Page 20 of The Highlander’s Kilted Affair

“I, er,” he floundered for a second, and then apparently came to the same conclusion as Evelyn. “O’ course, me laird. What a splendid idea.”

Once more, Evelyn and Yvaine shared a look. This time, however, her sister was beaming with delight. Yvaine only wanted Evelyn to be happy, and perhaps she thought her sister spending time with him would do just that. But Evelyn had not expressed her deeper feelings to Yvaine. Nor had she told her how she feared them.

“Ye are nae pleased?” Yvaine whispered with a frown.

“This isnae the place tae explain it,” Evelyn whispered back. She glanced over her shoulder, but the men were talking among themselves, and thankfully, paying no attention to them.

“But ye like him,” Yvaine argued.

“Which is exactly the problem,” Evelyn hissed.

Yvaine continued to frown, until eventually, the realization hit her, and her eyes flew wide. “Och.”

“Exactly,” Evelyn said.

“Och, Evelyn.” Yvaine looked suddenly sad.

Evelyn grabbed her sister’s hand and held her tightly. “This isnae the time or place, Yvaine. We will talk later. Please, smile. I cannae have anyone else kenning.”

Yvaine pinned a weak smile on her lips. “All right.”

Only once Evelyn was satisfied that Yvaine understood what she needed to do, did she turn around and continue to eat, attempting to join in on the conversation.

Killian seemed to be highly entertained about something, and was regaling Donald with some story.

“…he met her at the Mackay wedding, and he hasnae stopped talking about his mystery woman since. Ye would have thought he might have asked her name.”

“I’m sure the laird isnae interested in hearing about me braither’s pursuits, Killian,” Benedict interrupted hurriedly.

“Och, I dae. I’m rather intrigued now,” Donald replied.

Evelyn could hardly believe what she was hearing, and holding her breath, she looked at the worried expression on Benedict’s face.

“As are we all,” Killian continued with a wide grin. “Benedict hasnae stopped searching fer her since the wedding, but he has nay idea who she is. Instead, we have had tae listen tae him pining fer her fer three whole weeks.”

While her father was engrossed in the story, Evelyn was speechless. Benedict had been pining for her? He had searched for her?

At that very second, Benedict caught Evelyn’s wide-eyed stare.

“Me braither,” he said bashfully, clearly trying to play the circumstance down, while at the same time, covering his own reaction.

Yvaine nudged Evelyn’s elbow and gave her a huge grin, but Evelyn was uncertain how she ought to react. Quickly remembering that it was Benedict sitting beside her, she closed her mouth, for it had been gaping open with shock. Since that breathless encounter in the library, he had not left her mind, but she had no idea he had experienced the same.

“Well, perhaps when Benedict returns from his travels,” Donald said, “he can regale us with more details. Perhaps we can all search fer her, so he can court her.”

Upon hearing her father’s words, Yvaine, who had been taking a sip of wine, suddenly choked on it, and began coughing and spluttering. Gone was the grin, and as Evelyn patted her back, her sister now looked terribly worried.

Killian appeared behind her, offering her a napkin. “Are ye all right, Yvaine?” His face was marred with concern.

Evelyn could not help but note that this was the first time he had actually been kind to her. From the moment they had arrived, the two had taken a distinct dislike to each other.

But Yvaine could not answer. She was too busy gasping for air in between her hacking coughs. It took a few moments, but when the redness finally drained from Yvaine’s face, Killian returned to his seat. The sisters shared another worried look, but neither spoke a word.

“Are ye all right, Yvaine?” Benedict asked, leaning forward to speak to her.

“I’m fine, me laird. Thank ye.”

Benedict nodded, and then glanced at Evelyn. His expression was a mixture of worry and embarrassment. But then, he flashed her a smile, and clearly swallowing whatever it was he was feeling, took on playing his part of the laird once more.