Highlander in Her Dreams by Allie Mackay Read Free Book Online Page A

clothes too tight for her under-five-foot Rubenesque figure, eating sweets, and producing babies. And her older sister, Lindsay, was a hypochondriac tree hugger and such a clinging vine, Kira wondered how she managed to spend enough time away from their parents to run her own household, much less raise her two children.
    â€œYou should follow in your sisters’ footsteps,” her mother added. “Marry and raise a family.”
    Kira set down her stone and glanced at the drawn curtains. She couldn’t see them, but she could feel the Carter Williamses of the world out there, clogging the parking lot, waiting for her to show herself.
    She shuddered, her stomach knotting at the thought of facing them. But then she put her shoulders back and stood straighter. Silly or not, she knew Aidan wouldn’t approve of a spineless woman.
    Not in his century and not in her dreams.
    As soon as she’d showered and had her coffee, she’d go outside and tell the long-noses to buzz off. Find someone else to be the centerpiece of their snarkfest.
    She wouldn’t cooperate. Nor would she be intimidated.
    â€œPerhaps you’re right—in part,” she admitted. “Maybe I do need other interests. But don’t forget, it was your own great-aunt Minnie’s inheritance that got me into all this.” She left out that her life might’ve taken an easier course if her mother hadn’t kept mum about some females in the family having far-seeing talents.
    A trait that had lain dormant for generations and that Blanche Bedwell had hoped would never surface again.
    Unfortunately—or not—it had, and its startling arrival that day at Wrath Isle had changed Kira’s life.
    â€œGreat-aunt Minnie lived in a different time,” her mother sniffed. “People were more impressionable then. You have the means to channel your talents into a more sensible direction.”
    Kira bristled. “Maybe I like the direction I’ve taken. I’m interested in the paranormal, though I wouldn’t mind a better-paying job where I wouldn’t have to spend half my time making up nonsense about angels amongst us and Bigfoot sightings. It’s the true supernatural that fascinates me. Ghosts, reincarnation, that sort of thing.”
    Her mother sighed.
    Ignoring her, Kira began pacing. “I’d like to work quietly and behind the scenes, without being plunged into the limelight.”
    â€œLimelight isn’t necessarily bad,” her mother countered. “Such attention could draw the notice of—”
    â€œJust the kind of man I’d not be interested in,” Kira finished for her. “Not if flash and brass topped his list of the important things in life.”
    Her mother tsk-tsked. “You’ve set your sights too high, my dear. Phemie’s stepdaughter is the only soul I’ve ever heard of who married a Scottish laird and went off to live happily ever after in a castle. Such things don’t happen every day.”
    No, they didn’t. Kira knew that.
    The quick flash of green-tinged heat jabbing needles in her heart proved it.
    A Scottish laird and living in the Highlands. In a real castle. She shot a glance at her desk, the silver-framed photo of the ruins of Castle Wrath claiming pride of place right next to her piece of granite. Her heart squeezed and the green-tinted heat began spreading through her chest, making each breath difficult.
    â€œPhemie and the girl’s father went over to see the couple last year,” her mother was saying. “Though Phemie couldn’t stomach sleeping in the castle, saying it was too damp and musty and full of ghosts. She—”
    â€œPhemie as in Euphemia Ross?” Disbelief washed over Kira. “The sharp-tongued little wisp of a woman in your bridge club? The one everyone calls the Cairn Avenue shrew?”
    â€œNow, Kira.” Blanche Bedwell used her most placating tone. “She’s