Amanda Scott by Lord of the Isles Read Free Book Online Page B

sharp gaze easily. “If you had seen the lass, you would not ask such a foolish question.”
    “A beauty, eh?”
    “I’ve never seen her equal.”
    “I doubt she can match my lass,” Lachlan said.
    Realizing that he had stepped onto thin ice, Hector hesitated.
    “Faith, sir,” Mairi said to her husband, “you cannot expect every man to think me as beautiful as you do, certainly not after I’ve borne you three bairns!”
    “You are as beautiful as ever, lass,” Hector said. “Men still call you the most beautiful woman in the Isles, and I’ll not dispute that, because your looks are extraordinary, and motherhood has done naught to change that.”
    “I fear you cater to my vanity, sir. But?”
    “But my lass is extraordinary, too. She does not look anything like you, yet I have never seen her equal. She took my breath away the first time I laid eyes on her, and from what her father tells me, my reaction was the same as that of every other man who has clapped eyes on her.”
    “As I recall,” she said thoughtfully, “Macleod of Glenelg has a host of daughters for whom he must find husbands, and he has yet to find even one.”
    “Aye, for he insists on marrying off his eldest lass first. He would have foisted her onto me had I allowed it.”
    “Foisted?”
    “Aye, for she is as naught beside her sister. I tell you, I no sooner saw that lass than she stole my heart, but Macleod is a gey superstitious man. He was determined to give me his eldest instead. Feared that if he let a younger one marry first, some dire consequence would fall upon his clan.”
    “So your interest has fallen upon a younger daughter,” Lachlan said.
    “Aye, the second one, but the diamond in his collection, I promise you.”
    “What is she like?” Mairi asked.
    “Faith, did I not just tell you? She is beautiful.”
    “Perhaps she meant that you might tell us something more than that,” Lachlan suggested gently. “What color is her hair?”
    “Golden. Like spun gold. It was loose when first I saw her, and even with clouds of smoke billowing about her, her hair looked glorious, as if sunlight shone round her beautiful face.”
    “Smoke?” Mairi said. “What smoke?”
    “I told you earlier, her skirt caught fire, but thankfully I put it out before she suffered any harm.”
    “Faith, man,” Lachlan said. “You sound besotted.”
    “And you did not? When you fell in love with your lady here?”
    “I warrant I never sounded as daft as you do. Has this paragon any tocher, let alone one worthy of you and your kinsmen?”
    “What can that matter? I have enough to keep her, and I shall acquire more over time, more power, too, if what has occurred so far speaks for the future. I can support a wife, my lad, and any number of bairns as well.”
    “Aye, you can,” his brother agreed. “But I would remind you that you have a duty to our clan as well as to yourself.”
    “But what is she like?” Mairi asked again.
    “I told you.”
    “You told us she has blond hair, sir. Mayhap you have failed to notice that quite half the women in the Highlands and Isles have blond hair. I want to know what she is like.”
    “Very well,” he said, frowning as he tried to remember something more about Mariota that would satisfy Mairi. “She has blond hair and green eyes, like new grass. Her figure is . . . good.” He hesitated, wondering how much he ought to say about that. Meeting his twin’s gaze, he detected a twinkle and decided that he had said enough about Mariota’s figure. “She is beautiful, stunning. You’ll see,” he promised. “Our wedding is to be in ten days’ time.”
    “Why such haste?” Lachlan protested. “That does not even provide time enough for the priests to call the banns.”
    “We’ve no need of banns. Macleod has his own chaplain, who will do as he bids. We decided the wedding should proceed quickly, so that I can get the lass settled in at Lochbuie before he and I must travel to Finlaggan for the