Page 63 of Highlander’s Sweet Poison

“Aye. About two months now. I didnae want to tell ye until I was certain, but now I am more than certain.” For the last few months, she’d been worried because she’d never conceived with Fulton, but now she was most certainly pregnant. “We are going to have a child.”

“Our child.” In wonder, he placed a hand on her belly. There was nothing but joy on his face. “I swear woman, I love ye more and more every day.”

“And I ye.” Kissing him gently, she leaned over and rested on his chest. His arms came around in contentment. “So ye will forgive Creighton.”

“Creighton.” A scowl entered his voice. “For one blissful moment, I forgot that he was here.”

“He deserves to have what we have, and he may vera well find that in Kylie.”

“Doubtful. The lass is more stubborn than ye.”

Playfully, she pinched him, and he grunted, but when she looked up at him, there was nothing but love in her eyes. “I never know how to tell ye how happy ye have made me. My life here is far more wonderful than I could ever have dreamed, and that is all thanks to ye.”

“It was not always the case,” he said mournfully.

“Nay, but for this, I regret nothing. Everything that we have been through has been to find each other, to find this, and now we can give our child and any child that follows the vera best life. I love ye, Graeme.”

“Ah, Jillian. Ye are my happiness.”

And now that she knew what love could do for a lass, Jillian began to plot as she rested her head again. Alexina had found her love, and Kylie might vera well be on her way to finding hers.

And after that, it would be Annella. Strong, stubborn Annella, and one equally stubborn blacksmith.

One Year Later

The tavern was full as the MacSeavers settled in after a hard day’s work. Most of the men were bachelors who had no warm hearths or hot food waiting for them at the day’s end. Some of them were married but looking to escape their tired wives and energetic children. Clyde had no patience for these men. It was one thing to take a night off now and then but to spend every night away from loved ones? It seemed senseless.

But then, the blacksmith fell into the first category. He had no wife or children at home. It wasn’t from lack of trying on the part of the MacSeaver lasses. There had been plenty to show him interest, and plenty that he tried to find interest in, but all these years later, there was still only one woman who held his heart.

Annella MacSeaver, sister of his best friend and widow of the most hated man in the clan. Well, second hated. For all of his faults, Alan hadn’t actually kidnapped or killed anyway. That prestige belonged to another.

A little more than a year ago, the clan was happy to rally behind Alan who toted Jillian, the laird’s wife, as a witch and wanted desperately to see her punished when her only real crime was rebuffing Alan’s attempts at seducing her when he was already wed. Now that Alan was dead, the clan was quickly forgetting their part in his plan. Most of them looked at Annella suspiciously, but Graeme had made it more than clear that his sister was entirely innocent and none should disparage her.

And Clyde watched from a distance as she rebuilt her life. The dark-haired beauty and mother of two was smiling and laughing more. She’d befriended Jillian and Alexina, a married lass in the village, and when she wasn’t happily chasing her wayward children around, she was strolling through the clan with her friends. Clyde was happy to see that she was moving on with her life, that she’d found happiness.

But he still ached at the thought that it wasn’t with him.

“I suppose it shouldnae surprise me to see ye at the tavern.”

Clyde turned his head at the sound of the female voice and raised an eyebrow when Jillian sat down and groaned. She was well into her pregnancy, dangerously large, and slightly temperamental. Having seen her break into tears at the sight of a baby lamp just the other day, Clyde eyed her wearily. If she cried here, at the tavern, everyone would assume that it was his fault, and he wouldn’t be welcome for a month.

“Shouldn’t ye be in bed?” he grumbled as he lifted his tankard. This was supposed to be his time to brood, and he was in no mood to share the space with his happily wedded friend’s wife.

“I tried.” Coming up on the other side of him, Graeme pulled out a chair and joined them. “She waits until I’m gone and then gets up and sneaks out of the keep.”

“Hello, darling,” she purred as she smiled innocently. “I knew that ye were following me. I could feel displeasure as I walked.”

“And still ye came. Ye do know how I feel about seeing the bed empty when ye should be in it?” Graeme demanded. Clyde still remembered how Graeme had nearly lost his mind when Jillian had been kidnapped.

“Plenty of women have worked and had babies, and I will be no different. Besides, this is important.” She fixed a steely-eyed look at Clyde. “Ye are a stubborn fool, do ye know that?”

Taken aback by the accusation, he spread his arms as he tried to think of what he’d done to displeasure her. When he could come up with nothing, he looked at his friend. “Do ye know what she is talking about?”

“I never know what goes on through her head these days,” Graeme sighed. “Yesterday, she decided to redo the keep’s decor and hung Gemma’s tapestries on every wall. I didnae even know we had that many tapestries, and each and every one of them is bordered in MacDougal colors. When I try to take them down...”

“Don’t ye dare. If it were not for her, the two of us wouldnae have met,” Jillian snapped. “And we arenae here to discuss Gemma’s beautiful tapestries. We are here to discuss Clyde and Annella.”

“No,” Clyde growled and started to rise. As much as he loved Jillian and Graeme, he had no intention of discussing Annella with anyone.