Free The Reluctant Highland Groom by Marilyn Stonecross Page A

was not the problem here. Ramsey was rarely the problem at all.
     
    Curse my infernal sense of duty.
     
    In some ways, Logan had gotten away easily. No one cared to wed the youngest son; he would inherit no titles and precious little in terms of land and wealth. As a result, Logan had developed a reckless streak as a child that had persisted into adulthood, though at least now he (mostly) looked where he was walking.
     
    With Logan mostly able to care for himself, Alec was left juggling questions of duty. Perhaps he ought to wed to fulfill his duty to the family—but what about his duty to his wife? If he could not protect her from harm and make her happy, what right did he have to wed her?
     
    This is Cara McHugh we’re discussing, Alec. One look at her face could drive away even the most steadfast of enemies…
     
    Laughter from the great hall floated down to the stables, and Alec turned his head toward the gathering. No doubt Logan was charming their guests with tales of the brothers’ recent skirmishes with the Gunns and their allies. Ramsey likely had Sabrina sitting on his knee, rubbing her back as they listened. And Cara, the rat-faced McHugh, was likely seething at Alec’s absence by now.
     
    Why am I so averse to her? He examined Fingus for bruises, stones, and other sources of pain, but the horse seemed as hale as ever. Bloody hell, could he think of no other reasons to avoid the McHughs besides a potentially sick horse? Perhaps he could fabricate something.
     
    His dislike of Cara had to stem from more than just anger at the marriage. What had she done to irk him so?
     
    His memories of her were few and far between, but he misliked what he did recall.
     
    The day after their fathers had shaken hands on the agreement, the repulsive young Cara had followed him out to the stables to watch him saddle his horse. “We’re t’be married,” she informed him when he tried to shut the stable door on her face. “Ye’d best get used to seeing me.”
     
    “ I’m not marrying ye,” he’d sneered.
     
    “ Our fathers will make us,” she said. “They want us both married. To each other!”
     
    “ That’s long years away, if at all. It’s a silly drinking bet.”
     
    She’d stamped her foot. “You’re going to marry me, Alec Munro, my Da says so!”
     
    “ Not if I have anything t’say about it. Now leave me alone!”
     
    But she hadn’t left, and had gone so far as to try to have a horse of her own saddled so she could follow him into the hills. Fortunately, her brother Connor had arrived at that point to collect her, sparing Alec more of her idiocy.
     
    Connor probably wouldn’t save him this time. Zeke McHugh would be here, staring at Alec with eyes far too similar to his father’s, and he would express anguish at Alec’s decision.
     
    That would be the hardest part. Zeke and the old Munro laird had been cut from the same cloth, and had agreed on many things. Turning him down would be like turning down his own father.
     
    Yes, Alec decided, that is the hardest part.
     
    He patted Fingus’ neck. “What do you think?”
     
    Fingus snorted and tossed his head.
     
    There was no contract ever drawn up. Ramsey himself said I didn’t have to marry her. There’s no shame in this.
     
    Yet he could not shake the feeling that he was letting someone down—his dead father, perhaps, or just the Munro honor. Munroes were said to be men of their word.
     
    Sometimes a man’s word must be broken, he told himself. Particularly when times are as cold and hard as they are now.
     
    With a heavy sigh, Alec stroked Fingus one last time and walked toward the keep with slow, deliberate steps. He’d say it straight—that he had no intention of keeping his father’s promise, painful as that might be. He was not going to take Cara McHugh, or any woman for that matter, as a wife. He’d be ready for her insults and her tears. Alec would do his best to make her understand.
     
    Alec pushed the heavy