The Devil Wears Kilts Read Free

he hadn’t seen any reason to go parading her about. Instead of commenting on Lachlan’s statement, he gestured toward the waterfall and rise ahead. “Up to the loch, then, while she cools her temper.”
    A full day of bringing in trout and perch, and especially of watching Munro slide backside first into Loch Shinaig, certainly improved Ranulf’s mood. He could only hope that a day spent with Mitchell, Rowena’s commiserating maid, would lighten his sister’s mood, as well. If she would only stop with her fanciful daydreams for a moment, she was bound to realize that she’d received some fine gifts from brothers and friends who doted on her, and that Friday would be the grandest party the Highlands had seen in decades.
    It was nearly sunset by the time the lot of them handed their strings of fish over to Cooper as the butler pulled open the front door. “Lady Rowena?” Ranulf asked, shedding his caped greatcoat and stomping mud off his boots.
    “Nary a sign of my lady,” Cooper returned, signaling for a footman to come and collect the makings of their supper. “Stewart Terney came to call on ye, m’laird, but said to never mind as ye’re to meet tomorrow down by the mill, and it could wait till then.”
    Ranulf nodded. “My thanks.”
    “Aye,” Bear put in. “If ye’d sent him up to the loch after us, that man’s dour face would’ve turned all the fish belly side up.”
    “Enough of that, Munro.” Ranulf favored his brother with a brief frown. “Ye’d be sour-faced too, with only Glengask sending ye grain. In his grandfather’s time he had business from the Campbells and the Gerdenses and the Wallaces, in addition to us.” Hopefully he would be able to increase the quantity of wheat he sent to the mill, at least, depending on the fee agreement he could make with Terney and on the summer weather.
    “Wait till Winnie catches the scent of baked trout,” Munro drawled, heading upstairs. “That’ll entice her.” He paused, glancing over his shoulder. “A game of darts, Lach?”
    Once the other two men had gone, Arran turned and angled his chin at the butler. With a quick nod Cooper and two accompanying footmen disappeared into the bowels of the great house. Ranulf leaned back against the foyer wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “What?”
    “Just that ye and I and Bear ’ave all been to England and returned undamaged.”
    “’Tis nae the same,” Ranulf countered. “I, at the least, wasnae wide-eyed and expecting a fairy tale. And as I recall, ye had something of a run-in with a war.”
    “I served, just as I was supposed to. Don’t evade the point, Ran.”
    “What point was that?”
    “Winnie’s got a bee in her bonnet, and telling her no isnae going to stop her wanting to go.”
    “I’ll nae have it, Arran. If the Sasannach had their way, there’d be naught but sheep in all the Highlands, and our entire clan tossed into the wind with all the rest. All the English want is money. And control. I’m not giving my only sister over to them. She’s Scottish, and she’ll stay in Scotland. She has a husband waiting for her, once Lachlan comes to realize she’s nae a bairn any longer.”
    “Unless Lach has a different lass in mind. But that’s beside the point, now. Rowena’s also half English,” Arran said quietly. “As are ye and Munro and I.”
    “Not the half that matters,” he retorted, then took a breath. “I’m nae having this argument with her, or with ye, or with anyone else. She stays at Glengask. She’s safer here.”
    Arran opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Ye might at least explain your reasoning to her, then.”
    He’d done so, until he was out of breath, voice, and patience. “If she doesnae know why by now, she’ll simply have to accept my decision for what it is. She stays, and she’ll have a grand party she can sulk through if she wishes to.”
    “Ah. Sounds grand, that.”
    Ranulf sent his brother a sideways glance that had Arran taking a