Read Online Virtue and Valor: Highland Heather Romancing a Scot Series by Collette Cameron - Free Book Online Page B

napkin before responding. “Yes, Ewan’s father died when he was a toddler, and our mother married my father a couple of years later.”
    Harcourt’s dark gaze wandered the length of the table, resting on the attractive middle-aged couple. “I met Lady Ferguson and Sir Hugh at the Clarendon’s Yuletide ball, but missed introductions today when we arrived.”
    “The large, dark-haired man at the other end who looks a great deal like Ewan is his paternal uncle, Duncan.” She angled her head toward a handsome blond woman. “His wife, Kitta, is sitting between their sons, Gregor and Alasdair.”
    The duke blew out an exaggerated breath. “Egads, they’re enormous chaps, aren’t they?”
    Yancy’s reaction had been much the same the first time he’d met the entourage of gargantuan Scots.
    Isobel chuckled, a husky sound that tickled along his nerves. How could a laugh sound so innocent and yet wholly erotic at the same time?
    “They are indeed. Kitta is Norse, a direct descendent from Sigurðr the Powerful, one of the first earls of the Orkney Isles. She stands over six feet tall.” Isobel nibbled a fat strawberry, the juice leaving a faint red stain upon her lips.
    Yancy forced his gaze away from the display, barely stifling a groan. Bugger it . Must he find everything Isobel did so sensual? Needing a distraction, he absently cut a piece of cold meat while observing Ross.
    Why had he accompanied his niece to Craiglocky, anyway? Wouldn’t he better serve Laird Farnsworth by staying at Tornbury Fortress? Tornbury boasted some of the most premier grazing and farming lands in all the Highlands.
    That was the first order of business, a meeting with Miss Farnsworth’s father. Then Yancy would confer with the other clans’ leaders and negotiate a compromise. Lydia, and that boor, Ross, would toddle back to Tornbury, and in less than a fortnight, things would be set right once more.
    MacHardy, however, was a whole other issue. He wouldn’t rest until he’d stirred dangerous contention within the clans. If not now, then most assuredly later, and if not with the Blackhalls or MacGraths, then another discontented tribe. A few Highland clans still held a great deal of resentment toward England.
    Unfortunately, the baron’s actions weren’t treasonous, or Yancy would have hauled him before the House of Lords weeks ago.
    His focus yet on Ross, Yancy stuffed a forkful of meat into his mouth, almost gagging on tongue. Had he been so bemused he served himself tongue ? He loathed the stuff. With supreme effort, he swallowed, then shuddered.
    God Almighty .
    Seizing his wineglass, he gulped the contents. The foul meat’s taste lingered. A mouthful of tangy dark bread swiftly followed. Then another.
    What he wouldn’t give for a tankard of ale at the moment. He chewed the bread and examined the table. No ale, just wine.
    His gaze snapped to Ross, whose attention was riveted on Isobel. The gleam in the eye of the Friday-faced man set Yancy’s teeth on edge.
    Unadulterated lust.
    Hadn’t anyone else noticed the cur’s leering?
    Yes, from the stern glowers the giant blond brothers and Dugall sent Ross, they knew full well what musings the churl entertained in his dark head. Rash man, to antagonize that brawny trio.
    Harcourt waved his hand in Dugall’s direction. “The young man talking with Duncan McTavish, he’s your brother I take it?”
    A wicked grin on his lips, the duke’s gaze dipped to the slab of tongue on Yancy’s plate. His Grace’s lips twitched. “He bears a great resemblance to Sethwick.”
    Yancy clenched his jaw.
    Damn him .
    Harcourt, the bounder, had slipped the tongue onto Yancy’s plate when he stood to assist Isobel. He knew Yancy couldn’t abide animal organs. The vile taste succeeded in putting Yancy off the rest of his food.
    Setting her fork on her plate, she nodded, looking at the handsome brute. “That would be Dugall, my rapscallion brother. He’s always into some mischief. Seonaid,