Read Online The Highlander's Accidental Marriage (Marriage Mart Mayhem) by Callie Hutton - Free Book Online Page A

where Braeden waited. “Is this something very contagious?”
    “Nay. I dinna think so. I’ve seen many a mum take care of little ones with the disease and not catch it herself. There’s thinking that it comes from a bug bite of some sort.”
    Sarah shuddered, wondering how in heaven’s name Alice would have picked up this disease. “What type of treatment do you recommend?”
    The woman rolled her sleeves to her elbows and fisted her hands on her hips. “If ye had a physician here, he’d be telling ye to have her blood let, but not Maggie. No, lass, Maggie does not bleed her patients.” She nodded vigorously.
    Since Sarah assumed Maggie was the healer standing in front of her, she was grateful about the bloodletting as she had never understood how that could be beneficial to a patient. “Then what do you suggest?”
    “I will make a tisane for the lass. She must drink it five times a day. Keep the windows closed and the room warm, so she can sweat out the fever.”
    “When will she be able to travel?”
    The healer glanced back over at Alice and shook her head. “ Ach , lass. She won’t be able to travel for two or three weeks.”
    “Two or three weeks!” Braeden and Sarah said at the same time.

Chapter Six
    “W e cannot possibly wait another two or three weeks,” Sarah said. “My sister is expecting me, and by now she must be very concerned. That is not good for her and the babe.”
    “Aye. We could send a message to relieve her mind.”
    Sarah continued to pace and wring her hands. “Yes, I will do that, which will ease her mind, but this is a disaster. I don’t want to wait two or three weeks. What are we to do?”
    Braeden sat with his long legs stretched out, his feet crossed at the ankles. He studied his boots and attempted to work up enough nerve to state his case to the lass. He also could not languish in this place. His letter and the expedition awaited him.
    “Sarah, sit down. Ye are wearing out the boards.”
    She sat at the very edge of the chair, her hands in her lap, the only indication of her disquiet the tiny slipper peeking out from her dress that tapped a cadence on the floor. “I am sitting. Now we must rationally discuss this dilemma.”
    Braeden stood and took her spot as he paced, running his fingers through his hair. “We have to be practical, lass.”
    “Yes.”
    “As much as it pains me to say this, we must leave yer maid here under the care of the healer.”
    Sarah continued to stare at him, chewing her lip. “I agree.”
    Braeden let out a sigh of relief.
    “But…”
    He sucked the air back in.
    “I cannot travel alone with you.” Her shoulders slumped. “It is not proper.”
    If the lass only knew how very improper his thoughts had been almost since the time they’d met, she would surely run screaming from the room. The problem of them being alone together on the road for a few more days had troubled him when he’d made his suggestion. But he would have to be strong and fight this attraction he felt for the lass.
    “The only other solution is for me to ride on ahead and stop at Bedlay Castle and tell yer sister where ye are. Then Liam can send back a carriage for ye.”
    Sarah’s eyes grew wide. “Being alone at a public inn with no male protection is even worse than us traveling together.”
    “Aye. ‘Tis true, that.”
    After a few minutes, Sarah brightened. “I can wear breeches and a shirt and we can travel on horses as brothers. I can have my trunks sent on with Alice when she recovers. It will be even faster that way.”
    Braeden gasped and began coughing, his previous improper thoughts turning downright indecent at the lass’s suggestion. Subjecting himself to days of watching her charming backside and legs outlined in breeches had him aching in the wrong spot. No matter how much the lass would try to disguise herself, her being taken for a boy gave “farfetched” a new definition.
    It appeared every solution they came up with was worse than the