The Wolfe Read Online Free PDF Page B

of it,” she said,
echoing her father’s words. “If I fight them, they will fight me. I canna live
the rest of my life fighting my husband like a she-cat.”
    “But ye canna give in to them,” Jemma
insisted.  “One good thrust to yer husband on the wedding night and there will
be no husband at ‘tall.”
    “I willna do it,” Jordan returned
forcefully. “But there be other ways to win a war, Jemma, not just the physical
ones. Yer cousin will make ye proud, have no doubt. I shall show them what Scot
pride is.”
    Caladora was far removed from the
conversation, sitting on a small stool nervously. Jemma eyed her younger cousin
for a moment before moving closer to Jordan.
    “Take me with ye, Jordan,” she
whispered. “Caladora would be so much baggage to ye, but I would make a fine
lady. Take me.”
    Jordan shook her head vehemently. “I
shall not place ye in any danger. Caladora needs ye here. What would she do if
we were both to leave her?”
    Jemma cocked a dark brow irritably. “Probably
wither away,” she said dryly. “Jordi, she will have my mother and Aunt Anne.
You will have no one.”
    “Untrue. I am taking Maggie and
Elspeth with me,” Jordan replied.
    “Pah.” Jemma spat. “Maids. Servants.
Ye might as well be taking two trained dogs for all of the good those two will
do ye. Ye need me.”
    Jemma was stubborn. Jordan was
stubborner. She stared her cousin down firmly.
    “Nay, Jemma, I shall not be taking
ye,” she repeated.
    Jordan turned away from her cousin,
a gesture that infuriated Jemma. Her bright amber eyes narrowed as she followed
her cousin back to the window.
    “Take me or I will follow ye,” she
threatened coolly. “Ye know that I will. I can do it.”
    Jordan hadn’t thought of that. Jemma
was indeed quite capable of tracking her back to Northwood. She turned back to
her cousin, scowling.
    “I forbid ye, Jemma Scott,” she said
staunchly. “If ye so much as….”
    Her demands were cut off by a loud
rapping at the door, followed by the door swinging open and crashing in against
the wall. The girls startled at the noise, only to see Jemma’s brothers, Donald
and Cord, standing in the archway. Both young men were quite breathless with
excitement.
    “Uncle Thomas wants ye in the bailey now , Jordan,” Cord demanded.
    After a split second of
terror-filled hesitation, Jordan forced herself to gather her wits and comply.
There was no longer any time for anxiety-filled thoughts, for wild wonderment.
The time was upon her and she must obey.
    Without a hind glance, she gathered
her skirts and disappeared through the open archway. The two young men followed
her, slamming the door loudly in their wake.
    Jemma and Caladora were left staring
wide-eyed at the closed door, agog at the rapid chain of events. Jordan had
been here, only a moment ago, and now she was gone. Like a frightened doe,
Caladora turned to her cousin as if Jemma could do something, anything at all,
to ease their minds and make the situation all right.
    “Will we ever see her again?”
Caladora whispered fearfully.
    Jemma’s amber eyes flashed. “Aye,”
she said confidently. “That I will.”
    Caladora was not as naive or as
ignorant as Jemma and Jordan gave her credit for. Her anxiety for Jordan was
now compounded by Jemma’s shielded thoughts, thoughts Caladora knew instinctively
were not good. She grasped Jemma’s arm.
    “What are ye planning, ye little
devil?” she asked. “Jordan told ye to stay put.”
    Jemma looked surprised that Caladora
knew exactly what she was thinking, but recovered quickly.
     “I know what she said,” she
snapped, turning for the door. “Mind yer own business, Caladora Scott, or I
shall tell Gray Kinkaid that ye have a heart for him.”
    Caladora’s jaw dropped. “Ye wouldna
dare. And where are ye going?”
    Jemma opened the door. “To watch
Jordan’s departure from a better place.”
    The door slammed. Caladora knew she
was lying through her teeth.
     
    ***
     
    Jordan