Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

wants, he is unmarried.”
    Kevin sighed, “Send someone to find Kenna.”

    Laird Shaw Ferguson led his men up the road toward the MacGreagor hold. Not two years before, the Fergusons had gone to war with the MacGreagors, the MacGreagors easily won and Kevin killed Laird Ferguson. The new laird was well aware he was not welcome on MacGreagor land, but he wanted peace between the two clans. His elder brother had been an unkind man and Shaw Ferguson was not sorry Kevin killed him.
    This was no time to show cowardice, so Laird Ferguson boldly rode his horse across the bridge, dismounted and waited in the courtyard for the MacGreagor laird to meet him. He was standing with his legs apart and his hands behind his back when he saw her coming down the path. She took his breath away. He didn’t especially like red hair; he preferred golden hair like his instead. But she was so becoming, he would not have cared if her hair was green.
    Kenna spotted him too and didn’t think she had ever seen a more handsome man. She stopped and stared at him. Did Kevin really want her to turn down this marriage proposal? Then she remembered she was supposed to be Charlet. She turned, gracefully climbed the steps with her head held high and went inside the Keep.
    Shaw Ferguson waited. Another woman with red hair came out of a cottage and then another appeared. He hardly moved his lips when he spoke to the guard standing beside him. “Do all their women have red hair?”
    Just then, Connor came out to the landing and motioned for them to come up the steps. As soon as he entered, Shaw spotted the woman sitting at the long table with her hands gracefully folded in her lap. She was looking down as though she were bored.
    Kevin, on the other hand, was standing with his arms tightly folded. “You are on MacGreagor land.”
    “I am Shaw Ferguson. You killed my brother and I came to thank you for it.”
    Kevin was impressed, but he didn’t trust a Ferguson and wouldn’t be pacified so easily. He didn’t say another word and instead glared at the man.
    But Ferguson didn’t back down and finally said, “I have come to ask for peace between our two clans. Many of my followers have family here and they want to see them again. Will you allow it?”
    “And that is all you want?”
    “It is.” The woman looked at him then and he looked at her. To his surprise, she smiled. But he couldn’t be sure she wasn’t Kevin’s wife or daughter, so he looked away.
    Kevin didn’t quite believe him. “You have not come to ask for a wife?”
    “I will, if it will bring peace between us. Which lass would you like me to consider?”
    Kenna started to laugh, Connor smiled and Kevin was having a hard time keeping from laughing.
    But it confounded the Ferguson. “Do I amuse you?”
    Kevin tried to quickly mend the damage. “Lately, there has been an unusual number of requests for the hands of some of our lasses. We expected you to want the same.”
    “If this one is an example I can see why.” He glanced at her and could tell he made Kenna blush. “Is she your wife?”
    Kevin liked this man. He was courteous, respectful and not like his brother at all. There was a time when he was friends with Shaw Ferguson’s father and perhaps this son was more like him. It would be a good alliance and Kevin wanted to know more about Shaw Ferguson before he agreed to call a truce. “She is not my wife. Kenna you may leave now.”
    She got up and walked to Kevin. Kevin did not demand that his followers curtsy to him, but when in the presence of others, they always did out of respect for him. She curtsied to Kevin, then to Laird Ferguson and went to the door, but she wasn’t completely gone before she heard Laird Ferguson say, “Kenna is a fine name.” She ran down the steps and headed up the path. “Wait until Julie hears this!”
    Inside the K eep, Kevin offered Shaw a goblet of wine and the two men sat down at the table. “At the beginning of our war, your lads killed a MacGreagor, his wife and one of his sons. At the end of the battle, I demanded the Fergusons bring me the lads who committed the murders, but they brought only one lad. I suspect there were more.”
    “There were two more; your lads killed them in the battle.”
    “I see. Why did your brother want a war with us?”
    “He lusted after your land, your clan and your wife. I have heard she is a bonnie lass as well.”
    So far, Kevin felt the man was being honest. “Where were you in the