Page 26 of Highlanders for the Holidays
Chapter 6
No?l spentmost of the morn with his new bride, hiking across braes and moors, through the pine forest and past a great loch. They stopped along the way to share the small feast of oatcakes and soft cheese they’d packed, washing it down with cider.
Afterward, she pointed out the best fishing place and the spot where the lasses liked to bathe in summer. She showed him the rotting remnants of a Viking longhouse where she used to play and the holly grove where her mother had once frightened away two wolves. He saw how much she loved the land. It made him love it as well.
But there was also a touch of sorrow in her gray eyes. He wondered… Was it the idea of leaving her home that saddened her? Or something more?
He thought again about the young man who’d sat next to her at the table. They’d seemed very close. Did her heart belong to him? Jealousy pricked at No?l again.
He supposed it didn’t matter. They’d journey to France in a day or two, leaving everyone she knew far behind.
Still, that didn’t change the way shefelt.And No?l wanted his bride to be in love withhim.
The idea was laughable. He’d come to Scotland for one purpose—to make a political alliance. Falling in love had never been part of his plans.
But that didn’t change the fact that he wanted to win her heart now. He wanted to make her smile. He wanted to bring the joy back into her eyes.
“So, lassie, when was the last time ye made a snowwoman?” he asked.
She quirked her brow at him. “I’ve made a snowman.”
“Oh, aye, everyone’s made a snowman.But have ye made a snowwoman?”
She gave him a skeptical grin. “I don’t see how there could be much difference.”
“What? O’ course there’s a difference. Come on, I’ll show ye.”
Together they piled and packed the snow until they had a vertical mound that was about her size. He rounded the top into a ball for a head. She formed two stubs to serve as chubby arms. Then she sought out two small pine cones to make eyes. He made a small snowy nose, and he stuck a curved twig under it, turning it into a frown.
“Why is she so unhappy?” she asked.
“Because she looks like a snowman.”
“I told ye there was no difference.”
He scowled and stroked his chin, studying the sculpture. “Perhaps if ye found some beautiful flowin’ hair for her.”
She perused the glen and found golden drifts of fallen pine needles near the trunks of the trees. While she was busy gathering them, he set to work. He patted together two small globes of snow and plucked a holly berry to perch in the middle of each one. These he affixed strategically to the front of the body. Then he waited for her return.
First she gasped. Then she giggled. It was a delightful sound.
“Shame on ye, Sir No?l,” she scolded, unable to keep the laughter from her voice.
“Shame?” he asked, all innocence. “Why?”
Her silvery eyes danced as she came up beside him. “Ye aren’t goin’ to leave her like that.”
“Like what?”
She gave him a chiding elbow. “Undressed.”
“She’ll be fine,” he assured her. “She won’t get cold. She’s a snowwoman.”
“’Tisn’t the cold I’m talkin’ about, and ye know it.”
He reached out and turned the frowning twig into a smile. “But look how happy she is now.”
She shook her head. “Ye’re a naughty lad.”
