Page 6 of Highlander's Wild Lass
Anthony fixed his bonnet back onto his head with one hand. “It’s more me head than anythin’ else. Dinnae get me wrong, she’s got a good heart, takin’ care of her family like she does, and, of course, she isnae bad to look at.”
“Isnaebadto look at?” Sebastian repeated, running a hand through his clipped brown hair. “She is more than just ‘isnae bad to look at.’ Did ye nae see her at the Christmas celebrations last year?”
“I cannae remem—”
Sebastian forged on, a dreamy look in his eye. “She wore a bonnie dark blue gown with brown leather bodice. With her hair up, her pretty neck and breasts...she looked angelic.”
Anthony looked at him sideways, a wave of jealousy sweeping over him. “Do ye want to be the one to wed her, Bas?”
“Oh, nay! Definitely nae.” Sebastian laughed loudly, punching Anthony in the upper arm. “I’ve got me eye on someone far easier to handle. But I’ll be waitin’ right here when ye get yer big, thick head out of yer arse and admit that Celestia McLean is one of the bonniest women in this part of the Highlands.”
Anthony knew that Celestia was a beautiful woman, and he did remember her at the Christmas celebrations, but he would be mentioning none of that to Sebastian. It was that night when he first felt the rekindling of the flame he held for her when they were teenagers.
* * *
Breakfast had been porridge with goat’s milk and a little bit of honey that Auralia found in the back of the pantry this morning. The same taste day in and day out was beginning to become revolting, and a wave of fearsome anger was building in Celestia’s chest.
Celestia was clanking the pot and bowls around in the deep kitchen washstand, scrubbing out the last of that morning’s breakfast. Abusing the pots always made her feel slightly better, but there was still the fact that they were low on chicken feed, and it was likely they were going to need to sell the pigs in the next week. Most infuriating of all, her father refused to say what he and Chief Moore discussed yesterday.
The wealth her father had built over his last twenty-five years as a whisky merchant had dwindled quickly when he first got sick, now it was barely paying for the healer’s visits.
Anger and sadness filled her until they finally spilled over and tears soon blurred his vision.
She quickly brushed the few tears that had fallen away, not wanting her sister or brothers to see. The pot and bowls were left in the washstand to dry, and she made her way outside, wiping her hands on her stained apron.
“Cellie, the chickens are fed. And there was a great pile of eggs waitin’ for me,” Auralia said with a sweet smile as she came forward, motioning to the heap in her basket. Her blonde hair, the same shade of ash as Celestia’s was braided expertly, not a stray hair out of place. “What else do ye need doin’?”
“Would ye mind takin’ the clothes off the line?”
“Aye,” Auralia answered and swiftly headed towards the long clothesline that was connected between the far-right corner of the house and the horse stables.
“And check in on Da!” Celestia called back to Auralia.
Her task was the garden; it was small and easily maintained by the family. Preparing the garden for summer was one of her father’s favorite things to do, but now he could not bear to even look at it.
“Cellie!”
Her hands hadn’t even grasped the hoe when Chester rushed up to her.
“Cellie, we have guests,” he said when he reached her. “Ye must come to the house.”
“Who is it now?” she asked him, but he was already headed back to the house.
When she walked into the kitchen she was greeted yet again by the likes of Anthony Moore, dressed in boots less polished than yesterday and in dark tartan trews that showed the firm outline of his brawny thighs. He was accompanied by a middle-aged woman with graying hair and a face full of freckles, carrying a large case.
She wondered what his intentions were coming to the house twice in a row. She swallowed her temper and introduced herself properly to the woman standing beside him.
“This is Helena MacMoore, the healer of Castle Ferguson,” Anthony said, presenting the lady with a large, sweeping hand. “She is the finest healer north of Perth and Kinross. She’s here to tend to yer faither.”
Celestia thanked the woman and only slightly turned her head to instruct Auralia to show the healer to their father’s bedroom while keeping her eyes on Anthony. They kept each other’s gaze until the footsteps faded away.
“Boys,” she said to Chester and Hugo. “Go outside.”
Without question, the twins left her and Anthony alone in the kitchen.
“Now before ye—”
“What are ye doin’ here? Do ye see us as nothin’ but charity? We have the village healer, and he’s doin’ a find ol’ job of it.” Celestia said quietly, her tone deadly.
