Wishing For a Highlander by Jessi Gage Read Free Book Online Page A

throw away your birthright, lad,” he had said. “Remember Jacob and Esau?”
    He and Edmund had little in common with Isaac’s sons, but arguing with Steafan was as useful an expenditure of time as trying to force a gelding to breed. There was one thing he hadn’t ever admitted to his uncle, though, one thing he hoped might sway the laird.
    “I canna wed, uncle,” he admitted while Aodhan had looked on. “’Tis impossible for me to lie with a woman.”
    To his dismay, his uncle burst out in laughter, and a grin broke the war chieftain’s icy demeanor. His face had burned hot. He’d long grown used to being a laughing stock because of his size, but to bear whisky-slurred laughter in the pub was one thing. To bear the sober mirth of his uncle and the laird’s second-in-command in a private meeting felt leagues worse.
    “Ye dinna actually believe that, do you, lad?” his uncle had forced through his guffawing. Seeing the look on his face, Steafan’s smile died on his lips. “Christ, Darcy. ’Tis nothing to be shamed by to be large under one’s plaid.”
    Tell that to Anya , he’d thought. Even years later, her horrified expression stuck in his memory like a fly in a spider’s web. He couldn’t shake the image free, and he was determined never to see such a look on a woman’s face again.
    “I willna marry, Steafan,” he had insisted.
    “Ye will. I willna release you as my heir and I willna settle for an heir with no wife.”
    He’d trudged from his uncle’s office kenning full well he’d be wed within the year and pitying the poor lass Steafan would force into it. But now, with Aodhan whispering in his ear and Malina by his side, lovely as a lily in the gloaming and smelling of exotic fruit despite the mud and blood caking her clothing, he wondered if the saints had presented him a solution that would suit both him and Steafan.
    What if Steafan did wed them tonight? What if he kept the lass rather than help her return home? She was already with child. They could be a family and he would never have to trouble her with his bed.
    Aodhan’s eyes scrunched with uncharacteristic warmth as the possibility unfurled in Darcy’s imagination, puffing his chest with pride and filling his belly with nervous flutters. But ’twas a dream and no more.
    He shook his head. “I canna wed her, Aodhan. She is lost and wishes to return to her home, her people. I have vowed to help her do so and I willna go back on it.”
    “So wed her and then send her home to her people. Ye can tell Steafan she glimpsed under your plaid and ran away.” Aodhan’s lips twitched, and Darcy felt his cheeks burn. “Steafan willna be able to null the marriage without your consent. Ye will be wed as he wishes. Ye will have fulfilled the letter of his law, so he willna be able to hound ye or force ye into another marriage.”
    He stared in shock at the plotting war chieftain. He’d never before thought Aodhan less than utterly loyal to Steafan. Yet what he suggested was dishonest. He was ashamed to consider it.
    Aodhan’s eyes sharpened to their characteristic ice. “Steafan is besotted with your size, lad,” he said, his voice low. “It keeps him from seeing Edmund would be the better leader if it comes to that. There are few Keith who can match you as a fighter, and ye’re a fine miller and businessman. Ackergill owes a grand share of her prosperity to ye. But ye dinna have the ruthless streak a man needs to keep a clan in line. I tell ye nothing ye dinna already ken.”
    He nodded in agreement. He didn’t particularly want to lead, and he didn’t like the attention of being Steafan’s heir. Aodhan’s plan was tempting, but there was a flaw in it. “Steafan is no fool. He wants me wed, but only because he wants me to have bairns. If I wed the woman and she leaves, he’ll likely put me in the stocks if I dinna agree to a null.”
    “I’ll talk to him,” Aodhan said. “I could even make excuses for ye. Wed the lass tonight