Free Highland Lover by Hannah Howell

his, and sat down beside her on the bed. “Now, lass,
    mayhap ye will answer a few questions for me.”
    “Mayhap,” she said, “if ye will do the same.”
    “Aye, fair enough, but I think ye can go first. Exactly who are ye?”
    Since there was really no sense in continuing to keep her name a secret, she replied, “Alana Murray
    of Donncoill. And ye are?”
    “Gregor MacFingal Cameron.”
    “Three names?”
    “MacFingal is of my father’s creation because he had a falling-out with his Cameron kinsmen. I
    think ye may have heard of a few of my kinsmen. My brother Ewan is married to Fiona MacEnroy,
    sister to Connor MacEnroy, the laird of Deilcladach, who is wed to—”
    “My cousin Gillyanne!” Alana stared at him, nearly gaping in surprise, and then she frowned. “Ye
    dinnae look verra surprised by such a strange twist of fate.”
    “Ah, weel, ye spoke of some of your kinswomen whilst ye were feverish. Gillyanne was one of the
    names ye mentioned, and that is why my surprise isnae as great as yours.”
    Alana wondered a little nervously about what else she might have said, but resisted the urge to ask
    Gregor. If she had said something too embarrassing and revealing, she would just as soon not know
    about it. She had dealt with enough feverish people to know the one tending to them could become
    an unwilling confidant, privy to a great many secrets. One of the few secrets she still held fast to at the moment was the growing attraction she felt for Gregor, and she prayed she had not babbled
    about that.
    “Fate is definitely playing a game with us,” she murmured.
    “Fate, luck—good and bad—and a few ill-thought-out decisions. Ye shouldnae have followed your
    brothers, and I shouldnae have been traveling alone.”
    “Why were ye traveling alone?”
    That was not a question Gregor felt inclined to answer, at least not with the complete truth. “The
    only escort I could get were men I didnae ken weel. Since there wasnae any talk of troubles in the
    land I intended to ride through, I felt I could make my way home alone.”
    The way Gregor did not meet her gaze as he answered her question made Alana think he was not
    telling her the full truth. At first, she felt angry over his lack of trust and then scolded herself for being a hypocrite. She was not telling him the whole truth, either. He could simply be reluctant to
    tell her that he had been returning home from some tryst. Since she did not want to hear about any
    woman in his life, not even some fleeting entanglement based upon an equally fleeting lust, she
    decided not to press him on the matter.
    “Why were ye pretending to be a child?” he asked.
    Pleased with the diversion from thoughts of Gregor with another woman, Alana replied, “I thought I
    would be safer. I cannae say the Gowans would have treated me differently if they kenned I was a
    woman, but it was probably best that I ne’er tested them.”
    “I am surprised your kinsmen didnae set out in search of you.”
    “Ah, weel, they did, but I eluded them. They didnae persist too long, so they must have found the
    message I left behind telling them exactly what I was doing.”
    “But ye also lost your brothers, aye?”
    “Aye, but I am certain I would have found them again if the Gowans hadnae captured me.” She
    could tell by the look upon his handsome face that he had some serious doubts about her claim.
    “Where do you think your sister is?”
    “I am nay sure. All I am sure of is that she isnae dead and she needs help.”
    “Then we shall look for her. And for your brothers. It seems as if any who set out for Ardgleann
    find trouble. Now that ye have begun your search, ’tis best if ye finish it, but nay alone. Now, there willnae be any husband or betrothed rushing about looking for ye, will there? I dinnae wish to be
    caught up in that sort of trouble.” Gregor found that he loathed the idea of any other man having a
    claim to her.
    “Och, nay. No husband and no