Highland Hero Read Free Page B

more confident.
    A small, thin young woman named Mary, who was all brown hair and brown eyes, was selected to show her to a room and see to her needs. Lucais made only one attempt to extract Malcolm from her arms, accepted failure with an apparent calm, and sent her on her way. As she followed Mary into the keep and up the narrow stone steps that led to the bedchambers, Edina looked around at the rich tapestries and fine weaponry hanging on the thick stone walls. She followed Mary into a bedchamber, looked at the big, curtained bed, the fireplace, and the sheepskin rugs, and shivered. She had never seen such wealth, and she felt intimidated.
    After meekly asking for a bath, Edina sat down on the high soft bed and waited for Mary to fulfill that request. She took several deep breaths and fought to subdue her feelings of being small and unimportant. Edina knew she had just been overwhelmed by Dunmor, its wealth, and its air of contentment. This was the sort of place she had often dreamed of, and Edina decided that it was very unsettling to see one’s dreams come to life. The cynical part of her began to revive, and she also decided that such perfection was worthy of suspicion. Just because everyone and everything at Dunmor seemed perfect did not mean there could never be a snake in the garden. Edina was sure that Malcolm could have a very good life at Dunmor, but there could easily be someone behind one of the smiling faces she saw who wanted Malcolm’s life to be very short or who was willing to help the man who sought that. Until she was sure that Malcolm was completely safe at Dunmor she would stay with him.
     
    “Are ye sure ye should have let her take the bairn with her?” Andrew asked as he, Ian, and Lucais washed in Lucais’s bedchamber.
    “She willnae hurt the bairn,” Lucais said as he dried himself, surprised and a little alarmed at how confident he felt about that, for that confidence was not based upon any facts.
    “So, do ye trust her now? Ye dinnae think she has anything to do with Simon?” Andrew donned his braies and poured himself and the half-dressed Ian some wine from a decanter on a table next to the huge bed.
    “All I trust in is the fact that she willnae kill Malcolm, not whilst she is so completely surrounded by MacRaes.”
    “Are ye sure? I think ye are beguiled by a verra bonnie pair of green eyes.”
    Lucais wondered about ignoring that as he donned his braies and helped himself to some of the wine his cousins were drinking so heartily. As he sipped his drink and studied his cousins, who were sprawled so comfortably on his bed, he decided that the full truth would serve better. His strong attraction to Edina was a weakness. It might be a good idea to have someone watching him and Edina to ensure that he did not give in to that weakness and that Edina did not try to use it against him.
    “She does indeed have the most beautiful pair of green eyes I have ever looked into. I find most everything about the lass verra intriguing and alluring. My instincts tell me that she has naught to do with Simon, but I am not sure I should completely trust my instincts concerning her. Those instincts are also telling me that I want to lay her down in the heather and not rise from her slender arms for days.”
    “Oh,” Ian said in a small, hoarse voice, causing both of his older cousins to laugh.
    “Do ye think your loins could overwhelm your wits?” asked Andrew. “Do ye think that is why ye believe that she willnae hurt Malcolm whilst she has him alone with her?”
    “Nay. She could have struck the child down back in the forest ere we could have stopped her. She did not. That could mean that she is honestly trying to protect the child, or she knew we would immediately kill her and has no wish to die. That holds true here as weel. To survive she must get away from here or continue this game.”
    “And so we watch her closely to see if she does try to leave with the child or if someone tries to come to