To Wed A Highlander Read Free Page B

kiss against her palm. “Shhh. You are speaking nonsense. There will be no one else. I want only you, bean si.”
    Deirdre sighed at his pet name for her. Fairy woman. “For everything that you have given me, I want to give something to you in return.” Deirdre took his strong fingers into her own and squeezed them. “Colin, I want you to marry Makenna.”
    Instinctively, Colin retreated several inches. “Marry Makenna! Are you mad?”
    Her eyes danced. “I thought you said I was the sanest of the Dunstan daughters, and Makenna was the crazy one,” she chided him softly.
    He released her fingers and sat back, running his hand roughly through his hair. “She is! She’s wild and crazy and completely without control. She does nothing but argue and fight against everything I do. The woman…”
    “Makes you come alive. Listen to you. Even now you show more life at the mention of her name than anything I have ever done.”
    Colin was about to argue that he preferred her quiet nature when Deirdre began to cough. She was failing fast and the last thing he wanted to do was argue with her. He silently vowed to agree with whatever she said.
    Deirdre fought to suppress her coughing attack and said firmly, “A marriage to Makenna will protect the clan, and despite what you think, she will make you a good wife. And, Colin, when you find yourself falling in love with her, I want you to know that it is a good thing, a wonderful thing, to find love twice. And when you find yourself happy—happier than you ever were with me—know that I am looking down with joy. That it’s what I wanted. That above all other things, yours and Makenna’s happiness is my last wish.”
    All these months later, he could still see the look of peace on Deirdre’s face after he agreed to consider her request. Even today, he could not fathom why his lovely, gentle wife had thought he could be contented with such an irrepressible creature as her sister.
    Colin had buried Deirdre on a cool foggy October morning truly believing her to be his first and last wife. Never did he imagine that nine months later he would be forced into the one thing he vowed never to do again—marry. And in truth, his oath had very little to do with Makenna.
    He had been in Ayrshire fighting alongside Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Loudoun Hill when he met Deirdre, who was visiting her sister to celebrate the English’s defeat. He thought he had finally found a woman with whom he could enjoy a marriage similar to his parents’. Beautiful as she was, petite, and with a smile that could warm the coldest of nights, Colin believed he and Deirdre would eventually create the unique bond only soul mates shared. Instead, he had watched Deirdre become ill again and again, becoming weaker each time, never able to do anything about it.
    “Dunlop?” Colin asked abruptly. The sudden noise startled both his guard and horse.
    “Aye, Colin,” Dunlop responded after recovering.
    “Do you know the laird’s cousin? Is Alexander correct in his belief that his cousin would challenge me as laird if I remained unwed to a Dunstan?”
    Dunlop took a deep breath and exhaled. So that was where Colin’s mind was at…the possibilities of continuing his work here without having to marry. “I wish it were not so, but the man would undoubtedly oppose your being laird. Robert Dunstan swore an oath, as did Alexander, that only descendents of their blood would inherit Lochlen. He respects you and the McTiernays, but only if you were to marry and have children with a Dunstan would he support your claim.”
    Colin recognized the truth of his words. “Who would Robert name?”
    Dunlop played with the hair on his chin, the one place it grew in abundance. “I assume you mean who besides Cedric would Robert name as laird,” he stated, receiving affirmation by Colin’s nod. “Aye, that is the struggle. I doubt there is anyone else. And while Cedric is likeable, he is no leader and definitely no