Page 45 of Highland Sky

“Nay, Caitlin, I canna do that. It wouldna be right. I, like Uncle, dinna want charity. I want to earn everythin’ I receive.”

“All right, then. I’ll make an extra arrow for ye.” Caitlin ran off to be with her brother and the rest of the children.

“I’m here,” said Nash, from right behind her, making her jump. She didn’t realize he was so close.

“How long have ye been standin’ there?” she asked, glad now she hadn’t been talking about him after all.

“Long enough to hear ye say the roofs dinna really need mendin’.” He turned and looked up to the roofs of the mews and kennels. “I agree. They look fine. So, why dinna we go for a walk instead?”

“I dinna think so, Nash.” She leaned into the wagon and started to pick up the thatching tools.

His hand on her wrist stilled her action.

Nash was takinga big chance at setting her off again, but he had decided to try making amends with his new wife. He held her wrist, while her big, blue eyes stared up at him. They were clear and glassy, reflecting the puffy, white clouds from the sky above them. A strand of her long, blond hair blew across her face in the breeze, and he gently brushed it away, tucking it behind her ear.

“Wouldna ye like to walk with me, lass?”

“Mayhap. But no’ now.” She picked up the tools and started toward the mews. “Bring the ladder,” she called out over her shoulder.

“Fine, he grumbled, grabbing the ladder and following her. Once they both ascended, they stopped at the top of the roof of the mews, looking out at the vast, beautiful sky.

“It’s such a bonnie sight,” she said in a breathy voice. The blue, vast sky lit up with a rainbow, now that it had stopped raining. The rainbow arched around from one side of the castle to the other, looking like it stopped right at the loch not far outside the castle’s walls. “I feel like I spend lots of time up on roofs, but never really get to look at the beauty of the sky.”

“Then, let’s sit down for a moment and enjoy it,” he suggested. “After all, rainbows don’t last long.”

“It’s some kind of message,” she said, sitting down near the apex, laying on her back to look up at the rainbow in the sky.

“I think it means we’re lucky,” said Nash, sitting down with her, lying back as well.

“Lucky? How so? My clan was attacked, my parents are dead, our houses were burned, and our livestock stolen. No’ to mention, our crops were ruined. How is that lucky?”

“Ye’re lucky to be alive. And I’m lucky to have ye . . . for my wife.” He took the opportunity to move closer, leaning over to kiss her gently. She let him do it. Already, he felt lucky.

“I think I’d rather live here with the Gordons than to go back home,” she said, surprising him.

“What? Why?” he asked, looking up at the clouds.

“Didna ye see how happy Spring and Shaw are together? Plus, they have this beautiful, fortified castle where they can feel safe.”

“They have a new baby,” Nash said. “Their family is growin’. Of course, they’re happy.”

“What about us, Nash? Will we ever have babies together?”

His mouth fell open, and he didn’t know what to say. “Is this . . . a trick question?” he asked, not wanting to say anything that might upset her.

She giggled, and he liked the sound of her laugh. “Nay, Nash MacKeefe, it is no’ a trick question. I just wondered if ye thought we’d ever be like Shaw and Spring. With a baby of our own someday.”

“Well, I’d have to say nay, I dinna see how that will ever happen. No’ if we’re never goin’ to make love for real, lass.”

“Ye’re right.” She sat up, looking like she’d just discovered some sort of secret. “I’ve decided that we’re married, and we’re just goin’ to have to live with it.”

“Huh?” he asked, not sure what the hell she meant by that.

“I mean . . . I think . . . we should make love. For real.”

“Did ye just say what I think ye said?” He sat up now, looking at her as if she’d gone mad. “Up here? Now? On the roof of the mews and right out in the open?”

“Nay, silly,” she answered, laughing heartily. “I meant later. Besides, if we did it up here in the straw, it’s bound to be uncomfortable.”