Free Highland Heiress by Margaret Moore

unforeseen inheritance and her broken engagement to Sir Robert McStuart. Here she was subject to more than the glares of angry men who saw her school as a threat; there were the furtive looks, the scandalized whispers, the knowing glances and scornfully curled lips of the women, epitomized by the three young women she thought of as the Three Geese.
    It might have been easier to stay at home, exceptthat she had no intention of allowing gossip and rude behavior make her a prisoner in her own home.
    Nor was she going to be intimidated by the glares of the men who didn’t want her to build her school, most notably Big Jack MacKracken, who stood six feet tall in his bare feet. At the moment he was among the several men gathered at the tavern, where benches and tables had been set outside on such a fine day. If looks could wound, his glower would have had her writhing on the ground.
    However, his angry gaze couldn’t hurt her, so lifting her head high, she marched past, heading for the wagon belonging to Sam Corlett, which was bedecked with ribbons, feathers, laces and trims as if it were a huge hat.
    A shadow crossed her path. A broad-shouldered shadow.
    â€œWhat do ye think yer about, anyway?” Big Jack demanded.
    Obviously, he was no longer at the tavern. Just as obviously, judging by the odor of ale emanating from him, he’d been drinking for some time.
    She wasn’t afraid of him. They were in too public a place for him to do her any real harm, and now there was her title to offer additional protection. A man like MacKracken would appreciate that his punishment would be severe if he physically attacked a lady.
    She gave him the same cold look she gave to merchants who tried to cheat her. “My purpose here is none of your business, Mr. MacKracken.”
    â€œMister, is it? Think you can sweet-talk me, do you,with yer ‘misters’? Not likely—any more than any of my bairns’ll ever set foot in that school you’re building.”
    He had seven children, the oldest a girl of eleven, and all of them could benefit if they went to school. “Education is something to be cherished, Mr.—”
    â€œIf ye wants yer children growin’ up wantin’ things they can ne’er have,” he retorted. “What good is readin’ and writin’ to a man does a man’s work on a farm? Aye, or his wife?”
    â€œNone, perhaps,” she replied, keeping her voice level, “unless they have to sign a bill of sale, or a will, or some other legal document. And who’s to say your boys will want to be laborers? My father was born poor and yet he’s achieved great success, which he wouldn’t have been able to do if he hadn’t learned to read and write.”
    â€œHe got a title because some cousin he ne’er even met died.”
    â€œHe was successful in business long before that.”
    And before he’d started drinking too much. Mercifully his drinking had been confined to overimbibing at night, at first rarely, but in the last few months, more frequently. However, he had never stayed drunk for days in a row, for which she was grateful, and that meant his business hadn’t suffered. Yet.
    MacKracken scowled. “So you say, m’lady.”
    â€œAye, so I do,” she replied. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some purchases to make.”
    She started forward without waiting for the big man to move. Fortunately, he did, or she didn’t know what shewould have done. She couldn’t count on Mr. McHeath coming to her rescue again, even if he were here.
    She had already ascertained, by a swift perusal of the green, that he was not.
    She joined a group of older girls and women already gathered at Sam Corlett’s wagon. If they had witnessed her encounter with MacKracken, they gave no sign, although none ventured more than a greeting and a curtsey, and all kept a careful distance from her.
    â€œGood day, my lady!”