Free Just in Time for a Highlander by Gwyn Cready Page A

arm over the surface of the water, sending ripples in all directions. “I have no doubt that will pique her interest. She is at least as fond of concealing secrets as she is of exposing the truth. Her magic, it seems, can be quite potent.”
    Serafina’s face softened. “Did her magic have something to do with Mr. MacHarg?”
    Abby started. “Why do you ask?”
    “Well, my powers are nothing compared to hers, but it took nothing like magic to see there was something going on between the two of you at dinner.”
    Abby dove under the water to hide her reddening face. The memory of MacHarg’s lips on hers had stirred her half the night. Even Rosston’s quarrel-filled late-night visit had not erased the memory. She’d been sorely tempted to accept MacHarg’s awkward but well-meaning invitation. She smiled to think of the intriguing sparkle in his sapphire eyes and those arresting calves. If only Nora hadn’t been there….
    But dallying with an outsider was a risk she couldn’t afford. Rosston was pressing her to announce their agreement to marry. He’d already told the men closest to him the ceremony would be at Michaelmas, which had only made her feel even more coerced. She dreaded the thought of marrying him, but a clan chief, especially a woman without the full support of her men, does not always get to marry whom she chooses. If she had to marry Rosston, she would, but if she could get the canal financed before the money was gone, she wouldn’t have to depend on an alliance with him to save her clan.
    She surfaced, flipping soaking strands of dark hair over her shoulder.
    “I am inclined to take your silence as an affirmation of my suspicions,” Serafina said, smiling.
    “You are as much a fortune-teller as I, then,” said a voice behind them.
    Abby turned. Undine stood on the high bank, having apparently emerged from the rosebush-lined path the rise hid from view. Her face glistened with the perspiration that always comes with a summer carriage ride.
    “You’ve returned!” Abby cried. “I trust things went well?”
    “Well enough, I think.” Undine threw down her bag and began unbuttoning her gown. “I spoke to my contact, who was eager to discuss his own troubles as well. He promised to do what he could to settle the army’s agitation and send a private message.”
    “Oh, thank God.”
    “And I stopped at the castle before coming here. William is doing better.”
    “Thank you, Undine.”
    “But for now, I think I must examine your face. Something has changed.” Undine’s dress dropped at her feet and she skimmed off her chemise. With a trim dive, she entered the water, her limbs as lithe and powerful as a mermaid’s tail.
    In an instant, her head cleared the water directly in front of Abby. She examined Abby’s face with bladelike sharpness. Abby knew protestation was futile.
    “You kissed him!” Undine declared. “Great skies! You kissed him!”
    “Keep your voice down.” Abby fought the smile that appeared, uninvited, on her face.
    Undine turned to Serafina. “What happened at dinner? What did I miss?”
    “There was a palpable cloud of attraction hanging over the table,” Serafina said, grinning. “’Twas hard to see the food, the air was so thick with it.”
    Abby sputtered. “That’s…that’s outrageous. ‘A cloud of attraction’? Don’t be ridiculous.”
    Serafina laughed. “I cannot account for the hours after dinner, however.”
    “The hours after dinner were spent bemoaning Sir Alan’s refusal to negotiate a loan,” Abby protested.
    “Sir Alan will change his mind,” Undine said with her usual certainty. “And that is all the ‘bemoaning’ you will admit to?”
    Abby squawked. “For heaven’s sake! I barely know the man.”
    “And yet…” Undine tilted Abby’s chin with a finger. “And yet ’tis quite clear you kissed him.”
    “I…well…a kiss .” Abby shrugged, the thump of blood in her ear.
    Serafina squealed. “He is very handsome. And big