Read Online My Highland Lover by Maeve Greyson - Free Book Online Page A

should darken his door just because ye ha’ no’ seen any sign of life from his cave?” Gray studied Colum closer. The man was lying. What plot had he and the old demon conjured? Why else would Colum refuse to look him straight in the eye?
    Colum shrugged and nosed his horse toward the bare, hard-packed earth leading away from the clearing. “Do as ye will, m’chieftain. I only thought ye might have a bit of concern for yer only uncle.”
    Well damn, Colum would ha’ to voice that. Gray swiped the rain from his face then worried a hand through his soaked hair. Mother had made him swear to always watch out for Tamhas. She knew the dangers the old man faced from those outside Clan MacKenna. Not all in this part of the Highlands were so accepting of the old man’s strange ways.
    “Colum!”
    The horse stopped and Colum turned in the saddle. “Aye?”
    “Did ye happen to bring me mount or do ye plan for yer chieftain to walk to the old devil’s lair?”
    Colum grinned and nodded down the hillside toward a large outcropping of boulders. The moss-covered stones sprouted like jagged teeth around a bubbling trickle of water. A monstrous horse that dwarfed many of its breed stood patiently waiting beside the crooked stream. “Yon stands yer Cythraul. ’Twas as close as I could get him to the ruins.”
    Gray pressed his thumb and pinky finger against the corners of his mouth and pierced the oppressive stillness of the hillside with a sharp whistle.
    Cythraul turned with ears perked forward, then violently shook his shaggy black head and took a step back.
    Colum laughed. “Now do ye believe me?”
    “Aye, well…” Gray dropped his hand to his side and shook his head. “Ye can no’ blame the poor beast. The night of the fire is still too fresh in his memory.” Gray felt the warhorse’s uneasiness. The horse was no’ the only one still troubled by that night.
    ’Tis all right lad,
Gray thought kindly toward the horse. If not for the loyal Cythraul, Gray would ha’ died that night as well. Gray worried his thumb across the tips of his fingers. His hand still tingled with the memory of the reins nearly cutting through his flesh as Cythraul dragged him out from under the blazing collapsed beam.
    With one last glance back at the ruins, Gray motioned Colum forward as he started down the hill. “Come. Let us check on dear uncle and see what mess the old devil has conjured this time.”
    “Aye, m’chieftain.” Colum grinned and winked as he headed his horse down the hillside.
    —
    “So, we’re all good, then?” Trulie peered up and down the line of troubled faces, then forced a reassuring smile more firmly in place. She had to be brave. She wouldn’t leave her sisters with a parting memory of her face reflecting all her own insecurities about what she was going to do. Thunder rumbled in the distance, interrupting the high-pitched cadence of crickets and katydids chirping in the darkness.
    “You’re using the pond instead of the wading pool? Seriously?” Lilia stretched up on her tiptoes and eyed the shimmering expanse of water like a chipmunk perched on its hindquarters. Her eyes widened as the ring of fire blazing around the pond popped and threw orange sparks up into the darkness.
    Granny nodded and waved a hand toward the small pond glistening with the light of the crackling flames. The dry tinder stacked around the edge of the water roared and sizzled. Long fingers of orange, yellow, and white clawed up into the night. “The wading pool’s cracked and won’t hold water anymore. Remember what I’ve taught you. Never rely on just the strength of the moonlight to open the web. Fire and water increases your accuracy down to the very day you wish to hit.”
    “I’ve seen snakes…and worse in that pond.” A sneer of disgust wrinkled Kenna’s nose as she nodded toward the sparkling surface undulating inside the circle of fire. “And now you’re telling me you’re going to jump into that nasty