Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn Read Free Book Online Page B

her to smile
     back before he too settled in for the night.
    They were MacGregors. Little was known about them at the Abbey. The Reverend Mother had only spoken of them once while Davina
     was studying her lessons on Parliament. After centuries of bloody battles with the Campbells and the Colquhouns, the MacGregors
     had been proscribed by King James VI back in 1601. They became outlaws who defied kings and butchered nobles in their beds.
     If these Highlanders were true ambassadors of their clan, Davina doubted the MacGregors followed any laws, even now. Were
     they mercenaries then? No, they were enemies of the Protestant Campbells. Surely they would not work on Argyll’s side. But
     why should they give their allegiance to the throne when it was a king who had tried to abolish them?
    “Are you three brothers then?” she asked Rob, hoping to find out more about him while steering their conversation away from
     herself.
    “Colin is my brother. Will might as well be, and Finn is my aunt’s nephew by marriage.”
    Davina nodded and moved a little closer to him to examine his wound. “Why has your father traveled to the king’s coronation?”
     She tore off a length of her robe and saturated it with water.
    “Every chief and chieftain north of Edinburgh agreed to attend to show support fer the new Stuart king.”
    Davina looked at him and found him looking back. “So,” she said, a bit breathless by the way he let his cool gaze rove over
     her face. “You are the son of a chief.” She understood now his air of authority and arrogance. “A chief whose name came close
     to extinction under James VI.”
    “Aye,” he told her quietly, “a chief who suffered under enemies even more hostile than the Duke of York’s because of it.”
    She touched the edges of his wound lightly with her cloth, considering what he said. This man knew what it meant to fight
     for what one believed in, no matter what the cost. But what were his beliefs? “And yet, your father offers his loyalty to
     the throne now?”
    “The laws against us,” he reminded her, “were lifted by King Charles II.”
    Davina nodded. She’d read that Charles had been a sympathetic sovereign. Too sympathetic, some believed. He had lifted the
     bans the Puritans had set over England. He had reopened theaters, and brought back the celebration of Christmastide. Under
     his rule, colorful dress had returned to fashion, and all forms of art were once again allowed to be viewed.
    “Do you support the Duke of York’s succession to the throne as well?” she asked.
    “That will depend on him.”
    An admirable answer, that. It proved that whatever the reason Rob MacGregor had her in his possession, he at least was not
     one to be led about by other men’s convictions until he formed his own.
    “Now I’ve a question to put to ye, lass.”
    She closed her eyes, praying that God would forgive her if she was forced to lie to him again.
    “Did ye love him?”
    Her hands shook, jerking the cloth at his shoulder and making him wince. “How could I love a man I have never met? I’ve only
     heard…”
    “I speak of Captain Asher,” he interrupted.
    “Oh.” She opened her eyes, then wished she hadn’t when she saw curiosity arching his brow. She would have to be more careful
     with her answers. “Of course I loved him. Edward was like a brother to me.” She returned her full attention to his wound,
     hoping her answer satisfied him.
    Apparently it did, for he left her to finish wrapping his wound without another word to her. When she was done, he thanked
     her, commanded Will to keep first watch, then stretched out beside her and told her to get some sleep. She sat there while
     he slung his wounded arm over his bare belly and closed his eyes.
    What should she do now? She looked around the firelight, catching Will’s smile. She didn’t smile back, but sank to her elbow,
     and then her side, and closed her eyes to the sound of Rob’s slow, steady breath at