Harlequin Historical July 2019, Box Set 2 of 2 by Lara Temple

Author:Lara Temple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘Where are you going?’

A child’s voice chimed behind Rory as he stormed out of the almost-empty castle. A few of his men had been at the end of the hallway. Enough to give privacy and security. With so much unsettled, he ordered them to stay.

‘You’re him, are you not? You’re the one everyone’s talking about.’ Another voice. Just as young, just as avoidable.

‘Of course it’s him. We’ve seen everyone else.’ Two childish voices, girls, moving in close behind him. Their words beginning to register, though he continued to ignore them. Where was Ailsa’s father? The keep was small, the rooms mostly empty except for those cleaning from the night before.

Paiden and Hamish were both sleeping beyond that of normal rest. Was it a coincidence? Ailsa didn’t seem surprised that Hamish was sleeping, but she did seem concerned. Hamish could merely be suffering from his illness…or he could be suffering from the same poison as Paiden.

‘We haven’t been allowed to see everyone. He could be anyone.’

‘You know that’s him. We saw him yesterday with Ailsa.’

‘From a distance.’

Louder, a hint of that tone and pitch only children arguing could hit. He’d walked away from the keep, around a corner, and they were still there. He wouldn’t find Frederick at this rate. Stopping abruptly, he turned.

Only to be almost ploughed into by two girls with longer limbs than bodies.

The one on his right immediately straightened and brushed her skirts, the other pointed her finger at him and announced, ‘You’re him!’

Eyes with more brown than green. Hair with more orange than darkening sunsets. But there was no mistaking them for anyone other than Ailsa’s identical sisters.

‘I’m him.’

The one who pointed hit her sister in the chest.

The one who straightened her gown merely jutted her chin and raised her brow. ‘Ailsa’s not out here.’

Rory blinked. These girls were mirrors of each other and they equally shared their older sister’s blunt speech, but their mannerisms were very different.

He’d been trained as a warrior, a man to follow his father into battle, a man to lead. His first reaction to such directness was to immediately answer. A habit he would break. He was married to a McCrieff and McCrieffs didn’t seem to obey the same niceties.

‘And you are?’ he enquired instead.

The stiff-backed one sighed as if put out, the one who pointed her finger sniggered. ‘It won’t matter because you won’t know.’

‘So you are impolite?’ he said.

One blushed, the other did not. ‘It’s not as if you told us who you are.’

‘True, but being clever you already guessed. So my guess is that you are my wife’s sisters who were ordered to stay away from me.’

Now both blushed.

At least when it came to these McCrieffs he could retain some control. ‘So, if you want to keep in my good graces, or if you wish me to keep secrets, the least I can acquire are names.’

Silence from them both. If they stood out here much longer, they’d be discovered and any secrets they wanted to hide would be lost.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.