Grant Clan 06 - My Desperate Highlander by Keira Montclair Page B

never get another. Ever since he came to Edinburgh, all we hear is gossip about his escapades.”
    “Mayhap he prefers Scottish lassies.” Though there was one particular lassie who Baines would never touch again—Micheil would see to that.
    The vendor shook his head and chuckled. “From what I have heard, anything in a skirt attracts him.”
    “And his betrothed? Has she not heard about his ways or seen him following other lasses?” Was the woman blind? A man with that kind of reputation clearly did not make much of an effort to try to hide his romantic escapades. The slim efforts he had made to hide his session with Diana last night only provided more evidence of that.
    “Strange, but no one has seen the lass yet. It’s said she is a passing beauty, good enough, though not as fair as our most notable beauties. She’s not like the other lassies, wanting to dance and act frivolous. No’ quite sure why because I have never seen her. Her family just came to Edinburgh for the wedding—first time here. She came with a grandmother as her escort. And she appears to prefer going unnoticed.”
    Micheil thanked the vendor and moved on, asking occasional questions as he toured the center of Edinburgh. The castle was quite a spectacle in the daylight. The battlements spread over half the land, and guards trailed every corner of them. Glorious banners waved everywhere—there more than usual, which he assumed was in honor of the tournament. Many of the visitors had come on strong horses that were being cared for in the daylight, but none that could compete with his horse or any of the Grant destriers.
    One thing was certain; this matter needed to be handled very delicately. Though he would love nothing more than to tell Diana the truth about Baines—that he was already betrothed and getting married within a sennight—he knew lassies. She would never believe him. Mayhap she was even naïve enough to believe Randall would marry her instead of his betrothed. After all, she believed everything the lout had told her last night. He would have to somehow force the man to show his true colors in front of her. It was the only way. Hellfire, it made him mad enough to spit when he thought about the situation. The lad would have taken her maidenhead and she would have let him, falling for his promises of marriage.
    Aye, Diana needed to know the truth, but she had to learn it the hard way. Otherwise she would hate Micheil for bearing the message, something he didn’t want to happen under any circumstances.
    He just wasn’t quite sure why.
    ***
    Diana fumbled with the ribbons in her hair in her chamber, unable to steady the trembling that had afflicted her ever since she’d begun the process of readying herself for the tourney. According to one of Elspeth’s servants, Randall Baines was indeed jousting this day, and she was sure he would come to her for a favor. She hoped another would, too. She had chosen several wisps of silky material, all of them long enough to tie around the tip of his lance and proudly show the world he had chosen her.
    It would show Micheil the truth, she was certain of it. Once he saw Randall on the jousting field, he would know he was the answer to her problem. By the morrow, they could be betrothed, and she would be riding back to her father’s home with a man at her side, and it wouldn’t be Baron Gow. Somehow, her heart wasn’t as certain as her head. How she wished Micheil saw the good side of Randall so he would support her in this quest. She feared she would have to settle instead of finding the man of her dreams. If Gow’s men were indeed searching for them, she did not have much time.
    She thought about Randall Baines, how his blond hair hung over his collar. He had pretty blue eyes and a soft face, not rough and thick with whiskers like so many lads around Scotland. Perhaps he did lack a certain amount of masculine energy, but no one could deny his appeal. She had known that if she just came to