Highland Jewel (Highland Brides) Read Online Free PDF Page B

black, and a horse which was packed with their belongings. Just behind him, the Widow Millet silently sat a mousy-brown mare with heavy bones and narrow eyes. Leith kept his gaze on the chaplain, wondering again at Colin's choice for the widow's mount. It was a sturdy-enough steed, but homely and bad-tempered.
    "And you will be patient with her?" asked the chaplain.
    "Patient?" Leith was momentarily intrigued by the question. Aside from the fact that the girl had not yet arrived, why should he need to be patient?
    "Rose..." the chaplain began slowly with a single shake of his head, "Rose Gunther is a ... special child."
    Leith glanced toward the north, wanting to be off. “Special?"
    "Gifted."
    Leith narrowed his eyes, shifting his gaze downward. "How is she gifted?"
    "She has gifts of God."
    "Canna ye be more clear, Father?" asked Leith impatiently.
    But the chaplain only shrugged. "You will learn her worth soon enough, I think."
    Leith scowled. When questioned, the people of Millshire had spoken freely of the lass' ability as a healer, granting him a perfect excuse to take her to Scotland. Now, however, he did not believe the chaplain meant her gift of healing.
    The door of the abbey opened. Leith raised his eyes.
    She stood there, looking small and young, overwhelmed by her pale, voluminous robes and concealing wimple. And yet there was something about her that drew his gaze—or was it his memory of her by the lochan that intrigued him?
    "Protect her," said the chaplain quietly, his expression somber. " 'Twill not be a simple task."
    Leith watched in silence as the chaplain turned away. He passed the girl at the door where he spoke a few words to her before disappearing into the abbey.
    She approached finally, her steps slow and uncertain, her hands tucked demurely into her sleeves, her eyes reddened. From tears? For a moment Leith wondered if he'd been mistaken, for surely this small innocent could not be the bold, enchanting fairy princess he had seen by the lochan.
    His fingers fell unconsciously to the pocket of his doublet, feeling the irregular form of the purloined cross through the fabric as she stopped before him.
    Silence settled uneasily between them. Leith tightened his grip on Beinn's reins. She was little more than a child, he reasoned uneasily. And he was a deceitful bastard.
    "Kill me, Forbes, and have done with it." The tortured words yet echoed in his head, though he tried to shut them out.
    Deceitful bastard or not, he would do what needed doing. He would use Rose Gunther to heal the wounds he could not mend alone.
    "Come, lass," he said, pushing back his dark memories. "The black mare I call Maise. Great Beauty," he translated. "She is yers. A gift for yer trouble."
    Rose turned her gaze to the mare, seeming to note the wide-set eyes and clean limbs. But in a moment she dropped her attention to the ground at her feet. "I cannot accept her."
    Leith scowled. He'd planned quickly but carefully and could not afford to waste time. He was not a patient man, but he was determined and he would be charming, for he needed to win her over to his way of thinking.
    "Ye canna walk the long journey to me homeland," he said, keeping his tone gentle. “Take the mare. I give her freely."
    "I cannot."
    Leith swore in silence, gripping his hands to fists and feeling his jaw harden. He did not like delays. He did not like bickering, and he did not like women who failed to take orders.
    Charming, he reminded himself irritably. He must be charming.
    "I chose the black meself. She will give a soft ride. Will ye na—"
    "No!"
    The force of Rose's refusal surprised him, but it was her eyes that rooted him to the ground. Sweet Jesu! He had been unable to tell the color at their earlier meeting, but he saw now that they were violet in hue—as bright and sharp as precious jewels. So it was not only her deep—auburn hair and bonny features that resembled the old laird's deceased wife. It was her bewitching eyes also.
    But Leith