Free The Eternal Highlander by Lynsay Sands, Hannah Howell

recently decided that I best take ye as I dinnae seem to want anyone else to have ye.”
    He kissed her again. It was a start. Cathal finally admitted that he wanted more, much more, from her, but he could be patient. She would soon belong to him in body and name. He was willing to work for the rest, for her heart and soul.

Six
    “Are ye verra certain about this?”
    Cathal frowned and looked at Jankyn even as he continued to brush his hair. As always, Jankyn was perched somewhere, this time upon the ledge of the deepset window in the room. In the two days since Bridget had agreed to marry him, Cathal had seen little of Jankyn. Until the man had entered the ledger room Cathal had been using as his bedchamber, he had feared Jankyn would not stand up with him at his wedding.
    “Aye, I am certain,” Cathal replied. “I had thought ye agreed with this, as weel. Wheesht, ye were the one to suggest it.”
    “I ken it, and I havenae changed my mind about your plan. Tis a good one.”
    “But ye have changed your mind about Bridget?” Cathal carefully set his brush down, knowing he should heed whatever Jankyn had to say, but deeply reluctant to hear it.
    “Aye and nay.” Jankyn sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair. “I like the lass. She doesnae shy from the truth about us. Aye, she tried to flee once, but I am nay sure that was only because of what she thought we were. She wasnae in a blind terror, either. Tis just that, weel, have ye noticed anything a wee bit odd about her?”
    “Aside from the fact that she has agreed to marry a mon who avoids the sun and whose kinsmen live in caves?”
    “Aye, aside from that,” Jankyn said, the hint of laughter in his voice.
    Cathal suddenly recalled the way Bridget had acted when she had awakened her first day at Cambrun, that odd fleeting vision he had had of something different in her face. He inwardly shook his head. It could have been some odd shadow caused by the candlelight. It was not something he wished to speak about, either.
    “Odd in what way?”
    “She hisses and verra weel, too. She scratches, swipes at one with those verra sharp nails of hers when ye startle her. Ye didnae see her run, but, trust me, she is verra swift and sure of foot. E’en with the full moon, most Outsiders move cautiously. The night and the shadows didnae slow her down at all. She kenned I was there ere she saw me. And, the fact that she saw me in the shadows is, weel, unusual. She dances in the moonlight. E’en though there was no sound to warn her, she kenned something had happened to her people. I watched her tense, crouch, and look about. Tis as if she scented danger upon the air.”
    And she purrs, Cathal thought, but only said, “Some people have keener senses about such things.”
    “There is something about the name Callan that picks at me, rouses my curiosity. I havenae been able to find out why, however. It may take some time.”
    “So, what are ye asking? Ye wish me to wait ere I marry her?”
    “It might be best. Give me time to find out about the Callans.”
    “It might weel be for the best, but I willnae wait.”
    “Ye want her.”
    “Aye, I want her. I cannae rest for the wanting of her.”
    “And if there is something, weel, different about the Callans, something in the bloodline?”
    “As there is in ours? I doubt that. Bridget is much akin to the MacMartins. She eats what they do, walks about freely in the sun, and all the rest. If there is something odd in the Callan clan, ’tisnae that which will alter my plan. The Callans obviously dinnae hide away at Dunsmuir as we hide here.”
    Jankyn nodded. “Fair enough. Do ye want me to continue to discover all I can about the Callans?”
    Cathal hesitated only briefly. He hoped Bridget would tell him if there was something he ought to know about her clan, but he understood the habit of secrecy all too well. It would be best, however, if he knew all about the Callans. If nothing else, it would be best to be