Page 3 of Reviving Her Highland Spirit

He hadn’t had this position long. The stable master hadn’t bothered to train Callum himself, he’d had one of the older stable boys show him around. They’d hidden behind a corner of one of the outbuildings, and the stable boy pointed out each one of the Family as they mounted their horses. Callum stared for a long time at Laird James McAlister and his brother, Bryce. He memorized their faces and the faces of their wives. The children were a little more confusing, but they weren’t as numerous a family as other clans, so it was hardly impossible.

Lady Margaret hadn’t been there. She was Lady Sola and Lord Bryce’s oldest daughter, and had only one younger brother. She seemed a little odd, compared to the rest of them. She wasn’t interested in politics, and if the gossip was to be trusted, she either spent her days roaming the hills around the keep, picking strange plants, or reading in the keep’s library.

“Ye must come wi’ us!” Lady Bonnie insisted. “Tell her, Amilia.”

“It might be good for ye,” the younger girl said mildly. “Just a short ride.”

Lady Margaret was shaking her head. “I can’t, girls. Come on, stop talking aboot it. Ye know why I dinnae want to come.”

Lady Bonnie pushed out her lower lip. She looked older than her seventeen years, but not when she pulled a petulant face like that. She had long, glossy black hair and sharp green eyes. Green eyes ran in the family, it seemed. They were proper green, like grass after rain, and were fringed by long black eyelashes. Her younger sister, Amilia, had deep brown hair, but the same vivid green eyes.

There were no stories about the girls throwing tantrums or being cruel to the servants. That was unusual, and Callum had been a little surprised to hear about then when he first took up his position. The stable boy who’d shown him around had only laughed and said that Laird McAlister and Lady Lyla weren’t the sort of clan chiefs to allow their children to do that.

Callum had longed to tell the stable boy that he didn’t know the McAlisters, didn’t know what they’d done. They were as guilty as sin.

He didn’t say that, of course. Callum only stood there, silently. After a few minutes, it became clear that the argument was going around in circles - the younger girls wanted Lady Margaret to go riding with them, and Lady Margaret was just as adamant that she would not go.

Callum stepped forward, clearing his throat. All three turned to look at him, and he found himself looking Lady Margaret McAlister dead in the face for the first time.

She was beautiful, but not in a traditional way. Lady Bonnie was a pretty girl and would be beautiful in a year or two, but Lady Margaret’s had a strange face. Strange, but compelling.

First of all, her hair was almost abnormally light. Her eyebrows were nearly white, and her lashes looked as though they’d been dusted with snow. Her skin was pale, her face narrow and pointed. She had a long nose, slightly hooked at the end, and the same bright green eyes that all the McAlister children seemed to have, a throwback to some grandparent or another.

Callum swallowed involuntarily and made himself speak.

“Do ye require horses tae be prepared, ladies?”

He didn’t dare imagine what Lady Margaret saw when she looked at him. Callum’s thick brown hair hadn’t been cut in a while. It was clean, and he was clean, at least, although the other stable hands laughed at him when he dunked his head in the freezing cold water set out for them to wash in. Callum hated being dirty. It brought back memories of wandering through the dark countryside, icy mud freezing on his skin, and filthy rags letting off a stench wherever he went.

Aside from his clean, neat hair, Callum had striking blue eyes and a short stubble. He was taller and stronger than the other stable boys, and at the age of twenty-two, strongly resented being called a stable boy.

Still, there was nothing to be done about that. Callum calmed his thoughts and forced himself to return Lady Margaret’s gaze coolly.

One thing he would not do was drop his eyes nervously like the others did whenever a lord or lady looked their way.

“Two horses, please,” Lady Margaret said. She had a soft, lilting voice, and he didn’t fail to notice the please.

Her cousins groaned in disappointment.

“Maggie!” Lady Bonnie complained, and her sister laid a soothing hand on her arm.

“Let it be, Bonnie. Maggie might want to come with us another time. Stable boy, please saddle up Filib and Frang fer us.”

Callum gave a brief nod and moved down the stables to where two glossy chestnut horses, both males, both brothers, stood in stalls side by side. He knew all the horses by name - animals were so much more pleasant to be around than humans.

He worked quickly, saddling them up, trying to listen in on the conversation outside. The horses stood, patient and placid, while he worked, and allowed him to lead them outside.

Lady Bonnie and Lady Amilia’s faces brightened at the sight of their horses.

“Thank ye!” Bonnie beamed. “Tell me, isn’t Filib the finest horse ye have ever seen?”

Callum had to smile despite himself at her enthusiasm, before he remembered and smoothed his expression into quiet deference instead.

“Ye cannot expect me tae choose, my lady. They are all fine horses.”

“Aye, but Filib is the finest.”

Amilia nudged her sister with a soft smile. “How can ye say that when Frang is right there?”