Page 138 of My Brave Highlander

"You must go out and find him. Our very lives depend upon it. Yours too." Maighread slipped the folded piece of paper underneath the door. "Here it is. Take this to Haldane. Do you know Levina, the kitchen servant?"

"Aye."

"I want you to give her a message for me. Tell her I said to take the measures we discussed several days ago."

"Very well. Is that all m'lady?"

"Aye."

She hadn't wanted the situation to lead to this, but she had no choice. Dirk had forced her hand.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The next morn, after breaking their fast, Cyrus told Isobel he'd like to talk to her in the library. She glanced at Dirk, wondering why he wasn't invited. He gave her a little smile that made her recall their steamy encounter in the library the evening before. Then, they'd been summoned to share a dance in the great hall with their clans. Though Dirk had said he didn't like to dance, he'd done wonderfully.

Inside the library now, both Isobel and Cyrus took seats at the table.

"What do you think of MacKay?" Cyrus asked.

Why was he asking her this? The arrangement was already signed and sealed. She knew how her brother was—bossy and domineering. It wouldn't have mattered if she'd protested. Of course, she wasn't going to protest a marriage to Dirk. Quite the opposite. She could hardly wait to marry him.

She forced herself to be reserved, considering which words her brother would take seriously. She didn't want him to see her as a giddy young lass, though that's exactly how she'd felt since last night when Dirk proposed and then made love to her. Whew. She had a sudden urge to fan herself.

"Chief MacKay is a good man," she said. "Protective, helpful, an honorable gentleman. And a strong, brave chief. Well-liked by… everyone."

Cyrus lifted a brow. "In truth?"

"Of course." How could he doubt her words? Obviously, he was testing her in some way.

Cyrus sat back, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Yesterday, he admitted he seduced you."

Her face burned. "I see." Did that cause Cyrus to disapprove of Dirk? They had seemed friends at both meals. "He's not to blame. It was mutual."

"You seduced him?" Cyrus asked, his voice loud and his eyes wide.

"Nay, not exactly," she quickly said, hoping her brother didn't think her whorish. Well, maybe she had seduced Dirk when she'd burst in on him in the bathtub… and last night in this room. "I find him… nice."

"Nice?" Her brother snorted.

"And handsome. I like Dirk a great deal."

"Ah. Now we're getting somewhere. So, you want to marry him, aye?"

"Of course. You didn't tell him he had to marry me, did you?" That had been her greatest fear.

"Nay. He asked for your hand. He finds you lovely and he cares for you. He appears to be a good man. That's enough. Finding you a suitable husband has been a nightmare, Isobel."

"I ken it. But you chose wrongly the first time." She had told him this before.

"I'm sorry for that, but it was to secure an important clan alliance. Besides that, an offer of marriage from an earl to a baron's daughter is naught to sneeze at, no matter his age."

"Very well. I did my duty for the clan." The past was the past and she wanted to forget it. Her first marriage could've been far more horrible than it was, and she was grateful to have gotten off easy.

"Now, you may have your blessed love match that you have blathered on about since you were fifteen summers," Cyrus muttered.

Love match. Aye. She was falling in love with Dirk. Now, if only he would feel the same way. 'Haps he did, but he hadn't said so.

"For a certainty, you're smitten with the man," Cyrus said. "'Tis about time."