Free Ian's Rose: Book One of The Mackintoshes and McLarens by Suzan Tisdale Page A

less than a heartbeat for everything to sink in for Ian. “Ye’ll be leavin’ us.” His voice was nothing more than a stunned whisper. It hurt that Frederick no longer wanted him at his side as his second in command, his friend. He clenched his jaw tightly. How could his brother not want him to go along? It made no sense.
    “Not until next spring,” Frederick said. “Ada is far too young and weak yet to make such an arduous journey.”
    Of all his brothers, Frederick was by far his most favored. He was Ian’s closest friend and ally, and next to their father, the one man Ian admired above all others. To learn he would be leaving and he was not welcome hurt his heart as much as the punches Frederick had inflicted just two days ago.
    “Of all our brothers, ye be the one I love the most,” Frederick said unexpectedly. “Though I trust all of me brothers with me life and the lives of me wife and children, ye be the one I trust most to do what we are about to ask.”
    Ian’s head and heart began to feel like an inflated pig bladder being kicked around the hills by heavy-footed children. “I fear I do no’ understand ye,” Ian said betwixt clenched teeth. “Trust me to do what?”
    Frederick stood a bit taller. “We want ye to be chief of Clan McLaren.”

    * * *
    R ose gasped aloud while Ian stood dumbfounded. Quite certain he had not heard Frederick correctly, he said, “Ye want me to do what?”
    “We want ye to return to McLaren lands, ye and Rose. We want ye to rebuild the keep, build a band of warriors, and as their chief, to reestablish the clan as a whole.”
    Aye, Ian had heard him correctly. Still, that did nothing to dull his utter astonishment. He ran a hand through his blonde locks and began to pace about the small room. “Me?” he said to no one in particular. “Ye want me to be the McLaren?”
    Frederick gave a short nod. “We do. We would like ye to help build a legacy we can leave to Ailrig.”
    “Ailrig?” Ian asked.
    “By rights, McLaren lands would be his to inherit when he be old enough. Aggie and I had planned on returnin’ next year to begin rebuildin’. But her blood father’s gift? ’Tis Aggie’s by right of birth as well. We would like to go there and claim that legacy fer Aggie and fer Ada. I can no’ be in both places at once. McLaren lands need ye more than I at the moment.”
    Ian studied Aggie for a long moment. When he’d met her more than a year ago, she’d been a very poor, mute young woman raised by a most brutal man. My, how things had changed. She’d gone from having less than nothing to not one, but two keeps and the lands that went with them.
    “So I would be temporary chief?” Ian asked for clarity’s sake.
    Frederick chuckled softly. “’Twill be many a year before Ailrig be ready to claim it as his own. I ken this be a tremendous undertakin’, Ian. To ask ye to build somethin’ ye’d never be able to pass to yer own children.”
    “Ye did no’ tell him?” Rose whispered softly.
    Ian stopped pacing long enough to look at her. He realized two things in that short moment of time. First, he now understood how an unspoken thing could pass betwixt husband and wife so easily. And secondly, he loved Rose more than he had previously believed possible. He could give her the world now.
    Frederick waited patiently for one of them to explain.
    “There will be no children for Rose and I to pass anythin’ on to.”
    Thankfully, Frederick did not press for more information.
    “Still, ’tis an awful lot I ask of the both of ye. Ye’ll be buildin’ somethin’ ye’ll nay get to keep forever. Unless Ailrig decides later in life ’tis no’ somethin’ he wants.”
    Ailrig was all of nine summers now. Not a one of them knew what the future would hold for any of them, let alone a boy of nine.
    “Ye be right, Frederick,” Ian agreed. “’Tis a tremendous undertakin’, to be certain. But ’tis also a tremendous opportunity fer Rose and me.”
    Aggie left