The Highlander's Choice by Callie Hutton Read Free Book Online Page A

imagine? And he allows her to work in her science.”
    “Very forward thinking.”
    “Oh, it wasn’t easy. He gave her a difficult time in the beginning.” She grinned, apparently amused at some memories. “I also have four sisters.”
    “Ach, indeed a large family.”
    She nodded. “There’s my sister Marion, married to a baron—who is blind. My sister Abigail is married to a rector, my twin sister Sarah, and the last of our brood, Mary, are still unmarried.” She glanced at him, mirth in her eyes. “As am I.”
    “’Tis glad I am to hear it since ye responded so well to my kiss.” He loved the red flush that crept up from her neck to her lovely cheeks. “A twin are ye?”
    “Yes. This is the first time in my life I’m away from her. It seems strange somehow, and freeing at the same time.”
    “Freeing in what way?”
    “As much as I love Sarah, we have been treated like a matching set our entire lives. Shared birthday parties, shared come-outs, shared friends, shared everything.” She sighed and continued. “When we both received a strand of pearls for our sixteenth birthday I begged my father to return them to the jeweler and replace them with a golden pendant. I love pearls, but I just wanted something different from my twin.”
    A ducal brother married to a scientist and a sister married to a rector. A father willing to return an expensive piece of jewelry to please a daughter who just wanted to feel apart from her twin. Indeed, not only was the lass dissimilar from his idea of English, but she apparently came from an entire family of nonconformists.
    “Ye appear to have a verra different family than what I’ve been told about the English.”
    “As much as I would like to say all your assumptions about the English are wrong, I must admit, my family is a bit different. When we were young, my mother actually got down on the floor and played with us.” Apparently warming to the subject of her family, she continued. “We spent most of our childhood in the country. Mother felt the London air was not good for our lungs. That gave us quite a bit of freedom.”
    “And that is where you learned to ride in men’s breeches?”
    She nodded. “As do my sisters. Father had them specially made for us. Well, except for Marion.” She wrinkled her forehead. “She is too much of a lady.”
    Liam threw back his head and laughed. He couldn’t remember when he’d found a lass so entertaining. The women his mother paraded before him were only interested in his money and lands. They spoke of nothing except how they would redecorate Bedlay Castle, not caring that he found it quite pleasant just the way it was. And the lasses his mum would not consider worthy as mother to her grandchildren were more interested in what was between his legs. Not that he objected to those lasses, since a man had needs. But he didn’t seek them out for conversation.
    This one was different. She never even hinted about his land or money. Although a wee lass, she was strong and confident. Just thinking about the smooth, silky skin under those breeches wreaked havoc with his blood supply. “Have ye had contact with many Scots, lass?”
    “No. But like you, I held notions of what Scotsmen were like. My mother’s aunt married a Scotsman. A large man who favored drink and found it very difficult to find his way to her bed. Yet he had no trouble finding beds of other ladies,” she said. “I know that infidelity is accepted in my world, but he was not discreet, and it humiliated my aunt.”
    “But your parents were discreet?”
    “No!” She pulled herself up and glared at him. “They had no need to be discreet. My parents adored each other. They would never think of doing such a thing.”
    “Another way your family differs from the rest.”
    “It is one reason why my brother bemoans the responsibility of his sisters. None of us will marry for any reason other than love. We all feel we deserve what my parents had.”
    “And have