up for him,
Munro. You don’t know the scamp like I do. He’ll make trouble for
her, and hasn’t she got enough?”
    “ He’ll do
nothing of the kind, and I hardly think scamp is an apt
description,” Graeme said calmly. “He’s a man, not a boy, or so he
tells me. He certainly acts like one. Held his own at Balaclava
now, didn’t he? If he’s old enough to fight and die for queen and
country, by God, he’s old enough to know the difference between
right and wrong, particularly in the case of Mrs. Scott, for whom
he has great affection.”
    “ And it’s
that affection that’s worrying me,” Douglas said. “A man can forget
right and wrong when affection clouds his judgment.” The look he
was giving Graeme was too knowing for Graeme’s peace of mind. Did
the eldest Fletcher suspect his feelings for young Conall? Or for
Mrs. Scott? Graeme forced himself to meet Douglas’s gaze
unflinchingly.
    “ That may
often be the case,” Graeme conceded, “but not in this instance.
Conall may be young, but he knows his own mind and he minds what
he’s about. You can’t order him about in matters such as this,
brother or no. He’s a man, and you have to let him make his own
decisions.”
    “ Ach, away ye
go,” Douglas said dismissively with a disgusted look. “The boy has
you fooled, Graeme, and you’ll rue the day you took up for him,
mark my words.”
    “ And fine
words they are for your brother,” Brodie chastised, handing their
hats back. “’Tis me you’re thinking of, Douglas, not Conall. Isn’t
he the considerate one of the two of us? The one who always made my
wrongs right, or so Mum said. He wouldn’t cross a sparrow, and Mrs.
Scott is certainly made of sterner stuff.”
    “ It’s true,”
Conall said. “I wouldn’t hurt her for the world. I swear it,
brother.”
    Douglas slapped his hat
against his leg as he regarded Conall from under lowered brows.
“Aye,” he said with a sigh. “Don’t I know it. Sorry I am, Connie,
for taking after you like that. It’s hard to forget you’re not a
lad anymore.” He reached out and shook Conall’s hand, and then to
Graeme’s surprise shook his as well.
    “ Thank you,
Graeme, for once again being the voice of reason.” He turned
abruptly and began to walk off. “Come see me later,” he called out
to Conall over his shoulder. “Brodie, with me.”
    Brodie skipped after his
brother, spinning around to run backward as he gave them a jaunty
salute. Then he raced to catch up with his older
brother.
    Graeme started to turn
away when Conall stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.