Free Highland Chieftain by Hannah Howell Page A

many questions when she did.
    â€œI have to go,” she said as she climbed off the pallet.
    â€œâ€™Tis still light.”
    â€œI ken it but if I come in after Kerr has come home he pesters with questions I cannae answer. He has already accused me of slipping away to meet with a mon. I dinnae trust him to keep ignoring that now.”
    â€œNay.” He dragged himself up off the pallet. “It would be best if ye dinnae get in any trouble o’er this. What have ye told him?”
    â€œThat I am keeping a close watch on some berry bushes so that I might harvest some of the berries before the birds do.”
    â€œClever.” He gave her a quick kiss.
    â€œThat may be but I dinnae think he will believe it for verra long.” She grimaced. “And I am nay the best of liars.”
    â€œNo shame in that, just rather inconvenient at times.”
    She laughed. “Oh, aye. Verra inconvenient.”
    He leaned against the inside of the cave opening as she moved some of the shrubs, enjoying how she looked. When she stood up and picked up her basket, he grasped her by the hand and pulled her up against him. She felt right there, in his arms.
    â€œYe would run off without giving me a kiss?” he teased. “Coldhearted woman.”
    Bethoc laughed softly and gave him a kiss before slipping free of his hold and hurrying off down the path. She always felt so much lighter and happier after she had spent time with him. It was something that should probably bother her but she would not let it. One day soon he would have to leave and return to being a laird, a man far above her touch. For now, she intended to thoroughly enjoy what she could share with him.
    By the time her home came into view she lost a lot of that happiness. Bethoc felt a weight settle over her and sighed. It was not what one should feel when coming home. She straightened her shoulders and went forward. There was no other choice.
    To her relief, her father was not home. Colin played quietly in the corner with a happily babbling Margaret. She hurried over to give the little girl a hug.
    â€œAre the boys still working?” she asked Colin.
    â€œAye, and I should be helping them.” He frowned toward the door but made no move to join the others.
    â€œSoon, Colin. Ye didnae have anything broken that I could find but it was bad. Everything was bruised and that takes time to heal.”
    â€œI ken it. Do ye e’er think there has to be something better than this?”
    â€œAll the time,” she answered as she hurried over to start their supper. “It is out there. Some day we will be free to seek it. But I dinnae think t’will be all that much different from what we do now, just in a different place with different people.”
    When he just murmured in reply, she turned her attention to what she needed to have to make a meal. She did believe they would have something better. Some days it was all that kept her going. It just seemed that they had to have something better than working themselves into exhaustion only to watch Kerr Matheson drink and gamble the earnings from their labor away.
    Briefly she considered asking Callum but hesitated to do so. She had the feeling he would offer her something out of charity and that was not what she sought. She and the boys could work. They needed to have something they could work at, something that would put the profit in their hands instead of Kerr’s.
    As she worked she thought over how to put the question to the man. He had been out in the world in a way none of them ever had so she was sure he would know better what their chances would be of getting, perhaps, a small farm they could work. Bethoc got lost in the thought of it and only partly took note of her father’s arrival.
    â€œHey! Are ye e’er going to put that on the table?” Kerr yelled.
    â€œOf course, I was just making certain t’was done.” She placed the pot on the table and