Page 31 of What a Highlander’s Got to Do

“I do as well. Much better than sitting in the nursery.”

Cat pulled a face. “Your family is . . .”

“What?”

“Prolific.”

“What can I say? They’re all in love.” This she said in a certain tone, one Cat understood. They both felt their parents would benefit from a good dose of decorum. But whenever the couples got close to each other, there was cooing and kissing. And, eventually, babies.

More babies.

Isobel had never really understood the attraction.

Not until Nick.

Her heart stuttered as he crossed her mind again, as he had every day since she’d left the Willoubys. She wished she’d been able to say good-bye, but there had been no time. Her parents had packed her up and taken her straightaway.

She’d been devastated.

She wasn’t sure why.

Well, hell. She was.

She had enjoyed her time with Nick. All of it. But she’d especially enjoyed their tanglings.

And now? Now that she was here and he was there? There was a dark void in her heart, one she couldn’t seem to fill. No doubt she’d forget him, in time.

She hoped.

“Honestly. I don’t know why you asked me to come with you,” Cat said.

“Huh? What?” Isobel blinked at her friend.

“I’ve been talking to you and you’ve been ignoring me.”

“I was no’!”

“Really? What did I just say?”

“You were talking about . . . dresses.”

“I most certainly was no’. Really, Isobel. What is going on with you?”

“Nothing.” Nothing she could talk about. How could she tell Cat—the lifelong friend, with whom she had made a vow to avoid the coils of marriage—that she’d met a man who made her question everything? Not that it mattered. She was never going to see him again.

Not ever.

“Then why are there tears in your eyes, for heaven’s sake?”

“There are not.” She wiped them away, those annoying little traitors.

“Say what you like, but I know you, my darling. Something has happened and it’s . . .”

“What?”

“Made you sad.”

“Nonsense.”