Page 21 of The Laird’s Unexpected Twins

“There’s yer first mistake.” Freya stopped at the foot of the steps. “I didnae expect ye so soon. Or at all, frankly. I thought ye’d send someone.”

“And let me wife wander the Highlands without me? What kind of man would that make me?”

Freya bristled. “A normal one.”

“Ye have a low opinion of normal men.”

“And yet here ye are.”

“Here I am.”

She marched past his horse to where the groom waited with her mare. “Against me better judgment, and only for three weeks, and ye neednae look so pleased about it.”

“I am pleased.”

“Ye’re smirking.”

“This is me face, lass.”

“Then God help yer clan,” she scoffed, her cheeks pink from the harsh wind.

“It’s almost as if ye are surprised to see me here, even though I told ye I would be.”

Behind him, one of his men made a small, strangled sound.

Evander did not turn his head. He was too busy watching his wife hitch her satchel to her saddle with quick, angry little jerks of the straps. He’d been called many things in his life by many people, but normal was a first. He found he’d rather be scolded by her than praised by anyone else.

She didn’t accept any help. He doubted that she would accept any help from anyone, let alone him.

The doors above opened again. Laird MacKinnon came out first, shoulders set and eyes sweeping over them. His hands twitched, as if he’d spent the night deciding how he’d stand and where he’d put his hands. Fair-haired, broad, a scar through one eyebrow, and a sword he wasn’t touching but wanted to. His wife came out behind him, small and pale in a shawl, with the babe in her arms and her jaw set just like her sister’s.

It runs in the blood, then.

Evander had heard of the man. How could one not hear about the Lion of the Highlands? Rumors said Freya’s sister had tamed him.

“MacArthur.” MacKinnon stopped two steps above the yard. Just enough height to make it a point. “A word before ye go.”

“Ye’ll have it.”

“That’s me sister-in-law ye’re taking. She goes with ye of her own will, or so she tells me, and I’ll respect that.” A beat. “But if word comes back to me that she’s been hurt, that she’s been frightened or shamed or so much as bruised under yer roof, I’ll come for ye, Wolf or nae. And I’ll nae come alone.”

The yard went very quiet.

Evander let it stay quiet for a moment. Then he nodded once, slowly, the way he’d nod to any man who’d earned it. “I could say the same to ye.”

MacKinnon’s eyes narrowed.

“She wouldnae have needed me interference at that inn,” Evander continued, “if her own kin hadnae sent her across the country with a driver and two lads who were drunk in the stables by sundown. I found her cornered by strangers. Alone. Ye might think on that, before ye lecture me about bruises.”

Lady MacKinnon’s hand went to her mouth. Laird MacKinnon’s went to the hilt of his sword.

And Freya, God bless her, swung herself up into the saddle in one motion, gathered the reins, and said in a voice like a slammed door, “Shall we go? I like to travel early.”

Evander looked at her. She looked straight ahead at the gate.

“Do ye, now?”

“Early,” she stressed. “I would prefer if we werenae traveling at all, but early is better.”