Love Beyond Compare (Book 5 of Morna’s Legacy Series) Read Online Free PDF

 
    “You don’t have to lie to me, Coop.”
    He spit the mouthful back into the cloth and handed it back to me. “Okay, well it’s better than the PB&J at least, but I think you can take the other piece of bread back inside. I don’t think E-o is going to want it. You’ll get better though, I know it.” He stood on his tiptoes to give me a quick kiss and then ran back to his horse.  

    *   *   *

    I passed the morning in solitude, working on cleaning and preparing the kitchen as best I could, all the while humming to myself to keep the sound of Isobel’s coughing from reducing me to tears. Gregor stayed by her side, only coming to check on me well into the afternoon.  
    “Jane, might I speak to ye a moment?”
    “Of course.” His eyes were bloodshot and heavy; I ventured to guess that he was getting even less sleep than my sister.  
    “She grows much worse with each passing day. I’ve received word of a healer who is passing through the territory tonight. He has set up camp on the edge of the village. I doona know if he will be able to help her, but I must take her and try.”
    I didn’t put much stock in mystical healers, but after the strange events that brought me to this time, I’d learned not to doubt anything too wholeheartedly. Of course he wanted to try anything and everything he could to help his wife.  
    “Yes. Go and don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of everything. Nothing will be done as well as you would, but I’ll do my best.”
    “I know that ye will. Only, ye will have to be around guests and no only in the kitchen. ’Twould be breaking the conditions that Eoghanan set for ye.”
    I dismissed his worry with the wave of my hand. “Travelers stop in here, Gregor, not usually villagers. None of them should have any reason to know who I am. Besides, this is way more important than Eoghanan’s conditions.”
    He leaned in and hugged me, a gesture that both surprised me and warmed my heart considerably. I’m sure he felt very much alone. They were the only family that each of them had.  
    “Thank ye, lass. Ye have been a blessing to us both.”
    He left me to go and gather Isobel. I swallowed the lump in my throat before following him to help them gather what they needed.  
    It was only after I waved goodbye to them as they left that I remembered Eoghanan’s request. A request I would now be forced to ignore and entirely without regret.  

CHAPTER 7

    McMillan Castle

    He’d saved the most favorable destination for last. At least he would be able to spend the last night of his freedom among friends rather than strangers whom he only visited out of obligation. The McMillans he knew well, and he looked forward to the enjoyable evening that lay ahead of him.  
    “Will ye stay in the castle this time?”
    Orick rode next to him, the only man Adwen had allowed to accompany him on his month-long obligatory rounds.  
    “No. I’ll camp out of doors with ye.” He could see the tip of the castle’s towers in the distance as they began their ride through the center of the village. Big and beautiful, it made his skin itch and his clothes feel too snug. There was nothing so suffocating as the grandness of a castle.  
    “Doona ye think it will offend them?”
    Adwen shook his head, not worried in the slightest about what anyone thought of his disdain for castle walls. “’Twill offend them much less than it did everyone else we’ve encountered. They know me well and willna think it odd. I just canna stand to lie beneath them, no unless I have to; and even then, ’tis something I dread most mightily.”
    The weight of Orick’s palm slapping him on the back jolted him forward on his horse. “Ye sound like a wee babe. Ye are far more fortunate than most yet all ye do is pity yerself. And I doona wish to camp out of doors tonight, Adwen. ’Tis too cold; I wish to keep my toes.”
    The wind blew swiftly through the line of trees they passed, causing Adwen to pull his coat