Highland Master Read Free Page B

with them.
    She looked over the table set for her guests and smiled. Banuilt may have faltered, so much of what Boyd had planned to do left unfinished, but she could still present guests with a fine feast. She refused to think of the large hole it had to have left in the larder. It had been years since any guests had come to Banuilt, far too long since she had heard any news of what was happening outside the borders of her lands, except that brought by the occasional trader or drover. They could make up this loss and, if Arianna and her men planned to stay for any length of time, she would face the problem of an empty larder when it arose. If nothing else, the men could do some hunting to help feed themselves.
    Turning toward the door of the great hall, she smiled a welcome when the men walked in. She could hear Arianna talking to the maid as she, too, came to join them. Tonight was to find out Arianna’s reason for visiting, and to enjoy a fine meal. Nothing else, she told herself firmly, pushing aside every concern that never let her mind rest. The first thing she wanted to know, she decided as they all took their seats, was why Arianna, a woman carrying a child, had decided that she just had to visit her long unseen cousin-by-marriage, several times removed, now.

Chapter Two
    “My husband was married!”
    Triona blinked and carefully ate a piece of bread as she studied her cousin. That was not quite what she had expected when she asked why her cousin had come to visit. Nor was the high emotion behind the statement. She was happy to hear that Arianna was actually married, but the fear of an angry husband banging at her gates returned.
    The Arianna she recalled from her childhood had always been sweet, calm, obedient, and very learned in all the ways of a well-mannered lady, at least when presented to their elders. When lecturing Triona on how to behave, Triona’s mother had often pointed to Arianna as the perfect example of a lady. Once out of sight of the adults, however, Arianna had revealed a bit more love of fun, a hint of spirit, but even then she had still been far more of a lady than Triona had been or had ever hoped to be. It occasionally still surprised Triona that the very rigid, proper, and pious Boyd had chosen her for his wife. Arianna, on the other hand, had always appeared to be the perfect choice for a gentleman’s wife.
    There was little sign of that sweet, even-tempered, genteel lady now, however. Arianna was scowling at the food on her plate even as she stabbed at it and shoved it into her mouth. During the time since they had seen each other last, Arianna had grasped a firm hold on all of that spirit she had tried so hard to bury beneath courtly manners.
    “Arianna, if he was already married, then how could he have married you?” Triona asked. “Are ye telling me that ye are nay truly married to the mon?” It was difficult to believe that Arianna’s Murray kin would accept such an insult, or allow the man who delivered it to live for long.
    “Oh, nay, Brian and I are truly married. But my husband, the lying swine, neglected to tell me that he had been married before, that I am his second wife.”
    “Why does that matter? Many men have more than one wife in their lifetimes. Mine was wed before me. Sad to say, many a mon loses his wife in childbed, if naught else. So do women often have more than one husband in a lifetime. Ye were married before him, were ye nay?”
    “Aye, I was, but at least I told him about that, and at least I recall my first marriage. All too weel for my liking,” Arianna muttered.
    There was such heavy meaning behind those muttered words that Triona had to fight the urge to ask her cousin just what she meant by them, and remain fixed upon the matter at hand. “Then why does it matter if Sir Brian was wed once ere he married ye?”
    “Because he didnae tell me about it. Nary a word. I had to hear about his first wife from someone else.”
    Triona opened her mouth to