Page 6 of When a Highlander Weds a Hellion
“Did yer da teach ye to make yer way in the woods?” he asked, needing to concentrate on something other than how fetching she looked standing so innocently in her léine.
“Aye. My da and my brothers. I’ve three of them.”
“It’s unusual for a lass to be shown ways usually reserved for teaching only to lads,” he said, delicately prodding for information. He’d found that people often offered more about themselves if they felt it was not being demanded of them. “And yer mum must be wise,” he added, collecting several logs for the fire they’d build, “to ken the importance of teaching ye ways ye can protect yerself.”
Katreine’s eyes widened as she looked at him. “My mother is dead, but she agreed wholeheartedly with my da and my brothers that I needed to ken how to fend for myself.”
“I’m sorry for yer loss,” he said gently. He thought of his own mother, or the woman he believed was his mother. “Has yer mum been gone long?”
“Aye.” The sadness in her tone made his chest tighten a bit more. “Since I was a lass of ten summers.”
She set down the wood she’d been holding and grabbed Broch’s forearm. Her delicate fingers upon his skin were like kindle to the desire he was trying to ignore. He looked at his arm in her clutch. He should pull away, but he knew as soon as the thought crossed his mind that he wouldn’t. She had a desperate look on her face, and he had no wish to worsen what vexed her. If she needed him to listen, it was the least he could do considering he was the one forcing her to abide the king’s command to wed Brodee Blackswell.
“Ye must listen to me.” The anxiety on her face spilled into her words.
“I’m listening, lass,” he replied.
“Ye kinnae force me to wed Brodee.” Her fingers tightened on his arm.
“I kinnae disobey the king’s orders.” He regretted that he could not tell her otherwise.
Her beautiful face fell. “Do ye have a sister?”
He frowned. “Nay. Why?”
“Imagine I’m yer sister.”
“I’d rather nae,” he said dryly, his gaze drawn against his will to the lush curve of her breasts. He pulled it up as quickly as it had drifted, glad she had not seemed to notice. She appeared to be thinking of whatever it was she wanted to say to him.
“Indulge me,” she said in a tone that sounded more like one a commander would use on his men than a woman would employ to persuade a man to do something. He liked the fact that she was not attempting to bend him to her will with seduction, but rather being frank.
“As ye wish,” he acquiesced, though he certainly did not want to imagine the beguiling creature before him as a sister.
“Would ye force yer sister to wed a murderer?” she asked.
His eyebrows arched high. “Are ye saying Brodee Blackswell is a murderer?”
“Aye,” Katreine said and released her hold on him. “Ye said my mum was wise, aye? Well, she gained her wisdom from terrible tragedy.” The lass bit down on her lip and looked beyond him, as if into the past. “I had a sister, Lenora. She was six summers older than me.” A slight smile pulled at her lips. “Lenora was called the Highland Beauty,” she continued, a blush staining her cheeks. Her gaze met his directly now. “Of course, ye ken I’m known as the Hellion of the Highlands.”
“Aye,” he said, thinking how being called a hellion was much more intriguing than being called a beauty, though Katreine was the loveliest lass he’d ever seen and could easily have been referred to as such.
“Well,” she continued, “Lenora was beautiful. She was fair with moon-kissed hair and the prettiest eyes the color of a gleaming sword.”
That description could have fit Katreine, but the way she was speaking made him think she did not see herself that way. It seemed clear to him that Katreine had favored her older sister.
“My mum and da had many offers to wed her by the time she was sixteen summers, and they chose to accept an offer from Brodee Blackswell because the Blackswell clan is so verra powerful. Both my parents thought it wise to make their clan our ally.”
“That dunnae sound unreasonable.” Many marriages occurred in order to join clans.
Katreine paused to scowl at him. Obviously, the lass did not agree. Clearing her throat, she said, “It was widely known that my parents intended to bestow upon whomever Lenora wed half the land of Derthshire.”
Broch arched his eyebrows, surprised. “That be the land yer da and the Blackswell laird are quarreling over now, aye?”
“Aye.” Anger skittered across her face. “Once the contracts were set, the Blackswells claimed half the land before the wedding, and my da allowed it, thinking they were men of honor. The marriage was to take place a week after that. Lenora—Did I mention that she was eager to wed Brodee at first?”
“Nay, ye did nae.”
Katreine nodded. “Well, she had been, but then a young Blackswell lass died and it was whispered that Brodee Blackswell was accountable. The gossip was that she’d threatened to tell Lenora of Brodee’s relationship with her and that he’d beaten the lass to death.”
