Page 166 of The Highlander's Christmas Bride

“Is the fact that you’re the beloved niece of wealthy Lord Riddick?”

“I know I sound utterly hen-hearted,” she said with a sigh.

“If that’s all Logan Kendrick wanted from you, I would throttle him. But you, my dear, are the Flower of Clan Graham. Of course Logan wants you. He’d be a fool not to.”

“Alasdair, you know how much I loathe that name.”

He grinned. “It fits. You’re the prettiest, nicest, smartest girl in all of Scotland. Logan knows that, as does any man with a brain in his head.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Prettier than Eden?”

“She’s English. It doesn’t count.”

Donella laughed. “All right, I’ll admit I’m not entirely hopeless, but . . .”

“But you’re afraid Logan doesn’t want you simply for yourself.”

“Yes.”

“If you’d seen him these last few days, you’d realize such is not the case. The man has been roaring about like a deranged fool. I thought he was going to toss me out a window yesterday when I told him—again—that you were unavailable.”

She rather liked the sound of that but adopted a regretful expression. “How unfortunate.”

He snorted. “You can’t fool me, lass. Trust me, Logan Kendrick is mad for you. And if you don’t come out and let me announce your betrothal, he’ll likely tear Breadie Manor apart with his bare hands.”

“We certainly cannot have that.”

“So, shall we go out and make the poor fellow happy again?”

Donella’s heart fluttered with a complicated mix of love, longing, and anxiety. She’d never thought to be a wife or mother, much less married to such a potent man like Logan Kendrick. Was she truly up to it?

“I want to,” she whispered. “I really do.”

Her cousin took both her hands in a comforting grip.

“Donella, listen to me. You deserve happiness more than anyone I know. You’ve faced up to every trial with dignity and kindness, and God knows you’ve borne more of them than any young woman should have to. It’s time to stop feeling guilty about your mother, Roddy Murray, me, or any of the rest of us. You deserve to be loved, and youareloved. By your entire family, and by Logan and his family, too.”

Her cousin’s words were a healing balm to her spirit. For so long she’d shouldered a heavy weight of guilt. It now seemed silly and rather selfish, as if she’d worn a hairshirt to make herself feel better, when she’d simply been running away from life.

“Thank you, Alasdair. I think you’re the only person who could truly have made me hear that.”

“Then there’s only one question, isn’t there? Do you have the courage to seize what you deserve?”

She mustered a smile. “I’m the Flower of Clan Graham, so I’d better, or I’ll have to relinquish the title.”

Alasdair gave her hands a final pat before coming to his feet. “Thank God, because everyone’s in an uproar. Joseph’s mad at his father, which is making Logan act like an even bigger idiot. That’s put Nick into a stew, so Victoria is fretting. And when Victoria frets, Edie frets.”

“As do you, along with everyone else.”

“Everyone except my mother-in-law. She simply gives scolds.”

“Yes, I’ve been on the receiving end of one,” Donella said as she also rose. “Lady Reese said that I didn’t properly understand the masculine mind. Sadly, she’s not wrong.”

“If it’s any consolation, she whacked Logan with her fan this evening and told him to stop acting like a Scottish nincompoop.”

“I rather wish I’d seen that.”

“Yes, it was vastly entertaining. I had to separate her and Angus. He wasn’t best pleased at the insult to his grandson.”

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