Page 4 of A Highlander's Vow

Chapter Two

Gregory had anuncomfortable feeling about Clan Sinclair even before he and his men were told to wait in the great hall for Lady Sinclair. No offer was made for drink or food always given to a traveler.

He’d expected a different sort of Clan Sinclair. True, he hadn’t spent much time with Robert over the years, but the Robert he’d known would never allow the sloppiness of the warriors training on the lists that they’d seen on their way in.

It was the middle of the day and men were slouching around the great hall drinking ale. Maids who appeared to be cleaning up the area from the noon meal seemed more interested in the men who kept waving ale glasses in the air for a refill.

Even as he watched, a lass sat grinning on a warrior’s lap, his hand busy down her bodice. Gregory shook his head. What the hell had happened to his friend’s clan?

At the sound of someone approaching him, he turned to spot a woman. Her body was the kind that gave a man visions of nights spent in bed with low candlelight and a bottle of wine. Her delicious curves filled out her bodice well, and her small waist brought attention to hips that a man could hold onto. Those curves, along with her full lips, made her very appealing.

She had a sprinkling of freckles over her creamy cheeks, greeneyes, with long lashes, and golden-red hair held back from her face with two braids fastened at the back of her head. He hoped with all his heart that this was Robert’s widow. For as much as he didn’t want to marry, he would have no problem bedding this beauty.

She stopped in front of him, tilting her head in question. “Ye wish to see me?”

“Aye.” All of a sudden, he found it hard to even speak with her deep green eyes boring a hole into him. His mouth had dried up and he knew he had a silly grin on his face.

“What is it ye want from me, sir?”

Ach lass, if I told ye what I wanted from ye, I would get a slap in the face, or a dirk in my neck.

Gregory cleared his throat. “Are ye Robert Sinclair’s widow?”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Aye, I am Lady Megan Sinclair.”

Still unable to form words, he fumbled in the pocket of his trews and withdrew the note that had been penned by Robert and sent to Gregory from someone in the clan. Finding his voice, he said, “Yer husband and I drew this up when we were young warriors training together at Clan Sutherland.”

Before she even looked at the words her husband had written, her eyes lit up. “Ye are Gregory Sinclair?”

He nodded.

Her face became very animated. “He spoke of ye often. He always wanted us to take a trip to Castle Leod for a visit.”

Noticing the interest from others in the great hall, he took Lady Sinclair by her elbow and walked her away from questioning eyes. “Is there somewhere we can speak privately?”

If she was surprised by his words, she didn’t show it. She nodded and said, “Upstairs is my sitting room. We can go there.”

He nodded and motioned to his men to wait for him.

She chatted all the way up the stairs and down the corridor to hersitting room. She kept glancing over her shoulder at him, the words spilling from her mouth until he was concerned she would lose her balance and tumble down the stairs.

Once they were settled in the small room with two chairs, neither of which look as though they would hold him, he took a deep breath. “Please read the note I gave you.”

She startled, almost as if she had forgotten the parchment in her hand. She opened it and her eyes moved back and forth over the words. Megan sucked in a deep breath. She placed her hand on her chest and looked at him with tears in her eyes. “What does this mean?”

He nodded at the paper. “Just what it says. As young warriors Robert and I saw a mon cut down in battle who left a young wife and two bairns. We decided then and there that we would ne’er allow that to happen to either one of us.”

She licked her lips and whispered, “Meaning…what?”

He stood and ran his fingers through his hair. “Meaning, Lady Sinclair, I intend to fulfill our pledge.”

When she continued to stare at him, he huffed, “I am here at Sinclair Castle Girnigoe to marry ye.”

*

Megan could onlystare at the man. He was here at Sinclair Castle Girnigoe to marry her?

To marry her?