Page 5 of Never Kiss a Highlander

She sighed. “What is it, Mackay?”

“Ye cannot stroll by the lists when the men are training. They doona need the distraction.”

She tilted her head and gave him a tight smile. “I have been called many things in my life, Finn Mackay, but a distraction has ne’er been one of them.”

“I doona care what you’ve been called before. Ye are a distraction now and could cause one of these men injuries.”

Her face flushed. “Are ye ordering me no’ to walk by the lists in my own castle?”

“Aye. Now ye have the right of it. Doona walk anywhere near the lists when the men are training. I canno’ believe ye dinna already ken that.”

She leaned forward. “I doona take orders from anyone, Mackay.”

He also leaned in, until they were almost nose-to-nose. “Aye. Ye will take orders from me when it concerns the safety of my men.”

“They are no’ yer men.”

“Aye. They are. And ye will obey my orders. If ye have any doubt in yer brain, ye can speak with yer da. Our laird.”

He became aware that all the men who had been training along with James and Albert had been watching the exchangebetween him and the laird’s daughter. It was not the best way for him to introduce himself to the men.

“We will discuss this further after the evening meal.”

The lass looked angry enough to spit. In fact, she reminded him of a hissing kitten who wanted to strike with its nails. Instead of continuing the exchange, she pulled her basket of flowers closer to her body, turned and stormed off.

The nerve of that man, telling her what to do. No one gave her orders. She did know it was not a good idea to walk that way back from her garden after she’d collected almost the last of the fall flowers, and she rarely did. But being ordered by the man like she was some bairn was outrageous!

Finn Mackay was a bully. She knew the type. Always in control, always shouting orders and demands. Well, he might be her father’s new second-in-command, but Lady Alison Mackay was not one of his warriors.

Even though he’d angered her with his surly attitude, she couldn’t help but feel a strange attraction to the man. When he stormed over to her, his muscles flexing, his strong legs eating up the distance between them, fluttering began in her lower parts.

His dark brown hair, shorter than most men, along with his crystal clear blue eyes mesmerized her to the extent that at first she didn’t understand that he was chastising her.

She was prepared to smile at him until she realized that the sound of his deep voice carried to the lists where the men watched them. She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin. She hated that she noticed his handsome face as he ordered her about.

His blue eyes deepened as his annoyance grew. She hated the man but he brought out feelings that were new and strange. Anger she knew, but not this.

‘Twas best to stay as far away from Finn Mackay as possible. She would be married in a fortnight.

Married to a man who had no interest in ordering her about. She huffed. Her betrothed, Archie Sinclair, had no interest in her at all. That was what she’d wanted, she reminded herself. He would live his life—with his lemman—and she would live hers.

Alone.

Continuing to feel restless after her encounter with Finn Mackay, she returned to her bedchamber to add to the pile of clothing she would bring with her when she moved to Castle Sinclair Grinigoe.

She picked up a chemise she’d begun folding and sat on the bed. Would she truly be happy with a husband in love with someone else who he did everything with except marry?

She remembered the story of Laird Robin Mackay breaking his betrothal with Lady Lorena Gunn and how the woman had felt rejected.

But Robin’s brother, Craig, had stepped up and married the lass and, from what she’d seen when Craig and his wife were here a few weeks ago, they both seemed very happy.

Would she be happy? Bah. Happy was for fools because it could disappear in a flash. She would be well provided for, have a place of honor in the Sinclair clan as well as her own clan when Archie took her da’s place.

Her mind wandered. Would she be respected by the staff at the Sinclair keep who she would be dealing with should they know about her husband’s preference for his mistress?

She shook off the somber thoughts.

Children. There would be little ones to cuddle, nurture, and watch grow into strong lads and bonny lasses. Yes, her life would be full.