Page 73 of Highland Renegade
Behind him, Rory snorted. “She is nae planning to come to Scotland, too, is she?”
Juliana shot him a look. “She might if I wrote and asked her.”
“Shut yerbeul!” Devon muttered to Rory.
“Aye! Be quiet, both of ye,” Ian said.
Lorelei gave them a puzzled glance, then shrugged. “Anyway, is the gown not beautiful on Fiona? It sets off her gray eyes and makes her hair look raven black. I am sure she will catch the eye of a lot of young men this evening.”
He was pretty sure Fiona would and not because of her eyes or hair. The neckline on this gown was also low, but she had some sort of frilly lace thing stuck in it, thank God.
“What is that thing?”
Lorelei giggled. “A fichu.”
That sounded French, but at least it provided a degree of modesty. He drew his brows together. “See that it does nae fall out.”
This time he heard a chorus of “ayes” behind him. Fiona gave them all an annoyed look. “I doona plan to wave it about.”
“See that ye doona,” he all but growled.
Fiona tossed her head at him and started for the door, the others trailing after her. Emily was still not wearing her shawl.
He grimaced as he followed them out. It seemed he’d have two problems this evening. He could make sure one of his brothers was always near Fiona all night, but how was he going to get Emily to keep that wrap on?
…
The tension in the carriage was so thick, Emily thought it might cut off the air. Lorelei and Juliana were in the second carriage with Glenda, Alasdair, and Carr, but Fiona had elected to ride with her, Ian, and Rory. At the moment, no one was speaking. Fiona was obviously put out with Ian, although she had the good sense not to stir the waters when his face looked like a storm about to unleash its fury.
At least Rory and Juliana were separated so everyone would arrive intact. They’d managed to exchange several more barbs before getting into their respective carriages. Emily sometimes wondered what the outcome would be if her sister and Ian’s brother were lost in the woods and they’d have to cooperate with each other to find a way out. Or maybe they should just be locked in a room until they could be civil to each other. She sighed. They weren’t children and she couldn’t make them play nice together.
As the carriage rolled along, she hoped all would go well. They’d already had to leave John, her guard, behind, since a horse had kicked him two days ago and broken his leg. Not that she thought she needed a guard with Ian and his brothers around. Her thoughts turned to Devon. He had elected to ride his own horse, which didn’t surprise her. He probably was not planning to stay overly long. Apart from being angry much of the time, she sensed he was somewhat of a loner by nature. She started to smile. How ironic it would be if he actually met Anne.
Rory lifted an eyebrow. “Is something funny?”
Considering that Fiona was staring out the window with her arms crossed, Ian was glowering at nothing in particular, and Rory seemed annoyed, there was nothing hilarious about the situation at all. And, for some reason, that made her laugh.
Fiona turned, Ian studied her as though she’d taken leave of her senses—maybe she had—and Rory raised both brows.
“I was…just…thinking,” she said when she managed to gain control of herself, “of what would happen if our cousin Anne actually did come to Scotland and met Devon.” Nobody’s expression changed, so she went on. “She gave Lorelei that gown because she was sure there would not be a dressmaker anywhere north of the border.”
“So she thinks we are barbaric?” Rory asked.
“Yes.” She stifled another urge to laugh. “Anne is quite sure Scots—Highlanders in particular—are as wild and dangerous as those Indians in the Colonies that we read about.”
Ian gave her a skeptical look. “Then ’tis best she never meets Devon.”
“That is just the point.” Emily sobered. “Devon is as much misconstrued about the English as my cousin is about the Scots. Just imagine if they both found out they were wrong.”
Rory grunted and leaned back against the squab. “That has as much chance of happening as yer sister and I getting along.”
Emily smiled at him. “You do not believe in miracles?”
He grunted again. “I think the Lord has better things to do.”
Emily sat back as well.The Lord might very well have better things to do, but do I? Hmmm.
…
