Page 68 of The Wrong Highlander (Highland Brides 7)

Evina grimaced at the thought and said, “Mayhap we should leave it unwrapped today. The wrappings are hot, and it might be good to let me wound dry out a bit.”

Tildy considered the matter briefly and then said, “Mayhap. How are ye feeling otherwise?”

“Good,” she answered easily, running the soapy linen over her body. “Fine.”

“Is yer wound paining ye?”

“Less every day,” Evina assured her.

“Then we’ll leave the wrappings off for now,” Tildy decided reluctantly. “But if it starts to pain ye, or the scab catches on yer gown and pulls, we’ll have to put it back on.”

“Aye,” Evina agreed with relief as the woman walked away to grab a larger piece of linen from one of the chests against the wall. She could have just refused the wrappings instead of trying to convince Tildy, but the woman had ways of making her life miserable if she angered her. It was always best to humor the maid, she thought as she quickly rinsed off the soap on her skin, and then dried herself using the larger piece of linen Tildy handed her when she returned.

“Yer tunic was on the floor by the table,” Tildy announced as she handed her a fresh one.

Evina stilled briefly, and then started to pull the tunic on over her head, avoiding the woman’s eyes as she muttered, “’Twas hot last night.”

“Aye, it was,” she agreed, and asked with interest, “Was Lord Conran hot too?”

Evina sighed with irritation. “We are marrying today, Tildy.”

“Is that what ye want?” Tildy asked softly.

“Aye,” Evina breathed, and was surprised to realize that was true. She’d always planned to remain unmarried, rule Maclean and then pass it on to Gavin. But now the future unfolding before her was completely different. A husband to share the joys and burdens of life with, a whole passel of in-laws, some of which even came with nieces and nephews, and hopefully, someday, children of her own. Perhaps as soon as next spring, she thought, glancing down at her stomach.

“Do ye love him?”

Evina glanced around with surprise at that question. “Love?”

“Aye, lass. I ken ye always planned to avoid remarrying, and yet now ye seem fine with wedding yerself to Lord Conran. Do ye love him? Is that why?”

Evina considered the question with a frown. Love him? She liked him. She enjoyed talking to him, and hearing the tales of his childhood and his travels as an adult. She liked playing chess and Nine Men’s Morris with him, and she most definitely appreciated the pleasure his body gave hers. But love? For some reason that word scared her. She didn’t love him, did she?

Fortunately, a knock sounded at the door then, saving her from having to think about that further.

Leaving her to do up her tunic, Tildy moved to answer the door and Evina’s eyebrows rose when she heard Saidh’s voice, followed by the excited chatter of other women.

“Lady Saidh would like to ken if yer ready fer visitors?” Tildy asked, amusement ringing in her voice.

Since Tildy would have simply said no if there was a man in the group, Evina assumed it was women only and said, “Aye.”

The moment she did, Tildy pulled the door wide and Saidh swept into the room with Jetta and two blond-haired women on her heels. Knowing from what Saidh had said that Murine and Edith were both blondes, Evina was just thinking that Niels must have arrived with his wife, Edith, when Saidh announced, “Evi, this is Dougall’s wife, Murine, our sister-in-law and dear friend, and this is Jo Sinclair, a dear friend to all of us and sister of our hearts.”

“Oh.” Evina was a bit disappointed that the woman wasn’t Edith, but she managed a smile. “’Tis a pleasure to meet ye.”

“Thank ye. ’Tis a pleasure to meet ye as well,” Jo assured her, and then added, “And I’m so sorry that we’ve just shown up like this. I fear we thought to surprise Saidh with a visit, and when we arrived at MacDonnell only to discover they were here, we thought to stop on the way home to at least say hello. But I promise we don’t plan to stay and trouble ye with more guests.”

“Oh, but ye must stay for Evina and Conran’s wedding,” Saidh protested, turning on her with a frown. “And then ye can come home with us to MacDonnell. Ye can hardly just turn and ride all the way home without visiting as planned.”

“That would be lovely,” Jo said, but then added with regret, “But I’m sure there isn’t room here for us with the whole Buchanan clan already in attendance.”

“Nonsense,” Evina said at once. “We’ll find room. Somewhere,” she added with a frown as she realized they were fresh out of rooms. They were going to have to consider adding rooms above stairs now that she was marrying into such a large family, she thought.

“They can have the boys’ room,” Saidh announced, turning to Evina now. “Alick and Geordie probably won’t be sleeping in there until yer attacker is found anyway, and Rory can sleep on a pallet in the hall with them, or go down to the barracks. If ’tis good enough for yer poor cousin Gavin, ’tis good enough for him.”

“That would work best,” Tildy murmured.

Evina nodded. It was probably the only solution.

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