Beloved Highlander

“I think she’s gone outside,” Shona answered uneasily, avoiding his eyes.

“Ye great daft haddock,” Malcolm Bain declared, glowering at him under his bushy eyebrows, and confirming Gregor’s fears.

Gregor raised his own brows. “Say what you have to say, Malcolm. I can see you’re bursting with it.”

“Well, of course she’s gone! What did ye expect her to do, after she’s come upon ye and that piece there, clasped in each other’s arms? Ye’ve broken her heart in twa, ye thick beastie. Och, ye dinna deserve her anyway!”

“Barbara threw herself at me,” Gregor replied, fighting his anger, and wondering why he’d been adjudged guilty when he’d done nothing wrong.

“Oh, and ye couldna have held her off? Ye are a fool, Gregor Grant! If ye lose Lady Meg because of that baggage, then ye truly dinna deserve to be a happy man.”

Gregor shot him a furious look, turned, and strode toward the door. From the corner of his eye he noticed Barbara hurrying to intercept him, but he ignored her and kept going.

Behind him, Alison’s voice rose with temper. “A fool, is he? A fool, aye? I know who the fool is here, Malcolm Bain MacGregor!”

Duncan’s murmur of, “Alison, hush, Alison, let me finish what I had to tell ye!” seemed to have little effect on her.

Gregor allowed himself one small, vengeful smile as he stepped out into the afternoon sunshine. And stopped, hearing the thud of a horse’s hooves. A woman with red hair flew down the yew avenue and over the bridge, and turned up the glen.

She was gone.

He took to his heels, running to the stables. Angus was standing outside, and Gregor drew to a sliding halt in front of the boy.

“Dinna you know better than to let her go by herself?” he shouted, needing to vent his fear and frustration on someone.

The boy stared back at him, but there was no fright in his eyes, just a flicker of anger that reminded Gregor very much of Alison. “She ordered me to, sir. I didna have much of a choice, did I?”

“She should not be out alone. She could be in danger.”

Angus frowned. “I asked to go with her, sir, but she said she wanted to be alone. I suppose I should have made her let me go, but Lady Meg is a stubborn one.”

Gregor looked at twelve-year-old Angus and sighed. The boy had done his best, and Gregor had no right to chastise him. “You have my gratitude, Angus, for making the attempt.”

Angus flushed, and looked pleased and worried at the same time.

“Go and get your fath—[ ]that is, Malcolm Bain for me, Angus. He’s in the Great Hall, or he was a moment ago.”

Gregor could have bitten off his tongue, but other than a puzzled look, the boy didn’t seem to understand the error his laird had almost made. He took to his heels, hurrying toward the castle house and passing Barbara in her yellow dress, on her way to the stables.

Gregor groaned aloud. “Oh, no!”

“Gregor? Gregor, please…”

“Barbara, has it never occurred to you that I may not want you here? That I am tired of being used by you? I have a wife and I dinna want you in the same house as her.”

That tear again, running down her cheek. How did she do that? Was it something she had learned, like reading and writing? Gregor shook his head in disgust.

“I am going after Meg. Stay here, Barbara. We will talk when I get back. Is Airdy somewhere behind you?”

Barbara’s tears stopped as if by magic, and she pulled a sullen little moue. “How should I know? Probably. He follows me everywhere, Gregor. Wherever I go, he finds me. That is why I have come to you,” her eyes brightened. “You are the only one who can make him go away.”

Gregor laughed despite himself, but it was without any real humor. The woman was so self-centered, so focused on her own problems, that it was almost amusing. So different from Meg, sweet, practical, bossy Meg who prodded her tenants to grow potatoes so that they would have something to eat when the oat crop failed.

“I must go.” He was already heading into the stables to find his horse. Barbara trailed after him, looking disconsolate.

“You’ve never spoken to me like this before,” she said sadly, watching as he hurriedly saddled the animal. “You always cared what happened to me before, Gregor.”

Gregor turned to look at her in amazement. “I fought a duel for you, Barbara, and you went straight back to Airdy. Have you forgotten?”