Page 29 of Sighs of the Highland Wind

Impulsively, she threw her arms around her mother and hugged her tightly.

Flora laughed. “So has Roy Nicholson spoken tae ye?” she asked, winking. “Is that why ye are sae happy?”

“No, he has not,” Kenna answered. “He may think he is God’s gift to women, but he is a coward.”

“I will tell him ye said so,” Flora answered, laughing but a little shocked. “He is a nice boy. Has somebody else caught yer eye?”

“Can I not just be happy, Mammy?” Kenna asked. “Why does it always have to be because of a man? I just feel good today.”

Flora shrugged. “Is it no’ about time it was because o’ a man?” she asked. “Most o’—”

“—my friends are married with babies. Yes, I know, Mammy. If I had a shilling for every time you have told me that, I would be a very rich woman!”

Flora flapped a dishcloth at Kenna and wandered away, muttering something about never becoming a grandmother. Kenna laughed, put the bucket down outside the first bedroom she came to, then sneaked back to collect the plate she had made for Ewan. It was rather a meager offering, but it was the best she could do.

She opened the door to her chamber and saw him looking out of the window, as motionless as if he had been frozen. He was staring down at something on the grass outside, then abruptly he jumped back as if he had been stung.

Kenna, puzzled, pushed past him to see what he was looking at. It was Douglas and Duke, but Douglas was looking up at her chamber as if searching for something. As she watched, he lowered his gaze back to the dog, and they began to play with the ball again.

Something is going on,Kenna thought suspiciously.There is something he is not telling me, and I mean to find out what it is.

Later, as Kenna emerged from the bedroom she had been cleaning, she bumped into the young stable hand she and Flora had been discussing. He grabbed her upper arms to steady her as she almost fell over, but she was unable to stop at least a gallon of water from slopping out of her bucket.

“Kenna, I am that sorry,” Roy Nicholson said, shaking his head. “I am such an eejit. I will clear up the mess.”

“Don’t worry, Roy,” Kenna consoled him. “I can do it.”

She smiled at him.He really is a handsome young man,she thought. He was tall, although not quite as tall as Ewan, with an athletic figure, corn-colored blond hair, and the kind of bright blue eyes young women swooned over. He usually had one or two of them in tow wherever he went, but not now. Now he was shifting nervously from foot to foot as he gazed at her but never quite met her eyes.

“I must get on with my work,” Kenna told him. “Are you allowed in this part of the building?”

She raised her eyebrows questioningly. Stable hands were usually confined to the stables, courtyard, and fields.

“No, but I wanted tae see ye,” he answered. “I didnae want any o’ the other lads tae see me talkin’ tae ye.”

Kenna laughed and frowned at the same time. “Why not?”

Roy looked up and met her gaze at last. “Because they have a’ been tellin’ me for weeks that I should ask ye tae step out wi’ me, but I never had the courage. Every time I looked at ye, I thought ye were tae lovely tae look at the likes o’ me.” He was flushed and biting his lip nervously.

“Well, according to all the ladies I know, you are a very handsome fellow,” Kenna replied. “And asking ladies about anything has never bothered you before.”

Roy stood up straighter and smiled, showing even white teeth and deep dimples on his cheeks.

“Thank ye, Kenna. Does that mean ye will walk out wi’ me an’ be my sweetheart?” He leaned toward her, ogling her suggestively.

Kenna had been seriously tempted by his offer until that moment. After all, he was a very attractive man, but that leer, and the way he had looked her in the eye so boldly, had immediately changed her mind. He was too confident, too full of himself for her to even consider him, and she could see now that his bashful demeanor had all been a sham. She felt like slapping him but restrained herself.

“I don’t think so, Roy,” she replied. “There is somebody else, you see.”

This was not strictly true since Ewan was not hers, but she thought of him while she was refusing Roy, and it made what she said sound convincing.

Roy’s jaw dropped. He had never been refused before, and he was not pleased.

“I see,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Sorry tae have bothered ye, Kenna.”

“I am flattered that you noticed me, Roy. Thank you,” she replied graciously, but he was already striding angrily down the passage.

Kenna set to wiping up the mess. Men! She would never understand them.