Highland Inheritance (Highlands Ever After Book 2) by Aileen Adams

Author:Aileen Adams [Adams, Aileen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

11

“So that is the way ye allow the villagers to behave?” Janet demanded, slamming bowls onto the table at which Colin sat. “Ye allow them to mock a woman in distress?”

Colin understood her outrage for what it was: concern for her friend, along with a great deal of affection. He respected this. And the knowing of it was the only thing keeping him from setting her straight in a manner which he suspected she would not much appreciate.

Rather than flying into a rage, which he so desperately wished to do—anything, so long as he was able to give voice to his frustrations—he managed to keep an even tone upon offering reply. “I dinna allow them to do anything, as it is not for me to allow. Ye must know this, having lived there all your life. Aye, I must uphold the law, but there is no law against mocking anyone, man or woman. As your mistress described upon our arrival, it was due to my assistance that the crowd dispersed and she was able to mount the horse and ride on.”

What a dreadful ride it had been. He’d offered to pay a call at the house far earlier than one would be expected to arrive for supper, and Iona had accepted without hesitation. He suspected her humiliation had something to do with her sudden acquiescence.

After that, they’d spoken barely a word to each other, with Colin riding before her that she might cry without being spied. And she did cry—no matter how quiet she tried to be, no matter how she strove to conceal her pain, there was no ignoring it.

And it had affected him more deeply than he would have imagined. Her soft sniffling, combined with the memory of her kneeling in the worst sort of filth with her hair hanging in front of her face and no one to come to her rescue, twisted at his insides until he felt ill.

And once that illness passed, he was downright furious for her. And embarrassed, truth be told—for while he’d been honest with Janet, while he could not force the people of the village to behave, they were his people. It was his territory to be managed.

And they certainly had not cast themselves in a favorable light on that particular day. He was ashamed of those laughing, jeering women, and he wished to whip William Macintosh within an inch of his miserable life after having seen him mock Iona.

She was washing in the stream, and had ordered Janet to leave her be. Colin suspected Janet took it poorly, as an insult, though he did not imagine Iona intending it as such. Only someone who had witnessed the dreadful humiliation the lass had endured could understand why she needed to be alone.

Rather than attempt to defend anyone who’d mocked Iona so cruelly, he gestured for Janet to take a seat. When she cast a scornful look his way, he all but snarled at her. “I wish to speak plainly with ye. Sit.

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