Highland Grace (Highlands Trilogy) (Book Two)

Highland Grace (Highlands Trilogy) (Book Two) (Ch 8-11)

Copyright © K.E. Saxon 2008

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS CONTAIN ADULT CONTENT AND ARE INTENDED ONLY FOR THOSE READERS 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER.

CHAPTER 8

Callum and his bride, Lara, arrived the day before the Hogmanay feast.Jesslyn was the only one in the great hall at the time of their arrival, having awakened later than usual.She had just finished breaking her fast when the guests were announced.Rising to her feet she stepped off the dais and moved to the center of the room facing the entrance as she watched her auburn-haired ex-betrothed escort his bride into the hall.

“‘Tis good to see you again, Jesslyn,” Callum said, a twinkle in his emerald-green eyes.Taking both her hands in his, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Smiling with pleasure, Jesslyn replied, “Aye, ‘tis good seeing you as well.”She stood back a bit and looked from one end of his shoulders to the other.“Lord, but you’re broader now than you were the last we saw each other.Why, your shoulders are the size of Daniel’s now, I trow!—have the MacGregors been working you hard, then?”

Callum’s grin turned sheepish.He shrugged.“I enjoy the exercise.”

“Ahhh,” she replied with a nod and a wink, “that’s good.” Turning then to his bride, she said, “And you are Lara.You’re as beautiful as Daniel and Bao told us you were.”The lady was of medium height and several years older than Jesslyn, mayhap twenty-five summers.But her skin was clear and white, with just the right amount of color to her cheeks.She’d forgone wearing a veil, simply placing a gold filet over the crown of her chestnut-colored curls.A vanity of hers, it seemed.Her eyes were almond-shaped and a darker hue of blue than Jesslyn’s, her features delicate.Tho’ she was older than her husband by several years, her beauty matched his own fine looks quite well.They made a pretty pair, Jesslyn decided.

“My thanks, you are kind to say so,” Lara replied stiltedly, removing her mantle and handing it to a servant.

Jesslyn’s gaze dipped momentarily to Lara’s quite-rounded stomach and her eyes widened in shock.She quickly composed her features before lifting her gaze once more to the lady’s countenance.She shouldn’t be further along than Jesslyn was herself, Callum having only met and wed her around the same time as Jesslyn and Bao had had their tryst, yet she looked to be a good seven moons into her childing state.

* * *

Lara smirked at the flaxen-haired beauty Callum had been waxing lyrical about for many days now.Evidently, she had no knowledge of who Lara was to her.

And as far as the babe in her belly, well, ‘twas no secret that Callum hadn’t fathered it.Not any longer.And ‘twas no secret that she’d been forced to wed him because of it.Of course, Callum hadn’t been told of the babe prior to their wedding; after all, their union had been arranged merely as a means of negotiating peace between her clan, the Gordons, and his clan, the MacGregors.Her father, Laird Gordon, had thought it a nice trick to hand over his strumpet of a daughter and her bastard babe to the clan that had been a thorn in his side since they’d been allotted the holding by the king.The holding, that according to their royal survey said they owned the rights to a particular tract of land, and according to the MacGregor’s older royal survey said the MacGregor’s owned rights to it.

Lara smirked even more when she saw Jesslyn’s cheeks flame with embarrassment before she asked, “Would you care for something to drink?Eat?”

Callum, clearly oblivious to the exchange between her and Jesslyn, looked around the hall, saying, “Nay, we broke our fast earlier.Is Daniel still on the training field?”