Free Highland Wedding by Hannah Howell

it, o’er an ugly lass.”
    “She kens that I find no fault, but I am nay sure she has lost the idea that her form is odd, unseemly.”
    “I will kill that udderless cow Meg.”
    “’Tis my thought that love directed the woman, sir. She didnae want the lass ridiculed.”
    “Aye,” Alaistair agreed after a moment. “Islaen’s the bairn Meg ne’er had. She would ne’er hurt the lass apurpose. I will speak to the foolish woman though. There must be a way we can explain the sudden change in the lass. She cannae go back to what she was,” he mused aloud, frowning in the direction of his daughter.
    “She could until we leave for Caraidland. Few from here would see her then. Later, when they do see her again, they would think that they had recalled her wrongly or that marriage had matured her.”
    “Aye, or childbirth.”
    Iain could not meet the man’s gaze when he nodded in agreement. “Aye, or that.”
    “And now we come to the next trouble that needs sorting out. She is a maid no longer.”
    “The proof of her chastity is clear to read upon the linen.” With a wave of his hand Iain invited the man to look but Alaistair did not move.
    “Which will be changed this day, and unless ’tis seen by the right eyes, t’will be ignored. Robert, ye must go and fetch the king. He must be shown that all was as it should be, e’en if the wedding night was had ere the vows were said. I dinnae want this matter talked about, but better this than talk of my lass going to her marriage bed unchaste. The king arranged this match so let him bear witness now and mayhaps advise us.”
    Islaen softly groaned in embarrassment, earning sympathetic looks from her brothers. She had foolishly hoped to keep her fall from grace a family secret. The very involvement of the king in the arrangement of her marriage made her chastity a matter of great importance. He must know exactly what was going on. Islaen understood all that but that did not make her like it very much.
    The fact that it was the day of the wedding he so wanted brought the king to Iain’s chambers quickly. He wanted nothing to go wrong, yet a summons from Alaistair now could only mean trouble. When the king entered Iain’s chambers, saw the disheveled bed, the undressed state of the betrothed couple and the gathering of armed MacRoths, he easily guessed what had happened and relaxed. It looked to be something easily solved; thus saving the union he sought.
    “This is most unexpected,” the king murmured looking at Iain with mild condemnation.
    “Aye, I surprised meself,” Iain grumbled, running a hand through his hair.
    “Och, weel, Robbie, it isnae fully the lad’s fault. My lass tempted him sorely.”
    The way Alaistair so familiarly addressed the king shocked Iain. When the king made no protest, accepted it as natural, Iain felt stunned. He had not realized just how close to the throne the MacRoths were. Iain could not help but wonder if he must now add the king himself to the growing list of ones who would be displeased if he made Islaen unhappy.
    “Wee Islaen?” the king asked in total surprise. “Nay, the lass is no temptress, Alaistair.”
    “Weel, not by intent. Islaen, come here,” Alaistair commanded, looking at her sternly when she briefly hesitated.
    Feeling color heat her cheeks, Islaen reluctantly obeyed her father. When her father directed the king’s attention to her breasts and the king’s face clearly showed his growing surprise, she felt like melting with embarrassment. Unable to stand such close scrutiny any longer she stepped behind Iain, using his tall body as a shield.
    “Surely the change in the lass did not occur over the night,” the king muttered, his confusion clear.
    “Nay, she hid the change. Her nurse convinced her t’was unseemly, odd, e’en ugly. The lass felt she had to tell Iain this secret, let him judge her shape for himself, so crept to his chambers last eve and showed the lad all she had hidden.”
    “Showed him?”