Jenna recoiled, holding up her palms. “Whoa! Stop, Ingrid. Just stop. I’ve just had a brief… encounter… with Arran and you’ve already got us married with children!”
Ingrid shrugged. “It’s the way things are done on Skye.”
“Well, it’s not the way things are done where I come from. I will most definitelynotbe marrying Arran.”
Or anyone else, she added to herself.Ever. I’m not taking that kind ofrisk again. Sure, Arran is gorgeous and charming and sweet and protective and hot as hell in bed, but I don’t love him. I don’t. I won’t love a man ever again.
“Oh.” Ingrid’s shoulders sagged with disappointment. “I see.”
Ingrid said nothing else, and an awkward silence filled the room as Jenna finished her bath and Ingrid handed her a large cloth to use as a towel. Jenna wondered at Ingrid’s reaction. It seemed that Rosaline wasn’t the only one eager for Arran to marry and start producing heirs. Jenna wondered why he hadn’t. Was it really because he’d been too busy defending his island from raiders as he claimed, or was there more to it than that?
It doesn’t matter,she told herself as she began pulling on the clean clothes that Ingrid laid out for her.It’s none of your business, and it’s not your problem. Just do the job you came here to do, get paid, and go home. And stop thinking about Arran bloody MacLeod!
“How is Rosaline now?” she asked Ingrid.
When they’d returned to the keep, it was clear that Rosaline had been going out of her mind with worry. It must be horrible, Jenna thought, to have the only remaining member of your family constantly in danger. She didn’t know how Rosaline coped.
Ingrid picked up the pile of Jenna’s laundry, tied them into a sheet, and deposited them by the door. “Oh, ye know. The lady of the keep is a strong woman but still, she worries me. She’s getting on a bit now and all this constant worry canna be good for her.”
“Getting on a bit?” Jenna said. “Rosaline isnot‘getting on a bit’!”
“She is too. It’s her name day tomorrow, and she’ll be fifty. Fifty! Imagine it! I’ve rarely met anyone so old. Even my old gran didnae live much past that, and she was the oldest person in her village.”
Jenna blinked in surprise. “It’s Rosaline’s fiftieth birthday tomorrow?”
“Aye.”
“Is she having a party?”
“A what?”
“You know, a celebration. Fifty is a pretty special birthday, after all.”
“I dinna think so. What, with all the troubles I dinna think anyone has really thought about it.”
Jenna pressed her lips into a flat line. SurelyArranhad thought about it? Surely he was planning something for his mother’s big day? She would never dare let one of her aunt’s birthdays go by without marking it. Once, when she’d been in her late teens, she’d forgotten her aunt Elise’s birthday. Never again. Her aunt had sulked for a week as thoughshewas the surly teenager and Jenna the adult.
An idea began to form in her head, and she grinned suddenly. “Well, if nobody else has thought about it, then it’s up to us, isn’t it?”
The maid gave her a puzzled look. “What’s up to us?”
“Organizing Rosaline’s birthday party, of course!”
Ingrid’s mouth formed a little O of surprise. “Do ye think we can? Would the laird mind?”
Jenna waved a dismissive hand. “You leave the laird to me. It’s just what everyone needs with all the trouble we’ve been having. A chance for the clan to celebrate and let their hair down.”
And a chance for me to do the same, she thought.And forget about magic and obligations and Arran MacLeod for a while.
Ingrid clapped her hands together. “Aye, ye are right! It will be wonderful!”
“Don’t tell Rosaline though—we’ll keep it a surprise. Do you think you can rope in some of the other staff without her knowing? We’ll need their help if we’re to pull this off.”
Ingrid nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll speak to Cook and Chamberlain. They’ll help.” Her eyes sparkled. “This is going to be fun!”
Jenna nodded. “I sure hope so—as long as a certain laird doesn’t throw a spanner in the works.”
Ingrid blinked. “Throw a what?”
