A Stockingful of Joy Read Online Free PDF Page A

home."
    "Some of the comforts are here," he said, watching her steadily. "It only has to house two of us—and your cat named Dog—for one night. I will leave in the morning." He cradled the back of his head and grimaced as he took his hand away.
    She frowned, seeing blood on his fingers. "You are hurt! What happened? Were you in a drunken New Year's brawl?"
    "My horse and I went down on the ice. I am fine," he said shortly, when she leaned forward to part his hair.
    Catriona winced in sympathy as she looked at the wound. The swollen, bloody lump looked painful. "Fine? Hardly. And these bruises on your jaw and your lip—" Leaning close to look, she did not smell strong drink on his breath. "You are not drunk," she said. "My pardon for thinking you were. What happened? Were you attacked as you came here?
Ach
, it was MacDonalds!"
    "I went down on the ice," he repeated sharply.
    She narrowed her eyes. "And just who took you down?" He was silent. Catriona shook her head. Here was trouble indeed, if her kin had attacked a Fraser and tracked him here. She went to a shelf, fetched a folded cloth and a bowl of water, and went back to the bed. "Now, let me tend to your head," she ordered.
    He turned obediently. She cleansed his wounds carefully, then combed her fingers through his dark hair to ease his headache. His tangled hair felt like heavy silk. He groaned softly as she worked.
    "I did not mean to hurt you," she said, lifting her hands.
    "Such gentle hands could never deal out hurt," he murmured. "My thanks. I know you are not fond of Frasers." He opened his doublet, took it off and set it aside, then unpinned a small brooch from his linen shirt. He held it out. "This is yours."
    The snow rose brooch winked in the low light. She began to reach out, then closed her hand tightly. "I—I do not want it."
    "Take it, Catriona," he said. "Let it continue to serve as a token of the Frasers' goodwill. We wish you no harm."
    She glanced at him. "Have you come here to take Kilernan from Hugh MacDonald?"
    "You know I have not."
    "Then the snow rose means nothing to me." She spoke firmly to hide the fact that she had always treasured the brooch, and stood. "You keep it. Good night." She snatched up her plaid and spread it on the floor like a pallet.
    "What are you doing?" he asked.
    "I will sleep here," she said as she sat on the plaid and began to remove her boots. "You are injured, and need the bed."
    "I will not take your bed, girl." He stood. In the dim light of the peat fire, she saw his face go suddenly pale.
    "Lie down. Will you refuse my hospitality and bring us both ill luck?" She echoed his own words. "The hearth fire cannot be allowed to go out on this night of the year, as anyone knows. I need to watch over it. Go to sleep, now." She stretched out and pulled the plaid over her.
    After a moment she thought she heard him swear a low oath. Soon she heard his boots thud to the floor, and heard the bed creak as he lay down.
    The peat fire crackled, the wind howled cold and bleak outside, and the man sighed in her bed. Catriona tossed on the flat, hard pallet, and wondered just what this odd evening portended for the new year.
     
    Kenneth opened his eyes again. Restless for a while now, he had lain in the bed listening as the girl shifted and sighed, huddled in the plaid on the cold floor. He peered toward her. The light from the glowing embers revealed that she curled tightly, shivering.
    "Catriona," he said softly.
    "Kenneth? What is it? Are you ill?" She sat up.
    He flung back the plaid and the furs. "Get in the bed."
    "I will not!" She turned away abruptly.
    He sighed in exasperation. "I will sleep by the hearth. Get in and get warm," he ordered, sitting up. "Your knocking teeth have kept me awake all the night."
    She sighed, then got up and came toward him. "It is freezing on the floor. We can share the bed. But if you touch me, I will use the poker." She lay down and deliberately stuffed part of the fur robe between