Highland Echoes by Ceci Giltenan

Author:Ceci Giltenan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-05-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Several days passed and little changed. Bram still came every evening, and Grace still faced ridicule every day. It became increasingly difficult to bear but Grace kept reminding herself that in a few weeks she would be able to marry Bram and perhaps things would get better then. She continued to work practically every waking moment on the ribbon. Having her grandmother’s help with Kristen had allowed Grace to work more, but she hated that she had so little time with her daughter.

Still, the tenth day was only two days away and after the ribbon was completed, she would make it up to both Kristen and Innes. She sat at her table outside, at the end of the cottage, away from the direct view of the villagers. It was the only way to avoid their scathing comments.

She tried to focus on her work but on hearing horses approach from the direction of the forest, she looked up. Laird Sutherland and one of his guardsmen approached. She looked down again, praying they would ride on past, but the horses stopped in the lane. Laird Sutherland dismounted, handed his reins to the guardsman, and walked towards her. Ye still aren’t listening to me are ye, God?

“Good afternoon, Grace.”

“Good afternoon, Laird.”

“’Tis a fine day.”

“Aye, Laird, it is.”

“Walk with me.”

“Laird, I have work to do.”

“That was not a request, Grace.”

Grace nodded. “Aye, Laird.” She put the loom and thread into her work basket and sat it inside the bedroom window.

Laird Sutherland gestured in the direction from which he had just ridden. She fell in step beside him, walking towards the forest. The guardsman remained behind.

“It’s time we talked.” Without further preamble, Laird Sutherland said, “I do not want ye to marry my son.”

“Ye’ve made that abundantly clear.”

“Mind yer tongue, lass. I am yer laird and right about now, whipping ye for insolence is very enticing.”

Grace bowed her head. “Forgive me, Laird. I forgot myself.”

He inclined his head slightly, accepting her apology. “So we have established that I do not want ye to marry Bram and I am yer laird. As yer laird, I am here to assign ye an extremely important task. However, I know ye’ve led a sheltered life and have very little knowledge of the world, so I intend to educate ye a bit before giving ye yer task.”

Grace had a sinking feeling in her gut. This was bad. This was very bad.

“Grace, the Highlands, in fact most of the civilized world, is divided into land areas, each of which is governed by a nobleman and his family.”

Grace fought desperately not to roll her eyes or do anything else that could be considered insolent, but for the love of God, did he think her an eejit?

He continued in the same vein. “To maintain order and withstand aggression, friendly connections and strategic relationships must be developed. We send our sons to live and train with other families and select spouses for our children to help maintain those alliances. I realize that as

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