Page 52 of Highlander’s Lesser Evil

“With child!” Gasping, Elizabeth squeezed her hand and Jillian did the same. Immediately, they were bombarding her with questions.

“Easy,” she chuckled. “I am only a month along, but I have been having some stomach illness and dizziness. The healer has prepared me, and Agnes will look in on my progress.”

“And Theo just sent ye here? Well, at least ye have yer freedom,” Elizabeth grumbled.

That was an odd thing for Elizabeth to say. Harris and Agnes gave her plenty of freedom. It was difficult not to. She was such a wild thing. “What is this about Oliver now? You told me that he would make an excellent guardian for David and Cameron.”

“He will.” Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “He also thinks that he will make an excellent husband for me.”

It was just what Gemma needed to hear to help lift her spirits. Chuckling a little, she looked over at Jillian, who also had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “And you think Oliver will not make you an excellent husband?” she asked carefully.

“My parents think it will be a cold day in hell before I marry someone outside the MacDougal clan.”

Interesting considering that until a short time ago, they were MacSeavers.

“And I think I deserve better than some highland brute coming along and pointing to me and saying, ‘Ye there, pretty lass with the big bosom. Ye will be my wife.’”

As she mimicked a deep burly voice, Gemma and Jillian fell victim to hysterical laughter while Elizabeth glared at them. “‘Tis not funny! I wish to be wooed!”

“And ye deserve it,” Gemma said finally as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Ye deserve to be wooed. Is Oliver handsome?”

When Elizabeth didn’t answer right away, Jillian nodded her head. “Oh, aye, he is vera handsome, and I have seen Elizabeth stealing a look more than once. She is interested.”

The younger woman sighed. “Oh, vera well. He is nice to look at and intelligent, but he seems to think that I will fall to every whim, which I wilnae! I have turned down his first proposal, and that seems to have perplexed him. We will see if he gives up or if he learns a little romance.”

“And Graeme?” Gemma asked, turning to Jillian. She knew the MacSeaver heir was sticking around to keep an eye on things, although Theo didn’t believe him. Gemma didn’t believe it either, but she didn’t think the man would betray them. She had a feeling the man wanted to keep an eye on Jillian.

“He keeps his distance,” Jillian said quietly.

“He scowls at her,” Elizabeth laughed. “All the time. Just finds some reason to be near her and then scowls at her. Honestly, if ye arenae going to marry him, then ye should at least enjoy him and get it out of yer system.”

“Elizabeth!” Jillian gasped, while Gemma chuckled. “‘Tis not like that!” But her cheeks were flushed, indicating something different. Gemma didn’t know Jillian’s story about her husband and Graeme, but there was something there.

“He is handsome. If he is looking for a wife, then perhaps I should start paying more attention to him.”

Jillian glared at her while Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, I am just jesting, but ye should note the jealousy and decide what ye want to do about it.”

“There is nothing for me to do,” Jillian said quietly. “He will always hate me because he thinks I killed my husband, and even if that were the case, I could not live on MacSeaver land again, and he is to be laird. There is nothing there for me. Perhaps ye should have Graeme, and I will woo yer Oliver.”

It was Elizabeth’s turn to glare at her, and Gemma sighed, as close to contentment as she would get with Theo gone. “I will be sad when the two of you leave, but for now, it gives me pleasure to know that you are here.”

Silence descended as they leaned against each other, and eventually, they fell into sleep.

For the third night in a row, Theo stared at the empty bed. His nights were short now, filled with interruptions to his sleep as he realized that his wife was not beside him, and then he would pace, wondering if she was sleeping.

She was always so concerned with others in Loch Moran. Chances were that she was staying up half the night feeding the people or working on her looms for the next shipment.

She was pregnant. She needed to sleep and take care of herself, but now that she was not there next to him, who would take care of her?

Worry gnawed at him as the fire in the hearth grew dim, and still, he sat staring at the bed. His child grew in her belly.

His child.

All he wanted for the future of that child was to know that it was growing up safe and happy, and he feared deep down that it would never happen because it carried his blood.

The ache spread in his heart as he stared at the bed.

He had abandoned his wife. It didn’t matter that he’d sent her with a dozen guards to what was now one of the most protected areas in the mountains. It didn’t matter that he’d done it for her safety and the well-being of their child.