Black Raven's Lady: Highland Lairds Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

known that Raine had wits enough for two females. ’Tis plain commonsense she’s lacking.”
    Macraith leaned closer to her and spoke softly in her ear. “Pay no attention to yon blathersnipe, my dear. You’ll make some lucky fellow a fine wife one day.”
    “Oh, I don’t plan to ever marry,” Raine replied with unruffled composure.
    “And why not?” Macraith asked, making no attempt to hide his astonishment. “A sonsy lass like you will have to fight the lads off with a belaying pin.”
    Keir took a piece of bread and dipped it in his stew. “Lady Raine quite possibly believes she’ll never find any gentleman worthy enough to garner her affections,” he offered sardonically.
    Raine met his gaze, seemingly mystified at his derisive tone. “Oh, it isn’t that at all,” she protested. “ ’Tis simply that I intend to devote myself to the healing arts, like my aunt. And like her, I shall remain a maid.”
    “A hell of a waste that would be,” Macraith declared. He turned to his nephew. “Don’t you agree?”
    Keir sat back in his chair and twirled the stem of his glass of port between his thumb and forefinger. “If Raine believes she should spend her life grinding up roots and casting bones like her spinster aunt, she’s even more foolish than I thought.”
    Raine looked at him quizzically, as though trying to understand if there was a deeper meaning to his caustic remark. She tipped her head to one side and studied him. Her perceptive eyes seemed to read his carnal thoughts. “You don’t seem to be in any hurry to wed, yourself, Laird MacNeil,” she pointed out.
    “Now there, you’re wrong,” Keir told her, immensely pleased to find that she couldn’t read his thoughts at all—carnal or otherwise. “As a matter of fact, I am presently in negotiations for a bride. Before leaving on this campaign, I instructed my uncle, the earl of Appin, to approach the lady’s father with my offer.”
    Macraith stared openmouthed. “The devil, ye say! That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
    Ignoring his uncle’s incredulity, Keir watched Raine’s reaction through narrowed eyes. Just as he expected, she smiled in tranquil detachment, completely unaffected by the thought that he was going to wed. Hell, that came as no surprise.
    “May I offer my congratulations?” she inquired sweetly. “Or is it too soon? Perhaps we should wait to find out if the lady accepts your proposal.”
    “You mean to imply that ’tis likely no lady would ever accept me for a husband?” he baited, pushing her to admit that’s exactly what she did believe. “You think the negotiations are bound to fail when the maiden declines my offer?”
    “Nay, lad,” Macraith interrupted. “No one is so foolish as to believe that! Why, you’re the legitimate heir to a personal fortune. You’ve widespread lands and a castle on Barra. What woman in her right mind would refuse the chief of Clan MacNeil?”
    Raine lifted her delicate brows, her jet eyes sparkling with laughter. “Well, then,” she said, “let’s hope the laird of Clan MacNeil has offered his affections to a young lady in her right mind.”
    “I didn’t say my affections were in any way engaged,” he replied with an indifferent shrug. “I offered for her hand in marriage. Nothing more.” He stopped short, realizing she’d been teasing him in their old familiar way.
    Keir was all too aware Raine had been hopelessly infatuated with his handsome brother, Lachlan. Hopeless being the key word, for as fate would have it, Lachlan was now a married man, deeply in love with his exquisite wife and devoted to their children. It must have been quite a shock to Raine when he returned to Scotland with his pregnant Sassenach mistress.
    No doubt, Raine’s unrequited passion was the real reason she fancied she’d never marry. For what female would be satisfied to spend her life casting spells and claiming to see visions?
    When the meal was over, Lady Raine excused herself to