Read Online As High as the Heavens by Kathleen Morgan - Free Book Online

queen's rescue will never see the light of
day."

    In the long silence that followed, Heather looked from
her father to her uncle in outraged disbelief. "And what
have ye to say to this?" she finally demanded, directing
her gaze to Angus. "Ye're his laird. If ye command him
to stay here, he must do so."
    Next, she turned to her father. "And ye. Pray, inform
this audacious lout that it isn't his to say, what I should
or shouldn't do."
    Robert Gordon and Angus Mackenzie exchanged
glances. In that fleeting interchange, Heather found
the answer to her demands. There'd be no help from
either her father or uncle. In their minds, the queen's
rescue took precedence over everything else. Everything
... including propriety, physical comfort, and personal
misgivings.
    With that daunting realization, Heather's resolve hardened. Though her cause obviously lacked supporters, she
had no intention of giving up without a fight. Even if she
was ultimately forced to acquiesce to Duncan Macken zie's offer, she intended to apprise them all of the terrible
price, in the bargain, they forced her to pay.

    "Are ye certain that ye've fully considered what ye
two ask of me, in going to this man's house?" Heather
looked first to her father then her uncle. "Where am I
to sleep? In the common room with the farm animals
and in full view of this man and his father? Indeed, how
will I dress or bathe with any semblance of privacy? And
what will Charlie say to our betrothal," she added, at last
riveting an accusing gaze solely on her father, "when he
hears his future wife spent three months in the rustic,
unchaperoned company of other men?"
    Her father's eyes widened. "Och, I confess that I didn't
think of that." He looked to Duncan. "My daughter's
right. It's out of the-"
    "She doesn't have to sleep wi' the animals," Duncan
replied with a long-suffering roll of his eyes, before sending a sardonic glance in Heather's direction. "Besides the
common room-which, by the way, contains no farm animals save our terrier bitch-we've two separate sleeping
chambers. One my parents share and the other's mine.
For the duration, I'll gladly relinquish my chamber to
the lady so she can not only sleep there but `dress and
bathe wi' some semblance of privacy."'
    "It's a fine, large cottage, lass," Angus chose at that
moment to offer his smiling contribution to the conversation. "Duncan and his father have worked their
steading well in the past years. Indeed, it's now one of
the most prosperous holdings in all of Mackenzie lands.
And Fiona-Malcolm's wife-keeps a spotless house. In the bargain, she's also an accomplished cook. Ye'll lack
for none of the basic comforts."

    "Aye, if I do say so myself," Malcolm Mackenzie finally
spoke up, "we've a verra nice house. All thanks to Duncan, though. It was his especial hard work and clever
business dealings which brought us such prosperity."
He graced his son with a fatherly look of pride. "Aye,
my Duncan has a fine head on his shoulders, that he
does."
    Heather shot Duncan Mackenzie-who hadn't budged
from his infuriatingly self-confident, arms-folded-overchest pose-a seething look. "I didn't mean to insult yer
home," she said, forcing a smile for Malcolm Mackenzie's
sake, "but surely ye can understand, as a noblewoman,
the delicate position such an arrangement places me in.
I'm to wed in six months' time. My betrothed, though
a kind, understanding man, might not take kindly to
my-
    "Then he'll just have to trust ye, won't he?" Duncan
drawled lazily, his mouth twisting with what Heather
could only view as derision. "Since ye do love him-don't
ye?-what possible temptation could an `audacious lout,'
not to mention `oafish clod with naught more than whey
for brains' such as I present?"
    At Heather's scandalized gasp, Malcolm and Angus
broke into laughter. Robert Gordon, however, mottled
with rage. He wheeled to face his daughter.
    "Ye called him an oafish clod?" he demanded. "Lass,