The Fraser Bride by Lois Greiman Read Free Book Online Page A

ferocity.
    “Nay. No word thus far,” Ramsay said, and lifted his gaze from her hands to her face.
    She loosened her grip abruptly, as if caught in the act of something disgraceful, and let her velvet skirt swirl to the floor. “Well, there is naught to be done for it, I suppose. She is only a steed, after all. I must away without her.”
    “Surely you cannot think to go alone,” Flanna said.
    “I would not ask more from you than you’ve already given. Indeed …” Her sky blue eyes swept sideways, encompassing Lachlan and Gilmour, but somehow missing Ramsay entirely. “It seems I owe you my very life, but I must leave immediately.”
    “Surely not.”
    “Not alone, at any rate,” Lachlan said, and shifted his weight slightly, so that his solid form was balanced between wide spread feet.
    “Aye,” Gilmour agreed. “I shall escort you.”
    ” ‘Tis I who shall go,” Lachlan corrected, but his brother shook his head as if saddened.
    “Truly, brother, there is none I would rather have at me back than thee as I accompany the fair lass to her home in the north. But Mother needs you here.”
    “And though she is eager to be rid of the likes of you, I fear I must disappoint her,” Lachlan argued. “For ‘tis I who shall escort the girl.”
    “Nay. I—”
    “Lads!” Flanna interrupted. “Mayhap it would be best if you did not speak of me as if I were not here.”
    “My apologies.”
    “So sorry,” Lachlan murmured.
    “Aye,” she said and glanced at one, then the other, before turning her gaze to Ramsay. “And what of you, my son?”
    He pulled his gaze from the girl’s face. Something had coiled hard and fast in his stomach, but he shrugged with deliberate nonchalance. “If my brothers manage to refrain from killing each other, I am certain she will be quite safe with the two of them.”
    Flanna raised her brows. Roderic rose beside her. “The
two
of them?”
    “Together?”
    ” ‘Twould mayhap be more than the lass had bargained for,” Flanna opined.
    “That I doubt,” Ramsay said, his tone as dry as his soul.
    “What say you?” His parents turned in unison toward him.
    He could feel the girl’s gaze shift in his direction as well, but he kept his attention focused on his parents. “I am certain the lass will be safe with me brothers to protect her.”
    “Aye.” Flanna held him in her gaze for a moment longer before turning to their guest. ” ‘Tis decided, then,” she said finally. “Preparations for the journey will begin immediately. You shall return to Levenlair with Lachlan and Gilmour, as well as a serving maid and additional guards.”
    “You are too kind,” Mary murmured, curtsying as she did so and ignoring the rumbling disagreement that had already begun between her two escorts.
    “Nay,” Roderic said. “We only wish to keep you safe until you reach your home.”
    Aye, Ramsay thought, watching her from beneath lowered brows. But who would keep them safe from her?

Chapter Five
    “And what of Bully?” Anora asked.
    “What’s that?” Gilmour turned toward her.
    They would be leaving in the morning, but he had arrived at her door some minutes before, asking if she would like a stroll in the gardens. She had accepted with ladylike grace. It had not been a difficult task to divert his attention past the sun washed arbors to the greens beyond. There, not fifty rods from Dun Ard’s drawbridge, a host of men trained for battle. Ten score, perhaps more, but the vast number did nothing to throw them into chaos. They trained in perfect precision, well armed, well organized, well mounted, with a broad and impressive captain at their helm. She had noticed him before, had even inquired about him, for a well trained army was one of the things Evermyst needed most. True, her warriors’ armor needed mending, their claymores sharpening, and their bows re-stringing, but first and foremost, they needed the kind of confidence and skill that could be taught only by a leader such as