Page 5 of To Charm a Highlander

“Just so you ken, I will be sending a missive to yer brother to hear his side of yer story.”

Callum kenned exactly what Fraser would say.He’d been blathering the false story since the battle that had felled Da.‘Twould be up to Haydon as to what side of the story he believed.As long as he now had a place to stay with the promise of work and hot meals, he would enjoy it as long as he could.Mayhap if he proved himself that would be enough to keep his place here.

The Sutherland clan was powerful and well-respected.Callum’s clan, the Gunns was small and had always been at odds with their neighbors.With his laird allowing him to stay was proof enough that Sutherland had no fear of the Gunn Clan.

The mon Sutherland had directed to get him settled waved a hand at him.“I’m Hamish Sutherland.If the gossip is correct, ye are a Gunn and were banned from yer clan.”

“Aye.Bad news travels fast.‘Tis true.Our laird is sending word to my brother, the new laird of Gunn, that I am here.We shall see what happens from that.All I will say to ye is there was a misunderstanding between me and my brother.”

Hamish didn’t question him further and walked them back to the outer bailey.“We generally take our meals and sleep in the great hall.There’s a room at the back of the keep where ye can keep any personal items ye have.”

Callum snorted.“What I own is what I’m wearing.I could use another set of clothes so I can at least wash these.”

“Aye,” Hamish said with a grin.“Ye do smell a tad foul.But I notice ye got a scratch during the clash with the laird.Ye best see Dorathia, our healer, and have her look at it.Ye doona want the cut to become infected.”

They continued to walk to a small building at the back of the castle walls.The room was dark and obviously belonged to the warriors.Hamish waved his arm around.“When we’re not walking the walls, training, eating, or asleep in the great hall, this is where we can take a moment to relax.”He grinned again, the mon apparently being of the happy sort, “No’ that there is any time to relax.”

Once he showed him the small building, he said, “Come let us get Dorathia to look at yer wound, then I ken find a lass to rustle up some clothes for ye.The women are always making new ones since so many of ours end up in tatters after all the training we do.”He waved in the southeast direction.“The loch behind us is generally where we get to smelling better.”

Even though his place in the clan was not permanently guaranteed, Callum felt comfortable, needed, and settled for the first time in all the weeks since he’d left Gunn.

Next he had to figure out why Fraser had acted as he had.