Highland Destiny by Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online Page A

your kind aid in eating this stew,” Nigel said quietly as she set the tray on his lap.
    She glanced at him with some suspicion as she sat down on the edge of the bed and began to feed him the thick venison stew. He idly rested a hand on her knee and she felt no weakness there. The man could probably feed himself, but she decided to allow him to play his game. He did still suffer from weakness, his strength badly depleted by his wounds and the fever. There was always the chance that he feared losing the strength a good long rest had given him and finding himself unable to continue feeding himself partway through his meal or embarrassing himself by making a poor job of it. Since he was still completely harmless, she saw no gain in arguing the matter.
    “Why do ye search for your kinsmen here?” Nigel asked as Maldie cut him some bread. “The Kirkcaldy clan roosts many leagues from here.”
    “Aye, they do. I havenae gotten lost, if that is what ye think,” she replied. “I dinnae wish to go to them.”
    “Why?” He coughed a little when she somewhat roughly stuck a thick slice of bread in his mouth. “’Tis a reasonable question,” he protested, smiling faintly at the look of irritation on her face.
    “Mayhap. The Kirkcaldys dinnae want me about. I have made no secret of the sad truth that I am a poor lass and have lived a rough life.”
    “As have many of the Kirkcaldys, I am certain.”
    “Aye. Howbeit, what I havenae said is that I am a bastard child.” Nigel’s eyes widened slightly, but she saw no scorn or distaste there, merely curiosity and the faintest hint of pity. “My mother was the eldest daughter of a Kirkcaldy laird. She allowed herself to be seduced away from her kinsmen. Weel, the mon who stole her away from hearth and home was already wed. When she got with child, he left her. She was too ashamed to go home.”
    Maldie decided it was safe to tell that much truth about herself. She would keep well hidden the name of her sire as well as the fact that he had stayed until she was born, until he had seen that his sin had given him a girl child and not the son he craved.Naming her sire could pull her into more trouble than she could deal with, perhaps even put her life at stake. Speaking of the man’s craving for a son could easily spawn more questions than she could safely answer.
    “Ye could be misjudging the Kirkcaldys.” Nigel used both hands to grasp his tankard of wine as he took a drink. “They may not care that ye are a bastard child. Your mother’s fear that they would turn her or ye aside could be born of her own sense of guilt and shame. Mayhap ye should return home and speak to her.”
    “I cannae. She is dead.”
    “I am sorry for your loss. So, do ye seek out your father’s kinsmen?”
    That question made Maldie very uneasy and she abruptly stood up. “Nay. That cur has shown no interest in me. I have none in him. Are ye done?”
    He nodded and she took the tray away, setting it back on the table near the window. It was now clear that answering a few questions was not enough to satisfy Nigel’s curiosity. No matter how carefully she replied, her answer seemed to breed yet another question. The way he was so closely watching her told Maldie that her reaction to the question about her father had only whetted his appetite for more answers. It was not going to be easy to hold fast to her secrets without raising suspicions. If she decided to stay at Donncoill, to take even a small part in the fight against Beaton, she was going to have to think of some story about her past, something detailed and elaborate enough to answer all possible questions. Maldie was not sure she could think of such a complicated lie, nor tell it well.
    The sound of the door opening caught her attention and she was surprised at how relieved she was to see Balfour. Since they had kissed she had done her best to stay far away from the man, nearly fleeing the room the moment he cleared the doorway. Even the