Free Elusive by Linda Rae Blair Page B

Laird’s Parlor.” Keeping his
head bowed, he waited and prayed for his own safety.
    Macrath’s heart jumped in his chest. At last!
Keeping his voice as calm as he could, he responded with the grin
of the winner of some secret game, “Tell the Laird I will join him
in a few minutes.” Summoned like a servant! Well, he sneered at the
thought, we’ll soon see who has the upper hand, my Lord!
    When the servant left him, he swallowed
another goblet of wine, slammed the empty pewter tankard down on
the heavy wooden table, and went to the dressing mirror. Assuring
he looked his best, he left his rooms—in his own damned sweet
time—to get the Laird’s answer.
    He had told the Laird a few weeks ago that he
was making plans to marry, and that he wanted Caena for his wife.
Grinning to himself as he continued down the stairs, he remembered
the shock on the Laird’s face. Macrath knew he held the advantage,
but just as surely he also knew the stupid girl would be given her
choice in the matter. The Laird was a silly fool, giving any female
such power. To let her be so influenced by outside forces as she
was by all her fanciful reading—it was a fool’s mistake.
    And, oh, he thought—she was so loved by his dear brother. Well, he’d stop all that foolishness once and
for all. The only delight he looked forward to more than
deflowering that insipid girl was the knowledge that his doing so
would destroy his brother.
    He strode into the Great Hall where the Laird
awaited him, and found his palms sweating. He didn’t like being
beckoned at someone else’s whim—not one bit.
    “My Lord,” he bowed as slightly as he could
get by with. “You asked for me?” He refused to admit, even to
himself, that he had been sent for.
    “Yes, Macrath, please come. Sit.” Finnean
knew this boy could not be trusted and yet…what choice did he
really have. “I have decided that when the time comes, you shall
have Caena to wife,” the Laird told him.
    He decided! Macrath knew better. The
girl had more brains than he’d given her credit for. “My Lord, I am
honored. However, it is my intention that we be married next
week.
    “Next week?” Finnean stood up, his face
reddening, and his deep voice booming across the huge room. “Next
week? Why so soon? Surely this can wait until she is a bit older.
She is but sixteen years next week.”
    “It is my wish to begin a family, my Lord.
Surely you agree that it is best to assure that a McDonnough heir
be ready to assume the title and responsibility for the clan when
the time comes.” He nodded his head slightly in feigned politeness.
“I do not wish to wait and leave our futures to chance,” he said,
as meekly as he could muster. Family responsibility would, he knew,
rank highly with the Laird of McDonnough.
    Finnean, unfortunately, felt he had to agree.
But that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.
    Seeing the look on the Laird’s face, Macrath
continued, “Of course, my Lord, if she is not ready, there is young
Seonaid, whose father is your wife’s cousin. She would make a good
match as well, don’t you think? She has expressed quite
a… willingness .”
    Willing, she certainly was. He remembered
bedding the beautiful, buxom but somewhat empty-headed girl three
times during their visit last Yule. Of course, at eighteen years he
had not been her first, he was sure—despite her screams and tears
the first time. He smiled as he remembered she had been all too
willing the second and third.
    Inside he was clapping his hands in as near
to glee as his black heart could muster, as he watched the
expression on the Laird’s face.
    Sighing, Finnean conceded. “No need, nephew.
No need,” Finnean was boxed in and he knew it. “Next week it shall
be. Your mother and Caena can make the female decisions that are
needed.”
    “I look forward to it, my Lord,” Macrath
said, as he removed himself from the Laird’s presence. All the way
back to his rooms, he laughed aloud. He had bested