Free Highland Mist by Donna Grant Page A

from his throat. “He sent only one man. I’d have thought he’d be here with his army.”
    “You’ll yet have your chance to fight him, laird,” she said as she looked down from the battlements at a young lad she had seen once or twice at the MacNeil holding.
    She ventured a glance at Conall and found his eyes boring into her. “How do you know that?” he asked.
    “I just do.” She shrugged while trying to find the words. “I can’t explain it other than to say I saw it while we walked the stairs.”
    “Glenna,” he began then stopped and struggled with something he wanted to say.
    He turned back to the MacNeil waiting below.
    “I’ve a message for the MacInnes’ laird,” the lad called.
    “I’m laird of the MacInnes,” Conall answered. “What message do you bring?”
    “Laird MacNeil has requested you return Glenna immediately, and he’ll let you and your clan live. If you don’t, you’ll be responsible for your clan’s devastation.”
    She watched as Conall gripped the stone so hard his hands turned white. “As you can see, Glenna is here and well. I’ll return her as soon as the MacNeil returns my sister Iona.”
    That surprised the rider for he was at a loss for words. “I’ll give your message to the MacNeil,” he finally said, and wheeled his horse around.
    Glenna watched until the rider disappeared from view. When she turned back to Conall, she knew he wanted to ask what she knew of Iona, and she prayed for some reprieve. She wasn’t yet ready to divulge everything to him.
    “There’s one question I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he said.
    She swallowed hard and bit her tongue to stop herself from begging him not to ask. A shout from a guard drew his attention. His handsome face turned red with ire. “By the saints. She wouldn’t,” Conall hissed, and pushed pasted her.
    She watched while he flew down the steps and confronted a woman with long flowing blonde hair. She was stunningly beautiful, even from a great distance. Jealousy sharp and true sliced through her.
    It had never occurred to her to ask if Conall was married. No woman had come forward when she had arrived and none had sat with them while they supped. But seeing the enchanting creature arguing with him, made her realize he had asked the woman to stay away while she was here. She sighed deeply and felt something take her hand.
    Ailsa. The child had an uncanny knack for knowing when she needed comfort.
    “The laird doesn’t like her,” Ailsa said.
    “She’s beautiful.”
    “Aye. We rarely see them anymore.”
    “Any of who?”
    Ailsa didn’t answer but pointed instead. Glenna looked up and found Conall and the woman staring at her before he pointed for the woman to leave.
    The music Glenna had heard began again as the woman departed. Every fiber of her body urged her to speak to the woman and propelled her feet forward. It was then she realized it was the woman from her vision.
    She managed to reach the bailey before Conall stopped her. “Where are you going?”
    “Who was that?” she asked, and looked around his broad shoulders for another look at the woman.
    “No one.”
    The music dimmed until there were only the voices of the people around her.
    “Please,” she begged as she looked at him. “Who was that?”
    His jaw clenched in agitation. “Her name is Moira.”
    “Is she your wife?”
    “Saints no,” he spat, and turned his head to look at where Moira had been. He looked back to her, and said, “I don’t have a wife.”
    She had seen him have such hatred in his eyes only once before, and that was for the MacNeil. Whoever that woman was, he despised her. But why?
    When he turned on his heel and stalked away she didn’t stop him. She needed to be alone and the battlements would offer some privacy. She made her way back up the stairs by the wall and tried not to notice how people avoided her like some plague.
    It had been the same at MacNeil Castle, but there they had a reason to treat her like