Love in the Time of a Highland Laird (A Laird for All Time Book 3) by Angeline Fortin (bill gates books to read .TXT) 📕

of me and then someday not far down the line I’ll have told you everything I know on every subject. Then I’ll be in the same boat. I’ve got to think and plan further than that.”

Bloody, bloody hell. She was without a doubt the most stubborn, obtuse woman he’d ever met in his life. If all women in the centuries to come were like her, he wept for the future of man.

She sighed sadly. “I have a whole lifetime to live here, Keir.”

She was leaving him with little choice. Either he kidnapped her or…

“Then live it with me.”

“I just told you—”

“Be my wife.”

“What?”

“Live your life wi’ me, lass. Be my lover, my teacher, my partner. For the rest of our lives.”

*

Surely he didn’t realize the permanence of what he was saying, she thought, gaping at him.

He couldn’t possibly be serious.

He was talking about forever. No one had ever wanted to keep her around indefinitely before. Not even her mother. He must be as half-cracked as the rest of his family to ask such a thing.

“Keir…”

“Your Grace,” the butler called from the doorway. “You have a visitor.”

“Nae now, Hastings,” he barked, never looking away from Al. His eyes were raging with a storm of emotion that echoed the one brewing outside the windows.

“I’m afraid she insists, Your Grace.”

“Who the hell thinks they can insist upon anything in this house?” he snapped.

“Oh, I think you’ll want to see me, Keir.”

Chapter 29

The woman lowering the rain-drenched hood from her head was utterly beautiful. She was probably in her mid-thirties but was so riveting with her rich, russet hair highlighted with shimmering strands of auburn and dark arching brows, she seemed younger at first glance. Her brown eyes were rimmed by thick lashes, her lips wide and red. Her skin flawless.

And she was tall, practically statuesque and willowy.

In short, she was the complete antithesis of Al. The sort of woman she’d always envied, who had overshadowed her in the eyes of every man she’d ever liked.

A quick glance at Keir told her he wasn’t likely to be any different. There was real affection in his eyes when he observed at her. Who was she?

“Mathilde!” he said in surprise, crossing the room in long strides to take her hand.

This was the other sister? She gaped in surprise. She looked nothing like either Maeve or Ceana. Nor did she have the blue eyes that marked all the rest of them as blood.

“Where is Hawick? Did he come wi’ ye?” he asked, taking her cloak.

“No, he doesn’t know I’m here,” she said, eyeing Al curiously. “No one does. I couldn’t say a word when he refuses to accompany me.”

“Refuse? Why would he nae come tae Rosebraugh? Did ye ride all this way alone?”

“I had two men-at-arms wi’ me. And only them because Hawick has said he will not help Uncle Camran.”

Keir stiffened visibly. “Hae ye found him, Mathilde?”

“Hawick found him,” she said. “He’s being held at the Canongate Tolbooth just as you feared with more than a hundred others. Hawick spotted him there, touring the prison with Cumberland.”

“And he willnae help us see him released?”

Mathilde shook her head. “He says the Jacobites need to learn their lesson thoroughly to prevent more incidents like this.”

*

Dread snaked through Keir. Hawick had been to Rosebraugh dozens of times. They all considered him family. If he refused to come now, there must be more to it than just an unwillingness to help them free his father.

“What are they planning tae do?”

“Cumberland means to see that the lairds who had a hand in rousing the rebellion are made an example of. The prisoners are being transferred to Carlisle to stand trial,” she told him. “It’ll be a mockery, of course. They intend to execute them.”

“Them?”

“All of them.”

“That’s a hell of an example,” Al couldn’t help saying aloud. “Surely this guy couldn’t be so evil.”

“They call him the Butcher, lass,” Keir said. “Nothing is too bad tae be believed of him. He has already proven there is nothing he willnae do.”

“He’s right,” Mathilde agreed, walking farther into the room with her hand extended. “You must be Miss Maines. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Al’s brows lifted in surprise and tentatively, she shook her hand. Heard about her from who? Ceana? Maeve? Would this Urquhart sister end up being at nuts as the other two? “Nothing good, I suppose.”

“Some,” she slanted a glance at her cousin, “but no, not all. I want to thank you for being so kind to comfort my cousin during this difficult time. He and Hugh were quite close, admittedly closer than my brother was to any of us. Nevertheless, I loved him dearly. I am incredibly saddened to hear of his passing.”

Unlike Maeve and Ceana, Mathilde did appear genuinely aggrieved. Al felt a tug of sympathy. “I’m truly sorry for your loss, for your whole family’s loss.”

Would she again be accused of having a hand in it? Should she be wary? Expect a knife to be thrust her way? No, Mathilde only wiped away a tear and braved a smile.

She liked her.

She turned back to Keir. “To answer your question, aye, Keir. They mean to execute all the prisoners at Canongate. Including your father. According to Hawick, the Marquis of Tullibardine is also being held as well as the Earls of Derwentwater, Kilmarnock and Cromarty, and Lord Balmarino.”

Keir swore under his breath. “Cumberland means to murder them all? How can he justify such a thing?”

“I told you, he means to set an example so harsh no other will dare take up arms against the king.”

“As if the murders in the aftermath of the battle were nae enough?” he asked bitterly. “As if hanging women and children who dared speak in opposition to him or hide those who fled him were nae enough? As if grinding our entire culture beneath his boot heel were nae enough?”

Tears burned in Al’s eyes at his impassioned speech. It was as if the