Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

wife was suffering a lot more than he knew. He decided to ask her another question. “Do you think Rachel is in the Highlands somewhere?”
    She shook her head and that changed his every thought. It was the English then, and that meant …”
    “Please do not question me.” She touched her short, dark hair and sighed.
    “It will grow back and your face will heal. Are you quite certain no ribs are broken? Do you hurt inside?”
    “No.” She tried again to smile and this time when she looked, she recognized him. He was the giant on the hill she nearly shot with her arrow. She’d hidden in the trees, watched him search for her and remembered his face. It was a good face and u p close, he was quite handsome.
    She suddenly remembered Threcher, her beautiful black stallion and her smile faded. Before she was forced to face her father, she whispered in the horse’s ear, told him to escape and find her. Yet , he was just a horse and she knew it was impossible. Her Threcher was probably dead by now anyway.
    He noticed the change in her and instinctively reached for her hand, but she jumped and pulled away. “Give me your hand, Anna.” It wasn’t a request; it was an order.
    She watched the look in his eye and when she almost believed he did not mean to hurt her, she reluctantly obeyed.
    “I give you my pledge. You are my wife and I will never hurt you. If it is the wedding night that worries you, we will not consummate this marriage until you come to me. I will sleep in the next chamber until then.” He let go of her hand and stood up. “There are at least ten lasses outside this door who want to help you. Do not deny them. ‘ Tis an honor to help my wife and their feelings will be hurt if you do not allow it. Is there anything you wish me to do?”
    She thought about it for a moment. “My father said there would be a banquet. I do not believe …”
    “We call it a feast, but you need not worry. We have delayed it until you are healed.”
    “Thank you.”
    He was impressed by her courtesy. Just as his sister s aid, in all her discomfort, Anna still remembered to be courteous. She reminded him of his mother, but he believed his mother was an exception. The English were rarely thought of as courteous by the Highlanders. In fact, they had little regard for the English on any level. He nodded and walked out the door allowing the flood of skirts to enter.
    When Anna saw it, she was thrilled. Mary had made a scarf for her head to hide her missing hair. Anna nearly burst into tears of joy, which actually made some of the other women lose a tear or two. She wanted to wear it right away.
    Mary smoothed a small section of hair along the side of Anna’s face, wet her fingers and curled it in front of her ear. On the other side, she did the same thing. Then she tied the scarf in the back and all the women smiled their approval.
    “I told you she would like it,” Gretchen scoffed.
    Natty said, “Nay, I believe I am the one who said it.”
    Before long, they were all talking so fast in Gaelic Anna couldn’t understand a word. Not that she knew that many words in Gaelic, but she recognized her name. It didn’t sound quite the same as it did in English. It sounded more like Hanna with a long ‘A’ and when she burst out laughing they all stopped to stare at her.
    She was afraid she had insulted them and tried to explain. “ Anna…Anna…not Hanna, ” but her sore mouth made it nearly impossible to pronounce it correctly either, and this time when she started to laugh , they all laughed with her.
    Downstairs, Kevin smiled at Thomas. “If marriage means laughter, perhaps I will not mind so much.”
    The great hall was a large room that served as a gathering place with a long, narrow table in the middle. Several tall-backed chairs were around it and smaller tables along the walls held bowls of flowers, water pitchers and goblets. Weapons, captured or passed from one laird to the next, hung on one wall , while a colorful tapestry hung on the one opposite. At the far end of the room, a la rge hearth kept the place warm.
    Thomas pulled a chair away from the table and sat down next to Kevin, “So you think it was the English?”
    Kevin shook his head. “Why would the king allow his lads to beat a lass? If he wished to start a war, he would simply attack.”
    “Perhaps they were only dressed as English soldiers.”
    “That is possible.”
    The two men continued to eat their morning meal in silence until Kevin