Return of the Highlander by Julianne MacLean Read Free Book Online

kept his voice low.
    She wished she could make out what they were saying to each other. Did it have something to do with their mission to deliver her to Leathan Castle? Perhaps Angus the Lion was a villain after all. Perhaps he had given them orders to dispose of her, or take steps along the way to prevent her father’s pardon from reaching him in time.
    But Logan had been so kind to her. Perhaps he was trying to prevent that from happening.
    Or perhaps this disagreement was something else entirely—something personal between the two brothers. She’d noticed the way Darach had watched her converse with Logan that evening. There had been a constant, burning hostility in his eyes that caused the hairs to rise up on the back of her neck.
    Perhaps he simply didn’t approve of his brother showing her kindness, for she was a member of an enemy clan. The chief’s daughter no less.
    As they continued to quarrel, she predicted one of them would soon storm off and return to the fire. Deciding it would be best if they knew nothing about her eavesdropping, she crawled back to her bedroll, lay down, and drew the cover up to her ear. Closing her eyes, she feigned sleep as she awaited their return.

Chapter Eight

    The following morning, the Highlanders rose early with the sun and shared the task of cooking eggs and coffee over the fire. Though Logan made a few polite attempts at conversation, Darach made no effort to do the same. His irritable silence caused an uncomfortable tension to hang in the air, heavy as the rolling mist across the lake. He spoke not a single word to his brother, or to Larena.
    Later, after packing up the camp, they trotted the horses into the forest in a single column and rode for many hours. When at last they emerged from the cover of the trees onto a wide moor swathed in purple heather, Larena urged Rupert into a quick trot to catch up with Logan.
    “When will we stop again?” she asked, though it was not what she really wanted to know.
    “Soon,” he replied. “There’s a narrow river just beyond that outcropping in the distance.”
    They rode on in silence, and Larena couldn’t resist glancing over her shoulder at Darach, who was far enough behind them to remain in sight, but not close enough to hear what she was about to say to his brother.
    “May I ask you something?” She faced forward again.
    “Anything, lass.”
    Breathing in the fresh summer fragrance of the moor, she watched Logan’s profile with interest. “Last night, I woke up and heard you and Darach arguing on the beach. I’m sorry. I wasn’t my intention to listen in on a private conversation, but—”
    He glanced at her with concern. “Did you hear what words were spoken?”
    “No,” she replied, perhaps too hastily. “You were far away, but it was obvious that you were quarreling.”
    Logan’s shoulders rose and fell with a deep sigh of defeat. “Aye. That we were.”
    When he made no move to elaborate, she pressed a little more firmly for information. “Did it have something to do with me, or this mission to take me home? Darach made it clear that he feels no fondness for me. He didn’t want to help me, not even when Angus asked him to. I’m sure he would have preferred to toss my father’s pardon onto a fire and let me rot in the Kinloch dungeon.”
    Logan swayed to and fro in his saddle, squinting across the distance. At last he turned his gaze to meet hers. “Pay him no mind, lass. He can be thoughtless sometimes. As for the two of us… Well…we don’t always agree on certain things.”
    “Such as?” A bold question, to be sure, but she wanted to know. “You both seemed quite cross.”
    Logan took a moment to consider how best to reply. “Darach may be my brother, but sometimes he sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
    “How so?”
    Logan slanted her a look. “He’s not pleased by how I’ve been paying you so much attention, lass. Ever since we left Kinloch, I’ve been asking you questions,