Page 121 of The Highlander's Irish Bride

“I must say that I cannot stand spiders.”

“Do you run screaming for the nearest footman to kill it whenever you see one?”

“Spiders do serve a purpose, you know, especially in the garden. They eat other bugs that damage the plants, for one thing.”

“So you leave them be?”

“We have reached a mutually acceptable solution. I try to avoid them, and they try to avoid me.”

Her laugh echoed his own. The warmth of her laughter wrapped itself quietly around his heart.

After they sat for a minute in companionable silence, she spoke again.

“There is one thing that does scare me. Right now, at least.”

“And that is?”

“That something bad will happen to Jeannie. That I’ll fail her somehow.” She exhaled a sigh. “I’m already failing her.”

“As someone with six brothers, most of them hellions, I can tell you conclusively that you are not failing your sister.”

“She told me that she hates me.”

Grant wrapped his arm about her shoulders, drawing her close. Kathleen’s entire body startled, and she hesitated for a moment before settling against him. He had the oddest sensation he’d held her a thousand times before.

“She didn’t mean it,” he quietly replied.

“She sounded like she did.”

He thought for a moment. “Kathleen, I know what true hate looks like in families, many times over. What Jeannie is going through with you is not hate.”

When she tilted her head to look up at him, the hood slipped back. Starlight seemed to glimmer in her eyes. Never had she looked more fey or more beautiful.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Do you wish to tell me about your family?”

Tell her about his brothers Nick and Logan and their years-long estrangement? Or how badly his father had treated Graeme when he was just a sad, wee boy? Such pain and ugliness couldn’t be conveyed in a few bare sentences, if ever. Nor would it help Kathleen with her present dilemma.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then tucked her back under his arm.

“Some other time. Let me just say I suspect Jeannie is acting this way because she feels safe with you. She knows you will never betray her.”

“Of course I won’t.”

“So there you are. She is simply acting like a . . .”

“Brat,” she ruefully finished.

“That’s one way of describing it. However, I also think she’s trying to emulate you. She wants to be as dashing as you are.”

She sighed. “I am a terrible role model.”

“Not true. You’re teaching her how to perceive right from wrong, and how to stand up for herself. Those are valuable lessons, especially for a girl who’s led such a sheltered life.”

“That’s incredibly kind of you to say, Mr. Kendrick.”

He wanted her to think of him as more than simplykind. Yon booby-headed vicar was kind, and look how far it had gotten him with her.

“Enough with calling me Mr. Kendrick, lass. You’re making me feel old before my time.”

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