Saved by the Highlander by Emily Tilton Read Free Book Online Page A

Fergus’ croft house, said, “Come along inside, my lady. I am sure you have had a very trying day.”
    The middle-aged woman, who had always been Niall’s mother, for all intents and purposes and for as long as he could remember, Niall’s own mother having died birthing him and his own father dying in battle soon after, beckoned to Alice with a kindly air. Fiona was plump, with a mild face framed in hair that was still more red than white, though her husband’s locks were now a uniform iron-gray.
    Alice seemed to hesitate, catching her lower lip between her teeth and looking at Niall. “I should like,” she said in a tone that Niall could not decipher at all, so levelly and clearly did she speak. “Mr. MacAlpin to promise me that he will not… do… that again.”
    “What?” Fiona asked, seeming to understand of a sudden what had happened, and what Alice had meant about ‘raising his hand.’ “Did Niall here give you a spanking, the naughty lad?”
    Even in the dim light that emanated from the croft house’s windows, shed by the central hearth, Niall could see Alice color. “If you must know,” she said. “Yes, he did. And I find it most… vexing that you, in your tone, seem to think it a jesting matter.”
    “It is no jesting matter, certainly,” said Fergus in a serious voice, though Niall felt sure he could see a twinkle in his uncle’s eye. “But I know my nephew and my chief, and I know that he would not have corrected you that way if you had not needed it, lass.”
    “You shall call me my lady, if you please,” Alice said.
    Fergus sighed, and looked at Niall to see how the younger man thought the elder should reply. Despite the frustration Alice Lourcy now occasioned, Niall felt a surge of gladness at how thoroughly he could trust the man who had played father to him all these years.
    Niall said, “My lady, if you please, follow Mrs. MacAlpin into your lodging. I pledge that I will not punish you again, if you behave yourself as becomes a guest of the MacAlpins.”
    “If…?” Alice said, almost to herself. Then she looked at Fiona, and afterward back to Niall. “If,” she said more firmly.
    “If,” said Niall, feeling suddenly that he had entered a battle of wills.
    “And if,” Alice said, recovering her hauteur. “I should say that I would not have your promise not to use violence upon me conditioned thus, what would you do, Mr. MacAlpin?”
    Now Fiona looked thoroughly exasperated. She clearly had seen in the girl just what Niall had seen, too: a fiery spirit and a good heart, but covered over with a strange confusion of duty and honor. “He would spank you again—my lady.” Alice’s mouth opened, as if she would speak yet another word of defiance, but Fiona said, “And he would be right to do it—my lady. He has a village to run, and his firm hand, or his strap, upon your bottom, doing you no real harm and teaching you to behave as you should, is something you should reckon upon. And if you don’t do as he has said, and follow me now, I shall ask him to let me strap you myself—my lady.”
    “You cannot be serious!” Alice said, her haughty tone turning to shock.
    “If she wasn’t serious, I will make her serious,” Niall said. “I felt her strap many a time as I grew, and I was the better for it.” Fiona rewarded him with a smile. “Now do as I have said, if you please, my lady.”
    Alice gave him one final look, the defiance so emphatic in it that Niall almost said that he would come into Fergus’ house after her and bend her over the bed to show her what the strap felt like. But then she said very coldly, “Good night, Mr. MacAlpin. I thank you for saving my life.”
    “Good night, my lady,” he said. “Fergus, would you come to my house for a bit?”
    “Aye, Niall, with a good will.” He turned to Alice with a smile that had only the gentlest smidgen of mockery in it. “Behave yourself, my lady. My Fiona knows her way about the highland strap. I can