Page 10 of The Highland Heir

He’d little experience with marriage. Hisfather had never married after Kieran’s mother died. Teague hadnever married after Ellie’s mother passed. Most of the warriors hespent his days sparring with were unwed.

Marnie and Joan from the kitchens were bothwed, but they were no docile brides.

“You will be a fine husband, Kier. Stopworrying,” Ellie said as if she’d heard every thought as he hadit.

“Careful, witch, if the wrong person findsout ye are all-knowing, you’ll be burned at the stake.”

“I trust ye to keep my secret.” She winked athim, and he felt his body tighten in an uncomfortable way.

“Aye. But only because I don’t want to betasked with collecting all that wood,” he joked, earning a thumpagainst his shoulder.

She laughed at his jest, and he laughed alongwith her. He found himself wishing for this in his marriage. Thiseasy partnership. Friendship and understanding.

He doubted he would have such a thing with astranger. It had taken a lifetime for he and Ellie to know eachother so well they didn’t need to speak aloud to know the other’sthoughts.

That night when he went to bed, he lay theretrying to envision what his wife might look like. Ellie had askedif he pictured her fair or dark. He allowed his mind to drift as ifit would lead him to a preference of some kind.

Dark. Small flashes of auburn where thesunlight touched it.

Her hair would have the slightest waves. Shewouldn’t be too short or too tall. Long, strong limbs and femininecurves that his hands would fit against perfectly.

And her laugh would warm his soul.

Before he’d realized it, the woman he’dconjured up blinked her brown eyes at him as if she was just assurprised to be there as he was.

“Ellie,” he whispered and closed his eyes,trying to push the vision away.

Surely, he’d only thought of her because heknew every line and curve of her face. She was familiar andcomfortable. But for all of those things, she was stillbeautiful.

He clenched his hands into fists, wishingthey weren’t so empty. He’d much rather have them molded to herwomanly curves.

As he considered it longer, he was shocked torealize Ellie was exactly what he would want his wife to look like.How had he never seen his best friend in that way until now?

And more importantly, how would he make surehe never thought of her like that again?

Chapter Five

Ella lay in her bed in the loft above herfather’s room, where she’d slept since she was able to climb theladder to the second floor. But her familiar room didn’t bring hercomfort tonight.

She was restless, and her mind wouldn’tstill. Instead, it brought up memories from the past in nodiscernable order. But each thought was of Kieran.

She remembered him chasing her in the fieldsas they often did. When they were younger, he could never catchher. She was quick with longer legs while he was lanky but slower.But when they’d been near sixteen summers, he’d grown almost a footand he’d caught her. They’d fallen to the grass, his long bodypressed against hers, and the scent of his heated skin had made herheart beat even faster.

He’d stared at her in shock a moment later,and she’d felt something move beneath his kilt before he’d rolledoff her and walked away. At the time, she’d been too young tounderstand what had happened. But now, as a woman, she realizedwhat it had been. Desire.

It was the first she’d thought of it since ithad happened. He’d been aroused by their closeness.

Of course, she’d also learned from the womenin the kitchens that lads of that age were aroused by a warmbreeze, so it was surely not because of her that he’d reacted inthat way.

They had never been anything more thanfriends. Except that one day when they’d kissed.

They’d only been twelve, and they’d seen thestable master kissing a maid. It was a strange thing for them. Fortheir fathers had been alone since they were young, so they’d neverwitnessed kissing prior to that day.

“Why do you think they put their lipstogether like that? He looked as if he was going to eat her face,”she’d asked.

Kieran had chuckled. “She didn’t seem tomind. Not with the way she said, ‘More,’ before she hauled him awayinto one of the stalls.”

“Should we try it to see if it is aswonderful as they made it seem?” Ella had been the one to ask.