looked very much alike. They were tall, dark-haired, pretty women with heart-shaped faces and meat on their bones. Their fashionable headdresses and delicate slippers had not fared well on the sea journey in an open boat.
"This is Lady Eleanor, widow of our chieftain's first son, and her daughter, Jane," the old warrior said.
"Welcome, ladies," Connor said and gestured toward the steps. "I'm sure ye would like to get out of the wind and rain."
The two women continued staring at him without budging.
"I hope ye speak Scots or English," the old warrior said. "Neither of them have the Gaelic."
MacIain's granddaughter did not speak the Highland language? Connor was beginning to understand why MacIain had not allowed him to meet the lass sooner. Still, he told himself she could learn Gaelic. But one thing was certain - this lass sure as hell had not chosen him. MacIain had lied about his granddaughter wanting him for her husband.
"Mind the steps." Connor spoke in Scots because it was slightly less distasteful to him than English. "They can be slippery when they're wet - and they're always wet."
The old warrior laughed, but neither woman showed any sign that she appreciated his jest. Connor stifled a sigh and held out his arm to the older woman, but she took the old warrior's arm and indicated he should help her daughter.
Connor's bride-to-be leaned her head back to look up the cliff. "I can't go up those steps! What if I fall?"
"Take care that ye don't," Connor said, struggling for patience. "I live on top of the cliff. There's no other way to get there from here."
When he offered his hand, she looked at it as if it were a poisonous snake. In the end, he had to heft the lass up the steps on his back. He found it hard to believe that such a helpless creature had any Highland blood in her at all. Between her cloying perfume and her arms clenched around his neck, she choked him all the way up the steps.
Chapter 33
Connor was in hell.
He glanced down the head table at Ilysa, but she would not meet his eyes. When would this interminable meal be over so he could talk with her? He'd had no opportunity to forewarn her of his bride's arrival. He did not like how pale Ilysa looked, and it did not appear that she had touched her food.
"Must we come to this place often after we're wed?" Jane asked, her Scots harsh in his ear.
"Trotternish Castle is my home." Connor took another long swallow of whiskey. "This is where I stay."
"But we will spend a good deal of time at court," she persisted. "My grandfather promised me."
"I only go to court when commanded to appear," Connor said, then added, "and not always then."
"Not go to court?" Jane said and made that irritating gasp that had him reaching for his whiskey again.
Good God, the lass was going to turn him into a drunkard. He rubbed his forehead and reminded himself how badly he needed MacIain's warriors. Marriage for a chieftain was a political arrangement, and he had no cause to complain. He glanced sideways at her. Jane looked strong and healthy, and she was pretty - just not his kind of pretty.
How many times would he have to bed her to fulfill his duty to get her with child? The thought of bedding her made him feel dirty when his heart was elsewhere. Men did it all the time. Certainly his father had without it ever troubling him.
Connor's gaze returned to Ilysa. Niall appeared to be telling her quite a tale, judging from his wild gestures. Perhaps she would retell it to him later, when they were in bed...
"Is that your mistress?"
The question startled Connor out of his reverie. When he turned to Jane, she was looking down the table at Ilysa with narrowed eyes. Had she really asked him that, in the midst of supper? He hoped no one sitting near them understood Scots.
"I must say, she doesn't look the sort," Jane added.
The sort? That was such a Lowlander way of thinking. Since there was nothing polite Connor could possibly say in response, he poured himself more whiskey.
"My mother says Highland men are...demanding, and that I should be glad if you keep another woman," Jane said, making Connor choke on his drink.
"Keep your voice down, lass." After taking a deep breath, he decided he may as well ask, as long as she raised the subject. "And what do you