“I have done yer bidding, Jamie,” Iain said, stepping aside so his laird could see her there. “As ye have asked me to do of late.”
“Struan tells me ye married the village whore and have taken in a foundling as well. What were ye thinking, uncle?”
Robena watched with a sense of awe as Iain grabbed the younger man by his throat, dragged him to the door and tossed him out. She stood and would have followed, but Iain waved her back.
“Keep the bairn warm,” he whispered to her, before he walked outside and stood over his nephew.
She held wee Duncan close, but she did walk to the door and peered through a slim opening to watch her husband. She offered up a prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty that she had come to her senses and accepted this man as husband. He stood proud and fearless over a man who could make his life, their life, a miserable hell or a happy one.
“I was thinking that ye wanted me to marry again. Robena brought gold and a son into our marriage, more than yer own wife did, Jamie.” She noticed Iain did not say it was his own gold returned to him.
“Ye twist my words, uncle,” Jamie said as he climbed to his feet and tried to assert his position as chief. “I had any number of acceptable brides for ye to choose from. Ye did not have to lower yerself to take a whore.”
The quiet but swift punch knocked the man back to the ground. She was ready to go out and intercede, but she heard Rob call out a greeting to the younger man as he approached her cottage. Iain leaned down before Rob got close and shook his head at his nephew.
“I didna make a claim to be chieftain when my brother died because I believed ye would be a good leader for our clan. Now, dinna be an arse and make me regret that, Jamie.”
There was silence then as Iain’s nephew considered his words. When he got up without Iain knocking him back down, Robena thought they might have reached a tacit peace. Rob held out his hand in greeting, and Robena recognized his expression—the relief that he would not have to play the peacemaker after all.
“’Twill not be an easy thing to accept,” Jamie said.
“I did not say ’twould be, but it is what it is.”
Then Iain made the offer she had known he would. If this worked, it would make things easier for the others in their clan who would have rightful objections to their marriage and to her.
“I think ’tis time for me to step aside and let someone else—William, I think—take over as commander.”
Jamie did not answer right away.
“And I think that I should oversee that southern estate for ye, my laird.” Iain bowed his head and waited for his nephew’s reaction.
What Iain was offering was a practical solution for the uncomfortable situation that their marriage would cause. She would not be accepted in the laird’s household, but this would give his uncle a way to serve without causing constant problems. Anice had been the one to suggest it, and Rob agreed it was a pragmatic solution.
“I do need someone I can trust to protect our southern borders, Uncle,” The MacKillop finally said. Robena let out the breath she’d been holding and smiled to herself.
“Come up to the keep. Anice has supper waiting on ye,” Rob offered, now that the storm had passed.
“Uncle? Do ye join us?” Jamie asked. Though he faced his uncle now, he stared over Iain’s shoulder at her there in the doorway. This was the first of countless choices Iain would face because of her. She listened for his answer, not taking her gaze from The MacKillop’s.
“I will be there shortly, Jamie. Rob, dinna wait on me to eat.”
His nephew could have ordered his presence. But Jamie seemed to understand that there would be other times when he would need to do that, and he nodded now, looking back at his uncle. As soon as Jamie followed Rob away, Robena moved from behind the door, back nearer to the hearth.
“It worked,” he said as he entered and walked to her side.
“Aye, ’tis a good plan, as long as ye are happy?” He would be giving up so much to have her at his side.
“Are ye with me, wife?” he asked in the deep voice that sent chills from her head to her toes.
“I am, Iain.” Unfortunately, there was no time to do anything about the desire that he called forth in her. “I will be waiting for ye, laddie,” she promised.
With a kiss, quick and hot and possessive, he strode to the door and lifted the latch. He waited until she met his gaze and smiled.
“And I will take off my boots for ye, lass.”
Robena laughed as he pulled the door closed behind himself. She looked forward to the challenge he’d just offered her.
Even more than the fleeting moments of pleasure, she looked forward to a life with him—a future that she would never have dreamt was possible until Iain MacKillop made her believe it could happen.
Also by Terri Brisbin
MacKendimen Clan series
A Love Through Time (Book 1)
Once Forbidden (Book 2)
“A Highlander’s Hope” (Book 2A; novella in Christmas in Kilts)
A Matter of Time (Book 3)
A Highland Feuding series
Stolen by the Highlander (Book 1)
The Highlander’s Runaway Bride (Book 2)
Kidnapped by the Highland Rogue (Book 3)
Claiming His Highland Bride (Book 4)
Standalone Short Works
“A Traitor’s Heart” (short story in Brandywine Brides—A Blackwood Legacy Anthology
“Upon a Misty Skye” (novella in Once Upon a Haunted Castle)
“Across a Windswept Isle” (novella in The Forbidden Highlands)
“Kidnapping the Laird” (historical short story)
For a complete list of Terri’s books, please visit www.terribrisbin.com
About the Author
Author photograph © Bonnie J. Rovere
In real life, award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Terri Brisbin is a wife, a mom, a grandmom, and a dental hygienist. Terri’s 45+ historical and paranormal romance novels, novellas, and short stories have sold in more than 25 countries and 20 languages around the world. Visit www.terribrisbin.com for more info about Terri, her stories, and her upcoming events. Connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/terribrisbin or ‘like’ www.facebook.com/terribrisbinauthor.
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These are works of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these novellas are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
A Highlander's Hope. Copyright © 2017 by St. Martin’s Press.
“A Highlander’s Hope” copyright © 2020 by Theresa S. Brisbin
All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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ISBN 978-1-250-17932-6 (ebook)
First Edition: October 2017
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A Highlander's Hope: A MacKendimen Clan Novella Page 10