Kilts and Kisses by Victoria Roberts Page B

did, but sometimes he felt like throttling the man. He supposed the feeling was mutual between any father and son. He opened the wooden door to the stables, and the smell of hay engulfed his senses.
    “Would ye like me to saddle your mount?” asked one of the stable hands.
    “I’m only going to brush him. Thank ye.”
    Luthais picked up a brush from the bucket on the ground and opened the door to his mount’s stall. He swept the brush down the horse’s flank while pondering over Mistress Gunn. The kiss with her had stirred something within him that he hadn’t felt for a very long time. He wasn’t sure what, but he liked talking with her, and he certainly enjoyed touching her. He couldn’t help but wonder what she’d say when she found out she might be his wife.

    L aird John Gunn gazed at his two nieces sitting across from him in his study. The younger one moved restlessly in her chair with her fingers tensed on her lap, and the older one was studying him intently. The two lasses were barely women and nothing but a necessary thorn in his side. Sorcha had never cared for the girls, and Marta only tolerated them out of respect for his brother.
    He realized now that he should’ve given much more thought to his nieces’ existence before he’d taken care of the other pain-in-his-arse and his busybody wife two years ago. But his brother had rarely traveled with the girls. Any scheme would’ve been difficult to execute on Gunn lands. But now he had to deal with the scraps that remained of his brother’s legacy.
    “I wanted to meet with ye both to discuss your future. As ye know, Sorcha has had many suitors, and I am trying to arrange a marriage for her. After my daughter is settled with her new husband, I will be making marriages for the both of ye as well.”
    Anna paled, and Ceana sat forward, placing her hand on the desk. “Uncle John, Anna is but fifteen years old. I donna think we need to rush into—”
    His eyes narrowed. “Who do ye think ye are to question my decisions? I am your uncle and your laird. Ye will show me respect.” Responding to the tone of his voice, his niece wisely removed her hand from the desk and sat back in the chair. He remembered his brother’s wife acting much the same... And then he thought back on how he’d ended her life.

    W hen Ceana saw Anna’s pained expression, she had to speak her mind. She knew her sister as well as she knew herself. Anna loved Samuel. The thought of being forced to wed someone else would be her sister’s undoing. Ceana needed to make her uncle understand. She had to get him to see reason.
    “Uncle John, I recognize how important ‘tis for ye to find Sorcha a husband, but Anna isnae yet ready to wed.”
    His eyes grew amused. “She will wed when I say she’s ready to wed.”
    Her sister’s eyes welled with tears. There had to be a way to get their uncle to change his mind, but the only option she could think of was telling the truth. “But Anna loves another.”
    “Ceana!” Anna’s voice was laced with panic.
    “What man does she love?” asked Uncle John.
    Ceana gave her sister a look of encouragement. “Samuel,” whispered Anna. A heaviness centered in Ceana’s chest when Uncle John threw back his head and let out a great peal of laughter. Her sister was sobbing beside her.
    “Samuel? I just told Sorcha the lad may be fair of face, but nay niece of mine will be marrying him.”
    Although Ceana was disappointed by her uncle’s answer, she felt for the first time as if he cared about his nieces as much as he did his own daughter. “But what if Anna wanted to wed—”
    “Sorcha will wed the MacKay’s son, and my nieces will nae be wed to men who will remain under my roof. I will find ye husbands, and ye will both be living far away from here. Edinburgh mayhap.” He stood. “I have more pressing concerns.”
    He was about to walk out the door when Ceana murmured, “My father’s.”
    Uncle John stopped mid-stride and turned around.