Let Me Be Your Hero Read Online Free PDF

sort of speechless wonderment. She was stunned, searching for something to say. “I only wanted to return yer gloves to ye,” she said, and thrust them toward him.
    His hand cupped her chin and lifted her face, and the look he gave her was powerful and too overwhelming to resist. When he released her, she was trembling inside.
    “My lass,” he said, and then he was gone.
    She ran to the door and crossed the yard, then hurried down to where the boat and his brothers waited. She went to stand by her father, and his arm came around her. Secure and protected within her father’s embrace, she watched Fraser give the boat a mighty push, and then he jumped inside.
    Together, she and her father watched the boat move toward the opposite shore, and she felt the power of Fraser Graham reaching out to her, even after darkness swallowed the sight of him.

Four
    Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands, O where hae ye been?
    They hae slain the Earl of Murray, And hae laid him on the green.
    He was a braw gallant, And he rid at the ring; And the bonny Earl of Murray, O he might hae been a king!
    O lang will his Lady Look owre the Castle Downe, Ere she see the Earl of Murray Come sounding through the town!
    “The Bonny Earl of Murray,” Anonymous
    O nly Kendrew was in the great hall when Claire came below stairs the next morning. She stopped when she saw the near-empty room and asked, “Where is everyone?”
    “Did ye forget, Claire? Lord Monleigh invited themto come to Grahamstone today. They left early. Father said to tell ye goodbye. He said ye shouldna wait up for them, because it will be late when they return.”
    “Did Breac and Ronaln accompany him?”
    “Aye, and eager to go, too, they were.”
    “Did anyone else go with them?”
    “Aye, Duncan and Hugh.” He studied her face. “Ye look troubled, Claire. Are ye faring well?”
    “Aye, I am faring well, but I am distressed that they left afore I awoke. I wanted to tell them goodbye.”
    “Then ye should have gotten up earlier.”
    “Aye,” she said, and wandered off to the kitchen to get a cup of tea, puzzled over the strange emptiness she felt inside.
    The sun dropped behind the walls of the keep. Long shadows stretched over the figures of the Grahams as they made their last farewells to Alasdair, his sons and the two clansmen who accompanied them.
    “Ye are certain ye do not wish to stay the night?” Jamie asked. “Think it not better to leave early tomorrow?”
    “Nay,” Alasdair said, and swung into his saddle. “’Twill be pleasant riding in the cool o’ the evening, and we will be home before dawn.”
    “Godspeed ye, then,” Jamie said, and he stood with his brothers and watched the Lennox men wheel their horses and ride at a canter through the gate. Once they were on the other side, they broke into a gallop, and the gates of Grahamstone Castle closed behind them.
    Alasdair and his small party of five rode away from Grahamstone Castle and into the deepening shadows of the approaching night. He saw the moon rising, asilver orb, that seemed to balance magically on the tops of the hills in the distance. He thought of the miles that lay between him and the shores of Loch Lomond, and wondered if Claire would prove faithful to his request that she not wait up for them, and with a smile and a shake of his head, he surmised that probably she would not.
    She was so like her mother, loving, devoted, faithful, with a quick wit and an even quicker temper. She was both a blessing to remind him so much of the woman he loved, and a curse to remind him of the love that he lost.
    He put his spurs to his horse, and under the bright light of the full moon, he and his sons and clansmen rode through the empty streets of a small town. When they passed through the outskirts on the other side, they rode noisily over a wooden bridge, hooves pounding the dry wood beneath them.
    The moonlight guided them along the narrow track on the other side. Once, he thought he heard the sound of