Highlander's Return: The Sinclair Brothers Trilogy, Bonus Novella (Book 2.5) Read Free

puppy-love for
Burke. Or perhaps he didn’t fully grasp Chisolm’s character until he was living
under the same roof with the man. Either way, it was too late. The match had
been made, and Meredith had been forced to live with the consequences.
    Perhaps she was just Ansel Sutherland’s sister. Her
brother had already begun to be groomed for the Lairdship before their father
had died, but the training picked up even more afterward. Not long after their
father’s passing, Ansel had been called to Dunrobin, the Sutherland clan castle
a few dozen miles from Brora Tower for further preparations alongside Kenneth
Sutherland.
    She only saw him a few times a year despite the
tower house’s proximity to Dunrobin. Ansel was busy, though. He helped the clan
and its lands run smoothly by aiding first their uncle and then their cousin
Kenneth in any way he could. And with the increased activity by the English
army in Scotland, along with Robert the Bruce’s rebellion, it seemed like Ansel
was constantly traveling to either battles or negotiations.
    A chirp overhead brought Meredith’s head snapping
up. She caught sight of a flash of brown and red as a little bird darted above
her. It must be a male linnet, she thought as her eyes followed the swoops and
darts of the bird. He had on his summer plumage, which was mostly brown but
with red at the head and chest.
    The little bird trilled again, and Meredith heard a
response from somewhere off to the west. The linnet swooped easily toward the
sound, and was soon lost to her sight. She couldn’t help but smile at the
bird’s easy movement. It stirred a long-forgotten memory in her, almost like a
hazy dream.
    She used to love animals. She would tromp out to the
woods a few miles away from Brora Tower and watch birds or squirrels for hours
at a time. Once, she had slipped into her father’s study and used some of his
expensive parchment to sketch dozens of animals from memory. She had received a
severe swatting for doing so, but it hadn’t dampened her appetite to study
animals.
    Burke Sinclair’s face suddenly swam forth from the depths
of her memory. She was so startled at the unbidden image of the handsome young
man from her past that she gasped out loud. What had called the image of his
face from the recesses of her mind?
    The fox. She smiled at the memory of herself as a
girl—nay, a young woman—chasing after a beautiful red fox on a cold winter’s
evening. That was the night she first met Burke.
    The memory was bittersweet. Over the years, she had
become skilled at pushing away thoughts of Burke. At first, she had clung to
the image of his face, his whispered words and soft kisses. But as time passed,
she realized that although thoughts of him warmed her inside, they only made
her real life seem colder, highlighting her present pain and unhappiness.
    Now, though, she leaned into the memories. She let
them wash over her like the sunlight that warmed her face as she stood on the
roof of the tower.
    Burke’s sandy hair, which he kept having to push
back from his face whenever he leaned toward her.
    His blue eyes, which were somehow darker and deeper
than the North Sea, yet which danced when he smiled.
    His firm body pressed against hers.
    A slight breeze from the east caressed her heated
skin and ruffled her hair and dress. Even the simple act of allowing herself to
remember made her feel more alive than she had in years. Perhaps this was who
she truly was—not a wife or a daughter or a sister, but a woman, feeling the
sunshine on her hair and the wind on her skin, watching the birds flit through
the perfect summer sky and thinking of love.
    It was a start, anyway. Chisolm Sutherland was dead.
And Meredith Sutherland was coming back to life.

Chapter 3
     
     
    By the time Burke finally dismounted and unrolled an
extra length of plaid to sleep on, the summer sun had set and the bluish light
of night was setting in.
    He was in Sutherland territory now. Both he and
Laoch were