Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

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    To Charlet, these two girls were like pests. They constantly plagued her about husbands and she certainly wasn’t in the mood today. She just wanted them to go away, but then an idea crossed her mind. Maybe there was a way to quiet their complaints once and for all. “Suppose we make a bargain. You decide which MacGreagor you want to marry and I will make it perfectly clear to him that I am not interested.”
    “You would do that for us?” Julie asked.
    “I would do anything to get you to go away.”
    “You will not change your mind?”
    Charlet put her arm around Julie’s shoulders. “I truly do not wish to marry any lad. Therefore, I will not change my mind. Now, which lad do you favor?”
    Kenna was not that easily convinced. “We can choose any lad in the place, but that will not make him love anyone but you.”
    “Why do you blame me for that? I have done nothing.”
    “You could be a little uglier,” said Kenna.
    Charlet was amused and headed to her cottage. “I think that is a wonderful idea.”

    Rachel and Anna were sisters and they looked very much alike with dark hair and blue eyes. In the small cemetery, they stood next to each other looking down at the place where Emily and Dan were buried.
    Anna sighed. “I thought Charlet would never stop crying. She blames herself still. She simply cannot be convinced Dan did right by pulling her out of the fire instead of Emily.”
    “I know.”
    “I miss Emily very much.”
    Rachel rubbed the back of her neck. “So do I. Did Kevin ever discover how the fire started?”
    “Not that I have heard. It is odd the way it started on the roof. Of all the plagues in the world, I fear fire the most. Thank God the lads got it out before it spread and killed many more.”
    It was a peaceful graveyard, just beyond the meadow, where wildflowers grew abundantly and the wind whistled through the trees. When the sisters moved to look at the place where their mother and her husband were buried, Rachel patted her extended stomach and put her other arm around her big sister. “Perhaps if it is a girl, Connor will name her Catherin and if it is a boy, he will call him Justin.”
    “That would be very nice. I was surprised Justin died so soon after Mother, but I have heard of such things. He loved her so much; he just did not want to live without her. I wonder if it will be the same with Kevin and me.”
    “I do not know. Justin had no sons to live for and Kevin does. Besides, you might outlive him.”
    “I would not like that one bit. I would rather die first and save myself the pain of losing him.”
    Rachel put an arm around her sister a nd turned them back toward the K eep. “How very selfish of you. You would leave the rest of us to deal with Kevin after you are gone , and he will be unmanageable for at least a year.”
    “Will he take another wife, do you think?”
    “If I say yes, do you promise to live forever?”
    “I would have to, wouldn’t I?”
    Rachel smiled. “My husband says he would never want another woman, it took him too long to convince me to love him.”
    They took the long path home so they could enjoy the warm sun and Anna could pick heather blooms. “Where is my husband’s second in command? I have not seen him all day.”
    “Off to see Thomas. There is something in the air, but Connor does not say what.”
    “You are right, there is something in the air and it has to do with Charlet. Kevin spent a long time with her this morning.”
    “What could Charlet possibly have to do with anything?”
    “I do not know, but when I left, my husband was pacing the floor.”
    Connor rode into the courtyard and found Kevin waiting on the landing for him. He dismounted, handed his reins to a waiting boy and walked up the steps. But when he started to speak, Kevin interrupted, “Come in and rest.”
    He followed Kevin inside and then closed the door behind him before he spoke. “They have seen no Englishmen but his proposal of marriage is all over the Highlands. Some of the clansmen are enraged just as you suspected they would be.”
    “Our clan will hear soon enough as well.” Kevin poured wine into a goblet and handed it to the younger man. “We must set a guard for Charlet.”
    “Aye, a rather large guard. Thomas suggests we hide her. Both the Englishman and the Highlanders know she is here and Thomas thinks we should make her harder to find.”
    Kevin rubbed his forehead. “How does he propose we hide a bonnie lass with red