Page 11 of To Charm a Highlander

He waved her forward and they chose a table near the dais where Haydon, Ainslee, Conall, Maura, Malcolm and Christine sat.E’en though Malcolm lived in his own house on property given to him by Haydon when he married Christine, he still appeared at the lists every day to help with the training of the warriors.

Donella smiled as she watched all the ladies wrestle with bairns on their laps.Once she had settled into her seat, she felt the need to stamp her foot at the looks she was receiving from her family.Christ’s toes, whatever was wrong with them?

Perhaps she hadn’t received attention from men before, but she was now, and she intended to enjoy it.

Within minutes, the young serving lasses came from the kitchen with bowls of fragrant stew, loaves of warm bread and freshly churned butter.

* * *

Haydon leaned over to Ainslee,trying his best to speak low enough, but over his daughter, Grace’s enthusiastic babbling.“What do ye think about the change in Donella?”

His wife shrugged.“I doona have any idea.But whate’er caused the change, I am delighted with it.”

“Do ye think a knock on the head can change a person’s nature?”he asked.

“There is so little we ken about the body, especially the mind.”Ainslee shuffled Grace from her lap onto Haydon’s since the lass was extending her little arms out toward her da.

Haydon tugged his hair from his daughter’s chubby fist.“I ne’er thought about finding a husband for the lass since she appeared uninterested in such things.”

“As well as most things.But if this new behavior continues, she might be ready for a husband and a family.”

The laird looked over to where Donella and Gunn were chattering away as if they’d kenned each other for years instead of a few days.

“She seems to like the new warrior,” Ainslee said.

Haydon frowned.“Aye.And he seems to like her as well.”

Grace stood on Haydon’s thighs and began to bounce.“But I still doona trust the mon completely.”

“Has he given ye reason to no’ trust him?”

The laird studied his sister and the mon.“It still causes me to wonder why his brother was so free to loss the mon out of his clan.‘Tis usually a serious reason to do such a thing.From what I’ve seen so far, nothing about the mon deserves such treatment.”

Conall leaned toward Haydon on his other side.“Are ye thinking what I’m thinking, brother?”

“What is that?”He placed Grace on his shoulders as she continued to yank on his hair.He would be bald by the time his bairns were all grown.

“’Tis time ye found a husband for Donella.Whatever the problem has been mayhap the whack on her head knocked it out of her.”

Haydon sighed.“I need to speak with Dorathia.I dinna ken if she has any more ideas than we do—which is none, but as much as I love the change in the lass, something in me says ‘tis not permanent.”

“That is a verra negative opinion, brother.”

He grabbed Grace as she began to fall backward.“Mayhap I’m merely preparing myself for a disappointment.”

* * *

“I doonacare for the way yer brother watches us,” Callum said to Donella as he observed the laird from under shuttered eyelashes.

“He’s been acting verra strange since I recovered from my fall.”Donella stabbed a piece of meat in the trencher and slipped it into her mouth.“He behaves as though he doona ken me.”

Silent for a moment, Callum said, “Why isna a lass as beautiful as ye married?Or did ye lose yer husband in a battle?”

Donella swallowed a piece of bread and licked her lips.She glanced over at Callum who was looking at her in a strange way.Christ’s toes, not him too.“I canno’ say for sure.I doona remember exactly what my life was like before I fell.Everything is muddled.It seems to me I spent a great deal of time walking in the woods at the back of the castle.”

“I thought ye worked with Dorathia?”

She shook her head.“Nay.I am enjoying my time with her and canno’ understand why I dinna work with her before now.Ainslee said something about returning to my work in the garden, but I remember doing that when my mam was alive.I donna recall that after she died.”