Let Me Be Your Hero by Elaine Coffman Read Free Book Online Page B

children. Niall rode with Jamie in the boat across the lake, but instead of accompanying him to Edinburgh, he rode to Grahamstone Castle, to attend to things there until Jamie returned.
    Fraser remained at Inchmurrin, temporarily assuming the role of Lord Errick, daily carrying out the tasks and chores as Alasdair would have done, with Kendrew tucked beneath his wing.
    “What do ye think it means to be an earl?” Kendrew asked, when they were taking a break from going over papers in the library.
    Fraser stopped and looked across the loch, where Ben Lomond stood with his humped shoulders, solitary and alone. “Take a look at Ben Lomond,” he said. “When ye are young, ye are crowded together in a range of mountains, but when ye become an earl, ye are like old Ben Lomond, standing all by himself, solitary and alone.”
    Fraser could see the concern in the grave expression on the boy’s young face. He ruffled Kendrew’s rosy hair. “’Tis a chore and a duty to be an earl, ’tis true. I am not worried that ye canna handle it, however.”
    Kendrew stopped to pick up a few pebbles along the shore, where the gentle waves of the loch seemed in no hurry to reach their destination. He pitched several in the water. “Lord Monleigh said I shall learn responsibility, and it was something as big as the word.”
    “Aye, he was right. I remember the first thing my father said to me on the subject. ‘Fraser, he said—’and here Fraser did his best to imitate the stern, gruff voice of his father ‘—ye must remember ye are responsible for decisions ye make in regards to situations ye are not responsible for.’”
    Kendrew kicked a rock and pointed to a red shank that flew overhead, the identifying white edge to the wings easy to see in the sunlight.
    “Noisy birds,” Fraser said, and enjoyed Kendrew’s responsive laugh. Kendrew was a gentle-hearted lad, and one he hated to see burdened with the duty of his inheritance. “Do ye understand the difference between duty and responsibility?”
    “Duty is the task and responsibility is taking theblame if ye do yer duty wrong, or the praise if ye do it well. I hope I always do it well,” he said, “for I dinna like to be wrong.”
    “’Tis a paradox, for no one likes to be wrong, and no one can be right all the time. Each thing ye do, every choice ye make, will be like a shadow that follows ye throughout yer life.”
    “I dinna understand what ye mean.”
    Fraser studied the freckles on Kendrew’s Celtic nose. “Weel, Lord Errick, I have given ye a bite of the ‘food for thought,’ but it is up to ye to swallow it, or spit it oot.”
    Kendrew was quiet for a while, and Fraser asked him if he was troubled about anything.
    “When I was little, it didna matter if I was wrong. Now that I am the earl, I am told I must expect that sometimes I will be wrong. I want to be a man like my father. I want to be strong. I dinna want to be wrong. Not ever.”
    “Weel, ye must realize that being right or wrong is not a judgment of yer manhood. Ye will be wrong, for no man can be right all the time, ye ken, but when ye are a man, ye realize ye will be wrong on occasion, and it willna crush yer spirit to accept that. In the end ye can only perform yer duty to the best o’ yer ability, and then ye must have the wit to leave the rest to God.”
    When they arrived back at the castle, Fraser sent Kendrew off with Dermot to enjoy being a twelve-year-old boy who enjoyed fishing with a longtime friend.
    Once he was gone, Fraser turned his thoughts to Claire. There was no doubt in his mind; he was in lovewith her. The frustrating part of it was, he knew this was not the time to pay her court, when her heart was broken with grief and her emotions nowhere near normal. As a friend, he did not want to take advantage of her time of sorrow. As a man, he wanted her in all the ways a man wants a woman, and it was becoming damnably difficult for him to keep his hands off of her.
    He loved her. He