Page 41 of Highlander’s Forbidden Fruit

“I’ll speak to him. But ye should be present when I do. It’ll take us both to convince him.”

“Two against one. Doesnae sound fair.”

“Life rarely is,” he said bitterly. “Come, we should head back. The snow’s subsided enough for us to travel safely. And Evanna.”

She turned to him, her eyebrows raised in question.

“Don’t run away like a madwoman again. Ye might break yer neck.”

“I’ll be careful,” she promised.

The ride back was slow, and there was very little conversation. They were both lost in their own thoughts as they finally rode into the castle walls and deposited the horses in the stables.

“Shall we do it this evening?” Evanna asked.

“What’s the rush?”

“I’m expecting John to arrive in a week. I want Da to be ready before then.”

“He’ll be joining us for Christmas?”

Evanna nodded. “We’re hoping the Christmas spirit will help soften the blow. So will ye go this evening?”

Aleck licked his dry lips. “Aye. After supper.”

Evanna nodded and turned away from him to go, but stealing herself for something, she turned back and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank ye, Aleck. I really appreciate it.”

Aleck could only nod. Speech was beyond him at that point. A pleasant warmth spread where she had kissed him, until he didn’t feel the cold. Evanna squeezed his arm and left.

He finished with the horses and headed towards the practice yard. A few sessions with the sword would do him good and clear his mind.

“Where were ye?” Isla Graham accosted him by the kitchens, her petulant pout making her look more like a child than ever before. “I’ve been looking all over for ye.”

“I had to show Lady Evanna the farmland.”

“Why is it yer job to show her around? Grand lady like her has many man servants to take her places.”

“I was asked by the Laird.”

“Well, refuse next time.”

“I cannae do that.”

“Ye must!” she stomped her foot. “I dinnae like ye going around with that woman. It’s bad enough ye had to go all the way to London to retrieve the tart miss, now ye have to chase around after her like a pet dog.”

“Ye watch yer mouth, Isla, or I won’t be responsible for what happens to it.” The danger in his voice was enough to snap her head out of the clouds and really look at him. The truth was it wasn’t Evanna but Isla who treated him like a pet or a plaything. Always demanding and commanding him about.

“I only say this because I love ye and cannae see ye with another woman.”

Aleck sighed. He had avoided this as long as possible, but Lockard be damned, he could not keep this deception by omission up. “I am honored, but I dinnae feel the same for ye.”

He tried to walk past her, but she clutched at him as the drowning would at a piece of kelp at sea.

“What do ye mean? We’re to be married!”

“Have I ever given ye any hope of that? Did I propose?”

“Ye didnae have to. Yer shy. I can understand what yer heart wants without ye having to say it.”