Page 41 of Sighs of the Highland Wind

“And the woman who is with you? You are fond of her, are you not?”

The laird looked at his son shrewdly.

“She is a fine woman.” Maxwell was defensive as he gazed back at the laird.

“Remember who you are, Son,” Laird Forbes warned. “And who she is.”

Maxwell clenched his teeth but said nothing, even though he was seething with anger inside. He nodded, stood up, and left without looking back. What if he was completely head-over-heels in love with a maid? It was nobody’s business but theirs.

Then he stopped and caught his breath. In love. Completely in love. Of course he was, and the only reason he had not identified the feeling was that he had never experienced it before.

Maxwell Forbes, you are a fool,he thought, shaking his head, but he went to bed smiling. He did not care if she was a maid, a seamstress, or even a washerwoman. She was the woman he loved, and that was all that mattered.

The morning dawned clear and bright, and when Kenna looked out of the window, she could see that the snow had melted. It would be a little warmer, at least, she thought, but her shoes had not yet recovered from the soaking they had received the night before.

She sighed, then washed and put on her beautiful pink dress for the last time before going down for breakfast. It was going to be hard to say goodbye to it, just as it would be hard to say goodbye to Maxwell, but she was resigned. Someday she would see him walking around with a lovely wife and perhaps a child or two, but she would not be his wife, and the child would not be theirs. She would still be cleaning rooms, lighting fires, and serving meals, but she could dream.

Imagine,she thought.A little boy or a little girl.

A stab of sorrow pierced her at the thought, but then came the familiar feeling of resignation.

At the breakfast table, the laird was a little more talkative.

“Max, when you go to Invercree, you will have to take Lindsey and James with you since they have already made peace with the McDonalds. If you like, I will come too.”

“No, Father, thank you, but I do not want a whole tribe of family members with me,” Maxwell said politely. “I will take Kenna and Lindsey.”

There was an awkward silence at the table.

“Kenna has to go home, of course,” James pointed out.

“Yes, I do,” Kenna agreed, looking down at the table.

As a maid, she was used to being talked about as if she was not there, but it irritated her, nonetheless.

“But what if they try to harm you?” Lindsey asked fearfully. “Max, you cannot go!”

“I know Laird and Lady McDonald,” Maxwell replied. “I have known them since I was a child. They will not harm me.”

“You had never killed their son before,” James pointed out, then, too late, he realized that he had said the wrong thing.

Maxwell said a word that no man should ever have uttered in front of ladies, then he vaulted over the table to where James was sitting.

“I did not kill anyone!” he roared into his brother-in-law’s ear.

James winced, then held his hand against his ears while Lindsey rushed to his side and gave her brother a venomous look.

“You are so lucky I am pregnant, Max,” she growled. “Or I would have thrashed you. Say sorry to James.”

She pulled James into her arms and kissed him.

“No,” James groaned. “I am sorry, Max. That was an unforgivable thing to say.”

Maxwell took a deep breath and counted to ten, then screwed his eyes shut, suddenly realizing that the rage that had built up within him was finding a vent. He had been unaware of its existence, but now he felt it like a fire that was blazing in his chest, burning him up from the inside.

He swallowed, and with a huge act of will, he said, “I should not have reacted like that, James, and I am sorry too, but you must realize that this accusation has been following me around for the past year, and it is completely untrue.”

“I know,” James said regretfully. “But we know the truth, and we will do our best to make sure that everyone else does too.”