Highland Brides 03 - On Bended Knee Read Free Page A

course.” Seana nodded sympathetically. “You should know then…” She bent close to the older woman. “Well, you see,” she began, placing a hand to her mouth, in a gesture of utmost secrecy.
    The two girls ceased fussing with the shoe, going entirely still as they listened to Seana, obviously not wanting to miss a word.
    “I hear Colin Mac Brodie is wastin’ away,” Seana said in a loud whisper her attentive audience was certain to hear. And she gave a knowing nod.
    “Och!” the older woman exclaimed. “Whatever do ye mean?”
    “Well,” Seana continued, just a little softer now, making the girls work a little harder for their gossip. The two girls leaned closer. “I cannot know it for certain myself, you see… but I do know someone who does… they say his manhood is shriveling away. Soon he willna even be able to conceive bairns!”
    A look of horror entered the older woman’s eyes. “Och, shriveling away, ye say!”
    A collective gasp came from the two girls.
    Seana nodded soberly. “Aye,” she said. “’Tis true—and it was told to me by someone who saw it with her own two eyes, so ye can see why I canna say who. But, aye, she said ’tis shriveled away… some cok wastin’ disease, she believes!”
    The older woman crossed herself. “A penance,” she said ominously. “For all his wicked ways!”
    Seana’s brows lifted. “Mayhap,” she agreed and nodded portently.
    “Just like his da!”
    All of the Brodie men, except Leith, had in some way been tainted by their blood, it seemed. Their sires and grandsires had been rogues, all of them. Their women had been beautiful and sweet and yet their men’s eyes had roved. And Colin… Colin was most certainly just like his da!
    All at once, the older woman, the two girls and Seana, peered in Colin’s direction.
    He stood there completely oblivious to their whispers, and Seana, once again, nearly burst out with laughter as the two girls suddenly put their heads together, whispered something fervent between them, and darted away into the crowd to spread their newly gleaned gossip.
    “May God be with the lad!” the older woman said gravely and crossed herself once more.
    “Aye,” Seana agreed, nodding.
    May God be with him because he was going to need all the help he could get if Seana ever had her way with him!
    Rotten misbegotten cur!
    Feeling quite emboldened suddenly, she slipped away from the older woman and made her way toward Colin Brodie.
    It wasn’t as though she were asking for charity. Nay, she was willing to give him in return her most valuable possession—something all the clans had long coveted and he’d be a bloody fool if he refused to help her.

Chapter 2

     
    A wedding wasn’t precisely Colin’s idea of something to celebrate.
    He damned well hoped his sister understood what she had gotten herself into. For some reason he’d never imagined Meghan wedding all, but to see her bound to some devil Sassenach was enough to rot his bloody gut— way worse than this rotten uisge beatha Leith had purchased. He tossed out the contents of his tankard, grimacing over the burn in his gut.
    Where the hell was Broc?
    He’d left to get them both some good ale. Neither of them had been able to stomach the uisge beatha , but Broc had yet to return and Colin needed something to wash away this bitter taste from his mouth.
    It wasn’t easy to stand by and watch Meghan give herself to the enemy. It wasn’t easy to stand back and swallow his pride. In fact, he’d prefer to be carving the Sassenach’s heart out, but would content himself with a simple tankard of decent ale. Damn, but his bloody cup had long been empty and his best friend was nowhere to be found.
    He smiled at a young lass who passed him by. Deep blue eyes and pale golden hair, not unlike his own, with a smile that warmed his loins.
    Women were his greatest downfall.
    Broc, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content to keep his own company. Colin had never known a man so at