“Aye, he is. There are whispers that we have guests tonight, and they’ll be sitting with us in the great hall.”
“Who are these guests?”
“I heard that they’re travelers, and two of them are wounded and being cared for by the healers. Greer told me naething else. But she’s promised tae ask the other maids for me.”
Jane frowned as she escorted her sister out of the room and down the hall. Greer was not only Aileen's maid, but also her sister's closest friend. Jane had spent no time with the lass, but she thought she was kindenough.
Jane wondered about the visitors so shestopped one of the servants who were animatedly running through the corridors.
“Hamish, tell me, who are the guests that have come to visit the laird?”
The cook’s boy bowed his head quickly, shaking his mane of dark hair. “I have nae set eyes on the men, my lady.”
Lies. He tells lies.
Jane willed the voice away, letting the boy go without questioning him and walked into the hall with her sister.
Her father looked up from his seat, and immediately rose upon seeing them. The men in the room followed suit, all three of them. Jane’s eyes caught the one who sat closest to her father. He was a beast of a man, with a long mane of golden hair.
“And these are my lasses, Laird Robertson, Jane and Aileen.”
The golden-haired man approached Jane and kissed her outstretched hand. He was handsome, so much so that sheforgot she shouldn't stare in such a way at any man, especially on their first encounter.
Nonetheless, all rational thought had vanished from her mind. His hair was dark blond and long, and the lower half of his face was covered in thick darkstubble. His face was exquisite—handsome yet unnerving. The mysterious glint in his eye and his small smirk indicated that this was a man who was used to getting his way.
Jane could feel her insides coiling. In his tall and muscular body, this man resembled a fallen angel who acknowledged his superiorityto the men around him.
“A pleasure tae meet you, my lady,” he purred. “Yer faither never mentioned ye tae be the bonniest of women.”
Jane waited in her mind for the familiar hiss, but there was none. There was no yelling about lies or the peace she felt when someone told her the truth. For the first time, she couldn't tell whether the man had lied or not.
Her power was not working on him.
Her heart started to pound. This washim, the herald of doom to the daughter of truth. This was the man the Nicnevin had told her about all those years ago.
Their eyes met, and in their dark depths, Jane could see things that scared her. Her death was waiting for her. And this handsome devil was all that stood between it and her.
CHAPTERTWO
Darach gaped at the woman standing before him. He did everything he could not to reach out and touch her to confirm she was real. The chit had audacity, and he could see it in her confident stance, in the way she looked at him. He could also tell she was used to having power over men. Even Kenn seemed to be under her spell, and while Darach could understand it—becauseLaird, the lass was bonnie—it disquieted him that she didn’t have the same look of wonderment in her eye that most women did when they set eyes on him.
She bowed demurely. “I thank ye for yer regard, my laird. My faither does take great care with his daughters.”
Her tone was clipped, and she’d turned her chin up in what looked like defiance. The look amused him for a bit until the light in the hall caught her eyes; a wonderful matrimony of aurelian and green that reminded him of the sun setting over the luscious hills of his home. That brilliant golden color that filled the world with its mesmerising wonder just before darkness cascaded on the land. The curls of her blonde hair hung all the way down to her waist—a waist he thought would fit perfectly in his hands.
“Aye, Robertson,” MacThomas’s voice called out. “Ye should have the pleasure of meeting my youngest, Aileen, as well. She’s as comely as her sister, eh? She took after her maither in that regard. Some might say she’s the better choice of my daughters tae make a perfect lady for a laird someday.”
Darach turned around to hold the younger daughter’s hand and kiss it. She was beautiful, the kind of woman most men would truly desire, but she didn’t strike him as desirable as the elder sister had. When he looked ather,it felt as if lightning struck and burned everything inside of him.
“I shall have tae take yer word for it, my laird. Ye’ve been blessed with two perfect ladies fit for the noblest men in all the Highlands.”
MacThomas burst out in laughter and gestured for everyone to take their seats. Darach settled between his brother and Kenn, with MacThomas seated at the head of the table and the elder daughter directly opposite him.
By God…she is a true beauty.
Darach struggled to concentrate on the conversation throughout the meal. Images of how easily his hands would fit in that curve between the lass's hips and the generous swell of her bosom plagued his mind. Morven had to come to his aid twice and explain the uprising to MacThomas.
Darach wrestled his mind and eyes away from Jane after the second time his brother glared at him with a warning look on his face..