Page 36 of His Secret Highland Bride

She frowned and squeezed his hand to reassure him. “I will be back soon.” She leaned up on her tiptoes as he bent to kiss her. As with most of their kisses, a sweet peck to say goodbye turned to something a bit more heated. His arms wound around her waist to pull her closer, and his body began to stir.

His moan was met with a laugh, which was not what he was hoping for.

“I must go now, or we’ll waste away from all the activity and no food.”

“I will just eat you up instead.” With that, he nipped at her neck.

“When I return, I shall allow you to feast upon me to your heart’s content.”

With a sigh of disappointment, he dropped his arms and allowed her to escape. “Very well. Hurry back.” He turned to put more wood on the fire and was pleased to hear footsteps coming closer. “Did ye change your mind?” he asked as he turned to see someone standing in the doorway who was not his wife. Not even close. “What are ye doing here?”

It took him longer than it should have to recognize the man before him. But to his credit, he had been no more than a scraggly lad when last they spoke. Alec, his younger brother and war chief, crossed his arms and raised a brow.

“Hello, my laird. You don’t seem pleased to see me.”

It seemed his simple, happy life had come to an end.

Chapter Fourteen

“How did you know I was here?” Shane knew his aunt wouldn’t have told a soul, and he trusted Munro.

Alec shrugged, his large shoulders barely moving. “Janet told Tory she thought she saw you in the village. Since we’ve been expecting you for some time, I decided to see for myself.”

It would figure Tory’s nosey friend would have told. He couldn’t recall seeing her, but he hadn’t been looking.

“One question led to another, and soon people were talking of a quiet soldier who had taken over Ronan’s cottage. I figured it could only be you, and here ye be. What I don’t know is why you’re here instead of at the castle, where ye bloody belong.”

Rather than tell his brother about Lindsay and deal with the issue of his marriage, he went with his original reason for coming to the cottage rather than the castle. “I wasn’t ready to deal with being laird. I only just got done fighting and being called captain. Is it too much to want a bit of time to myself?”

His brother let out a huff. “Nay. I guess I understand that. But I hope you’ve had your rest now, for you’re needed in the castle. Deirdre has taken up the running of the clan, and I don’t need to tell you it isn’t going well.”

Shane felt the weight settle onto his shoulders. He’d healed and enjoyed the last few weeks with Lindsay, but now he must see to his duty.

“I’ll go with you to the castle and get things settled. But I won’t be staying there yet. I have…” He wasn’t ready to tell Alec about his wife. “I want to stay here a little while longer. And I’ll not be walking through the village with ye and causing talk.”

He whistled and waited until Doran came sauntering out of the woods.

“Aye?” he said, taking in Alec.

“Stay here and watch over…things.”

Doran nodded and didn’t ask why Shane was acting strangely.

With his wife protected, Shane followed Alec. They went through the woods and curved back up toward the castle. It was a longer walk, but it was a fine day and Alec didn’t seem to mind being out in it. They walked over a rise that looked out over the farmer’s field.

“Why are none of the south fields planted?” Shane asked. With no grain planted, there’d be none for harvest. No grains harvested meant no flour to make food for the people.

“Father increased the taxes on the farmers last year. Once they paid their taxes, there was nothing left to see to the replanting. Many of the farmers left for other clans.”

“No farmers? No grain?” Shane rubbed his forehead. “Christ, I’m not even to the castle yet, and I already know I don’t want to see any more.”

“Do you wish to leave it to Deirdre?”

Shane frowned and continued their journey. For the next few minutes, Shane worried over what to do about the grain. They’d have to buy some from another clan. Did Ronan have extra stores to help? Hell, Shane hadn’t seen many cattle or sheep, either. Did his father not realize there’d not be anyone to pay his increase in taxes if the whole clan starved to death?

A few moments later, Alec broke the silence. “Do things look different than ye remembered? You’ve been away a long time.” Alec’s low voice had turned sad.

“You mean besides the lack of livestock and crops?”