Highland Rake Read Online Free PDF Page A

transparent.
    She frowned at him. "I…" She caught herself, then shook her head.
    He smiled at her and looked back at the boy. "He is asleep. Your secret is safe with me."
    But she didn't speak to her brother as she saw the stone croft with its peat-covered roof in the distance, dark and quiet, the sheep in the enclosure, restless, hungry, bleating.
    The lad stirred behind her, and Alana rode to the shieling, and when they reached it, she said to him, "We are here. 'Tis time you see to the sheep."
    "Aye, my lady." Kerwin slipped off the horse, bowed his head awkwardly, and went off to do his task.
    She slid off her mount and tied her to a tree branch where her horse could drink from the stream and feed on grass near the sheepfold.
    The sheep all crowded around the gate of the dry stone wall enclosure, knowing Kerwin would allow them to graze in the hills now, and they were eager to be freed.
    Alana opened the door to the shieling and saw at once that Odara was flushed and breathing hard as she rested on her straw bed, the air cool, no fire in the hearth. She feared the woman had taken a fever.
    She stalked across the stone floor and reached down to feel Odara's forehead. No fever. She felt a little relief. Why was Odara so winded? So flushed? So sweaty?
    She was dressed, not wearing just a shift to sleep in. Why, if she was so ill, had she left the bed to put on her léine ?
    Alana set her bag of herbs on a small wooden table near the fireplace where the fire had been banked for the day. "What ails you, Odara?"
    "Oh, my lady, you shouldna be here." The woman wouldn't look directly at Alana.
    With no one to see them together, why was she acting so… nervous?
    Alana supposed someone, mayhap her da, or someone else, had told Odara years ago that Alana was the laird's niece and above her in rank and that she should not act so familiar with her. As children, no one had said a word, probably nobody noticing as the girls went down to the stream and played in the water, or picked berries in the woods. Now they were alone with no one to say anything and Odara was ill. It was Alana's duty to see to her. Why was Odara behaving so…oddly?
    "But I am here to see you as it is only right that I do so," Alana said gently. "So what is wrong?"
    "My stomach pains me," Odara said, her blue eyes closing, her hand on her belly. "I have no' been able to keep down the oatcakes I made to break my fast this morn. It has been the same on and off for three days."
    "I am sorry that I didna arrive any sooner. I didna receive word until early this morn." Alana thought the woman might have eaten something that disagreed with her. Something that had spoiled, mayhap. She gave Odara a mug of herbs mixed with mead that would help settle her stomach as she rested, a thin wool blanket covering her.
    "'Tis a brave thing you do, mistress. But your uncle will have me flogged if he learns you are here." Odara's voice was stronger, and she sounded more herself this time, but her eyes were shadowed with worry.
    Glad to hear she sounded stronger, Alana took a deep breath. "I have asked a lad to tend to your sheep until you are feeling more able to manage, Odara. Another day and I believe the sickness will have passed if you are feeling no other symptoms and you have not grown more ill with the passage of time. 'Tis good you have no fever. 'Tis no doubt something you have eaten that has made you unwell. I imagine 'tis true my uncle wouldna have allowed me to see to you had he been home. I have heard he is still angry that you willna wed Gilleasbuig, though I had no idea my uncle had said you must marry him."
    Odara sighed. "The laird canna understand that Gilleasbuig is a swine. He willna do a lick of work if he can avoid it, wenching in the village whenever he can. The man willna be my husband, God willing. But the laird fears that if I am alone out here so close to the border…" She didn't say anything further.
    Alana didn't know what to say. Her uncle could be