A Highlander’s Homecoming by Melissa Mayhue Read Free Book Online Page A

that he was about to leave again on his quest to find his friend’s child. No, he caught himself in that thought. Isabella wouldn’t be a child any longer. He was twenty years too late to help the child Isabella. He could only pray he wasn’t too late to help the adult she’d become.
    From the conversation he’d just had with his mother, he sincerely doubted he’d be able to do that without telling them everything. Though
everything
would be a large bite for them to swallow.
    Still, he could hardly expect their assistance if he didn’t plan to offer them his honesty.
    At least he wouldn’t have to worry about Leah anymore. His mother, amazing woman that she is, would handle that from now on. The girl couldn’t ask for better from her own mother.
    One female settled in safely, one more to find. Only when he could assure himself of Isabella MacGahan’s well-being would he feel truly at peace.

Chapter 5

 
    Blood and slime spattered her dress, her face, her hair. It covered her arms from elbow to fingertips.
    Isabella MacGahan couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so happy.
    When she’d first stumbled upon the young ewe trapped in the drop-off between the rocky outcroppings, she hadn’t known the animal was so near giving birth. That realization had come only after she’d freed the sheep and it had followed her home.
    Obviously her grandfather’s shepherds hadn’t cared enough for one missing ewe to bother after this poor creature. They’d abandoned her to make her own way, much as Isa’s grandfather had absolved himself of any responsibility for her.
    Their loss, her gain. Though whether her thought was to the sheep’s situation or her own, Isa refused to explore.
    “No matter. You’ve a home here now, dearling, and you’ll have a name, too, as soon as I think on it a bit. You and yer wee bairn both.” Isa smiled down at the tired ewe, busily cleaning her wobbly-legged babe.
    Come to think of it, she could do with some cleaning up herself.
    With a satisfied smile, she left the animal shed and headed around the building to her own tiny home. A good soak in a hot tub would be lovely for her tired muscles, too. She could feel the strain of the last few hours’ hard work in her shoulders even now.
    The ewe was lucky to be alive. She might be small but her babe certainly wasn’t. Everything about the birth had appeared normal at the start of her labor. The nose and two black hooves had emerged first, but then one leg had gone crooked and Isa had been forced to pull the lamb’s shoulders free. With what Isa had convinced herself was a grateful look from the exhausted ewe, the mother had managed the rest of the delivery on her own.
    Still, Isa felt a marvelous exultation at the role she’d played in the event. She’d helped bring a new life into the world this day.
    How could she not be happy? Spring was in the air with the smell of warming earth rising around her. As she followed the muddy dirt path around to the entrance of her little cabin, the sun burst from behind the clouds that had blanketed the sky for the past several days.
    Isa turned her face up, halting her steps for a moment to bathe in the heated glow. A tiny shard of guilt flickered through her mind but she determinedly batted it away as she might a pesky midge.
    If it was supposed to rain, the clouds would return soon. Besides, it had already rained for days. Her
barrels were full. There was no lack of water. Whatever the cause of the sun’s hasty appearance, she welcomed it.
    With a sigh, she made her way to her front door, stopping to scoop up the wooden bucket she’d need for carrying water in to heat for the bath she planned. She eyed the little bench in front of her home longingly, considering a small rest might be in order in spite of the dried mess on her body and clothing.
    Until she heard the slow, steady step of an approaching horse.
    “Bollocks,” she muttered under her breath as she dived through her front door,