Free Lily (The Highland Clan Book 3) by Keira Montclair Page B

thinking about Lily and his sire, he would have won for sure.
    Logan chuckled, shaking his head. “Nay, lad. ‘Tis where you’re wrong. The right lass will only make you stronger. My wife has made me stronger and wiser than I ever could have been on my own.” He sheathed his sword and offered Kyle a hand to help him up. “Let me know when you are ready to seriously consider my words.”
    Kyle stared at Logan’s back as he walked away, stymied by his declaration. Still panting, he glanced at his friend.
    Torrian nodded at him. “Every word is true.”
    ***
    Lily sat at the dais, staring down at the crowd. Her sire had relented and ordered Kyle to stay away from her, and he had done as ordered.
    Now her heart ached more and more each day. She shouldn’t have sent him away. As far back as she could remember, Kyle had always been nearby. He and Torrian were best friends, so she’d always known where to find him. Now she’d lost her protector, her friend, and her source of comfort. Why?
    She had to remind herself that Kyle was the one who had rejected her. Sorcha, Maggie, and Molly came over to her side of the dais once the minstrels and fiddlers had arrived. Her sire had called for a night of entertainment. She knew not why, but she hoped it would take her mind off her troubles.
    Maggie said, “We tried to get Bethia to come down, but she refused. Why does she not spend more time with us?”
    “Bethia is shy and verra devoted to healing. You know she’s not at ease in crowds.” Lily propped her elbow on the table and cradled her chin in her hand, staring out at the gathering.
    “Tell us about what you saw when you found Davina and Ranulf again. I love hearing that story,” Sorcha said with a sigh. Then she glanced over her shoulder, probably to ensure their elders were not nearby.
    “Why?” Lily asked.
    “Because I like hearing it.”
    Molly laughed. “Sorcha, you’re too young.”
    “Nay, I know all about what a lass and a lad do. But I like to hear the way Lily tells it.” She waited expectantly.
    When Molly and Maggie grinned at her too, urging her to tell the tale yet again, Lily decided to appease her cousins. “He was disgusting.”
    “But did you see it? All of it?” Sorcha’s elbows rested on the table as she leaned forward eagerly.
    “Of course. I told you I interrupted them in the middle. And then Ranulf came toward me and asked me to join them.”
    “What did he say again?” asked Maggie.
    “He said he’d be sure to please me.”
    Molly leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “I just wish to know if you were tempted.”
    “Nay!” Lily was appalled by Molly’s suggestion. True, her cousin was quite a bit older than her, but nevertheless...
    Sorcha and Maggie giggled.
    “Why not? Molly asked in a louder voice, her eyes dancing.
    “Because he was disgusting. And so was she. I would never have allowed him to touch me.”
    “I do not blame you. He was disturbing, almost sinister.” Maggie narrowed her gaze. “What about her? Did she want him to touch you?”
    “Nay. She was jealous.”
    Then Sorcha brought up the one thing Lily usually avoided talking about. “What did it look like? How big was it?”
    “You’ve all seen the horses. I do not know why you tease me so. It was big and it jutted right out. I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you.”
    All three lasses broke into gales of laughter. Lily had been annoyed by Sorcha’s request to tell the story of how she’d caught the two lovers, especially since she’d shared it with her cousins time and again, but she was enjoying the merriment. “And…”
    All three stopped their clatter in an instant and leaned toward her. “And what ?”
    Lily knew just how to bait them. “And the more he walked, the more it shrunk.”
    Sorcha squealed and jumped in her seat.
    “And once it shrunk, it started wiggling and bouncing all over the place.”
    All three of them hopped out of their seats and guffawed, making a racket that was