Highland Grace Read Free

warrior who was given a kingdom
after he slew the horrible dragon that had been rampaging the
countryside.”
    Alleck hurriedly lay back down.
    Jesslyn began her tale in low, reverent
tones. “Many years ago, not far from this very keep, there once
lived a great and powerful warrior....”
    * * *
    “I believe Callum to be the father, tho’
Jesslyn has stubbornly refused to verify my suspicion,” Daniel said
to both his grandmother and his wife late that evening. They’d
agreed to meet in the solar after Jesslyn and Alleck had gone to
their chambers for the night. “I cannot blame her for not wanting
to name him, since, if it were revealed, it might cause Callum
problems with his new bride, not to mention his in-laws.”
    “Aye, I suppose I can see the wisdom in
keeping our kinship to the babe a secret,” Lady Maclean said to
Daniel. “But only for a while. Callum deserves to know of his
bairn, and if we wait, say, a year after the babe’s birth, that
should be enough time to lessen the blow to his relationship with
his wife and her family.
    “And if the babe is not Callum’s?” Maryn
asked.
    Daniel scrubbed his fingers over his stubbled
chin and said, “I’ve thought about this for hours now, and can
think of no other with whom she’d have had the opportunity to
conceive a babe.” He shook his head and shrugged. “Nay, it must be my cousin who did the deed.” Struck by a new
thought, he narrowed his eyes at his very pregnant, bronze-haired
wife. “Do you suspect someone else?”
    “Well, there did seem to be some sort of
connection between her and Bao, if you remember.”
    “Bao! They’d only met two days before we left
to negotiate a settlement between the MacGregors and the Gordons,
and then he left a fortnight after we returned. Are you suggesting
that Jesslyn would have had carnal knowledge of a man she barely
knew?” Daniel vehemently shook his head. “Nay, the father is not Bao.”
    “I must agree with Daniel, Maryn. If only
because of the lack of opportunity.” Lady Maclean sighed. “Callum
is the father, I doubt it not.”
    “I admit, the possibility does seem awfully
remote,” Maryn said, “but I keep remembering how avidly they gazed
upon each other as Jesslyn handed those tarts up to Bao, just
before he rode out of the courtyard that day. There was something
between them.”
    “Aye, there may have been an attraction
brewing, but that still doesn’t lead me to believe Jesslyn would
have lain with the man after barely meeting him.”
    Maryn sighed. “Aye, I suppose you’re right.
Tho’ I cannot help wishing that it were Bao; ‘twould make
things so much easier. After all, he is free to wed.”
    “Except, he’s now miles away in Perth,”
Daniel reminded her.
    Lady Maclean straightened on her stool and
placed her hands over her knees. “So, ‘tis settled then? We agree
that Callum fathered the bairn and that we must speak to Jesslyn
about revealing such on the babe’s first birthday?”
    “Aye,” Daniel and Maryn said at the same
time.
    “We must tell Branwenn before you speak to
the elders. ‘Twould not do for her to find out afterward,” Maryn
said to her husband. “Her feelings would surely be crushed—you know
how sensitive the lass is.”
    “Aye. I should have spoken to her before
supper this eve, but there simply wasn’t enough time to do so. I
know she was highly curious as to the reason we asked Jesslyn and
Alleck to move to the keep, but,”—Daniel turned his gaze to his
grandmother— “your training has gone well, because she kept her own
counsel and did not question the decision publicly.”
    Lady Maclean nodded. “She’s a good lass. And
‘twas not my training, but her brother, Bao’s. She’s amazingly
well-mannered, considering the upbringing she’s had.”
    “I’ve been surprised, as well,” Maryn said.
“Bao had to have been gone quite a bit on the king’s campaigns.
Yet, Branwenn and he are so close. I hope ‘twill not be too many
more