The Highlander's Temptation by Eliza Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

that was not there, tucking the imaginary strand behind her ear. Was the woman reminded of a time when she’d not pulled her hair so tight? Or ’haps staring at Lorna’s disastrous mane was causing her aunt to twitch. Hmm… The latter seemed much more realistic. Lorna couldn’t imagine a time Fiona wouldn’t have pulled her hair steel tight.
    ’Twas hard to concentrate on what her aunt was saying, feeling, or the point she was trying to make when all Lorna wanted to do was look out the window to see what Magnus had done about the stranger. She wracked her brain for a clue as to who he was. Montgomery… Montgomery… Montgomery…
    How humiliating that he’d witnessed her brother carting her off like a lamb to slaughter.
    “When ye choose to do something, ye must think of everyone that will be affected by your actions.” Fiona’s long fingers gently tugged at Lorna’s sleeve.
    She felt her feet move across the floor as she followed her aunt’s guidance to the bench before her dressing table. When Fiona pushed on her shoulders, Lorna grudgingly sat, watching her aunt pick up her brush, taking the first painful stroke through the knotted mass of curls.
    Oh, Lord, so this was to be her punishment? A hair brushing. Lorna cringed, feeling the first tingle of a tear in her eye.
    “Think of all those who would suffer if something were to happen to ye? Ye’re fortunate that so many care for ye, lass. There are people in the world who have no one. And there are even those who have many but would still not be affected if they were gone.” A wistful note came into her tone. “In any event, ye’re very much cared for here at Dunrobin by your brothers and sister, cousins, your clan and by me.”
    With every passing moment the brush gentled, until finally her hair crackled and not a single knot was left. But Aunt Fiona didn’t stop there. She separated Lorna’s hair into portions and began braiding. Her aunt meant well, that was one thing Lorna did know. For all her rigidity, she was a woman who cared fiercely for her family. And she’d loved Lorna’s father dearly, as well as her mother, taking it hard when they were murdered. A murder that had yet to be solved.
    “Are ye listening, lass?”
    Lorna chewed her lip, recalling every word her aunt had spoken as though hearing them through a distant tunnel.
    She wasn’t sure how to respond. Her aunt was making her sound flighty, as though she’d no notion of love and respect and responsibility. As if she didn’t know just how many people cared for her, and as if she, too, didn’t care for them in return. She feared opening her mouth, and something rude escaping. And yet, she couldn’t let her aunt believe that Lorna was that much of a simpleton.
    Fio na was making her feel…selfish. As if craving a moment of peace, a few moments of solitude was selfish. It wasn’t. It was necessary.
    But how could she phrase it so her aunt wouldn’t get offended? The woman had devoted her entire life to her own family and now also to her nieces and nephews.
    “Aunt Fiona,” Lorna began, chewing the inside of her cheek. “Is there not something that ye enjoy doing above all else?”
    Lorna tucked her fingers into her skirts and crossed them over one another, praying that Fiona would understand what she was trying to say.
    Fiona’s fingers stilled in the braid, as though such a question took her aback. “I enjoy serving God and my family.”
    Lorna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Painfully obvious was that her aunt would fight her on this to prove her own point.
    “And at the end of the day, when ye’ve said your prayers, and done all ye could do for your family, is there not something else ye enjoy?”
    “The solid certainty that there is never enough praying one can do and never enough help my family needs.”
    Lorna jerked around, the motion so quick, the hair still threaded in her aunt’s fingers yanked with a painful sting. She cringed, then looked up into her