Highlander's Winter Tale Read Free Page B

poses no threat to our clan.”
    Her eyes widened with worry and she pressed her hand to his chest.
    He rested his hand over hers. “There is no reason for you to worry.” She went to gesture and he caught her hands in his. “Please do not even suggest that he may be the warrior of the tale Old Mary spun.”
    Dawn turned her head to look out over everyone gathered in the Great Hall, then glanced back at her husband and once again over the room.
    Cree followed where his wife had glanced to see heads huddled in conversation while stealing looks at the stranger. Tongues were busy wagging. “Now I will have to prove the stranger is no more than a man seeking shelter from the storm before gossiping tongues create another tale.”
    After Old Mary finished speaking with a few of the women who had hurried to speak with her, she walked over to the dais. “These old bones are tired. Will you walk with me to my room, Dawn?”
    Dawn smiled and nodded only too pleased to help her. Cree went to stand when she did, but she placed a firm hand on his shoulder and shook her head. She tilted her head toward the stranger, tapped her lips, then her husband’s and tapped her own chest, as her smile turned inviting.
    “I will keep my conversation with the stranger brief since you will be eagerly waiting in our bedchamber for me.”
    Dawn leaned down and gave him a loving kiss on the cheek. What no one saw was how her hand slipped under his plaid and stroked him teasingly, arousing him.
    “That hungry for me?”
    She casually placed the tip of her finger in her mouth and sucked on it innocently, nipping at the tip as she withdrew it and Cree turned hard.
    “ Enough !” Cree snapped. “Take Old Mary and settle her in, then wait for me in our bedchamber. I will not be long.”
    Sloan chuckled as she walked past him smiling and she gave him a nod good-night.
    Cree watched his wife take hold of Old Mary’s arm and leave the Great Hall, keeping a firm hold on the woman. Then he turned his attention to Alexander and saw how easily he seemed to engage those around him, even the men who at first ignored him. The whole table appeared to be livelier since the stranger had joined them. Smiles and frequent laughter circled the table and those who looked on did so with envy.
    Seeing enough, Cree stood, looked at Sloan and ordered, “Bring the stranger to my solar.”
    Sloan nodded and after downing the last of his ale, walked over to Alexander. “Cree wishes to speak with you.”
    “As you wish,” Alexander said with a pleasant smile and followed Sloan. As soon as he entered the solar he once again thanked Cree for his generosity. “Again, my lord, I am most grateful for your kindness.”
    “Kind, I am not,” Cree said not a hint of a smile breaking his scowl, “though I am curious.” He pointed to a chair not far from where he stood by the fireplace. “Sit and tell me where you are from and how you managed to make it here in this blinding snowstorm.”
    Alexander took the offered seat and had to tilt his head back slightly to look up at Cree. “I call no particular place home and I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon your home in this awful snowstorm that came on so suddenly.”
    “Family?”
    “They all left me too soon.”
    Cree heard no sorrow in his voice.
    “I hope one day to have a home again and a wife to love.”
    “You had a wife?” Cree asked.
    Alexander bobbed his head. “I did and I loved her dearly.”
    “What happened to her?”
    “She took ill.”
    With Alexander’s brief responses, Cree was learning nothing about the man and he got the distinct feeling it was on purpose. “Where were you going when you got caught in the storm?”
    “I go where the wind takes me and it seems to have delivered me to your door.”
    “You wish to remain here?” Cree asked, knowing that was not going to happen.
    “Until the snow—”
    “Stops,” Cree finished for him.
    “Could I impose on you at least until the roads are