Page 24 of The Groom Wore Plaid
She’d be much happier if that damned dream had come back to her last night.
“There you are!”
Maggie’s head came up, smacking hard into the open window.
Owen’s sister, Cat, gasped. “I’m so sorry. Are you well?”
Maggie nodded, closing the book she’d only been daydreaming over. She wanted to rub her head, but knew that would only make Cat feel worse.
Cat walked over and stared at the cover. “Micrographia? What is that even about?”
“I don’t know,” Maggie said heavily. “We didn’t have many books growing up, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity . . .”To avoid Owen.
“I won’t keep you if you’re busy,” Cat said, “but I thought you might be interested in the competition going on right now.”
“Competition?”
“The men are swimming the loch. Ye didn’t know?”
“They’re racing?”
“Yes. It’s all in fun, of course, but I imagine the winner will think it more than that. And Owen is planning to lead the pack. Come enjoy the day with me.”
So Owen had followed through on his plan. Maggie knew she should refuse, should play the disinterested bride, but Cat was drawing her by the arm, leading her outside to the stables.
“Let’s ride,” Cat said, “in case the rain starts again.”
At the stables, two horses were already saddled, and a clansman straightened up when he saw them, bowing deeply.
Cat laughed and nudged his shoulder with her own. “Ivor here often accompanied me on journeys. He’s trustworthy.”
The skinny young man went scarlet, and then nodded at Maggie without exactly meeting her eyes. Maggie hoped it was just shyness, rather than another Duff who despised McCallums. She hated feeling so suspicious all the time. She couldn’t trust Owen’s motives—how could she trust anyone else’s?
The ride to the narrows of Loch Ard was peaceful, and when they reached open water, they could see the view of the bare craggy summit of Ben Lomond, the tallest mountain in the southern Highlands, rising high in the distance. It was a distant backdrop to her own hills, and it made her feel achingly closer to home.
Many villagers and clansmen were gathered on the rocky shore of the loch, and Cat giggled at the men throwing off their coats, plaids, stockings, and boots.They stood wearing naught but their shirts, reaching to their hairy knees, good-naturedly boasting of their prowess to each other.
Maggie remembered what it was like to laugh aloud at such a sight, to cheer on the men, and when she was younger, she sometimes joined the race herself. It had been a long time since she let herself wholeheartedly enjoy something. Suppressing one part of herself had made her cautious of anything that caused her to lose control.
Maggie saw Owen almost at once, one of the taller clansmen, set apart as if the rest of his gentlemen didn’t want to crowd him. He didn’t see Maggie and Cat, and Maggie was able to study him from afar. He joined the men as if he truly believed himself one of them, regardless of the aristocratic title that should have set him apart. His confidence was far too attractive.
All the men lunged awkwardly into the water, walking like teetering giants until they got past the rocky shore. And then they started swimming, and she could see their war chief, Harold, standing on the shore as if checking for fairness. Arms folded across his barrel chest, he didn’t seem happy or disturbed or—anything, by the youthful race.
When the cheering faded a bit since the splashing men could no longer hear it, Cat turned to eye Maggie. “I do believe you’ve set me thinking about what it’s like being a McCallum in a Duff household.”
Maggie blinked at her. “Why?”
“I’ve seen how difficult it’s been for you in only a few days, but you’ve got Owen to look out for you.”
Maggie didn’t say anything to that.
“But my cousin Riona, on the other hand . . .” Cat trailed off, frown lines etched across her forehead.
“She has Hugh,” Maggie pointed out, defensive on her brother’s behalf. “I’ve never seen a man so in love as he is.” And probably never would again.
When Maggie was near the two of them, she could feel their devotion and tenderness. Even when their eyes met, there was a connection so deep, no one else mattered to them.
Cat gave a wistful smile. “Well, I’m thinking it’s good to hear how much your brother loves Riona, of course, and I did enjoy their wedding, but . . . what now? How is she? A letter will find me soon, I hope, but . . . I’d feel better seeing things for myself. I think I’ll go visit for a week or two. I’d like to be part of the peace between our clans. I can help your people see that Duffs are honorable, too.”
