Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,19

gaze then looked at him. “I was praying, and I heard him speak.”

His eyes opened wider as he turned to her. “Who?”

“Your grandsire.”

They both smiled and then went into the room when he heard his grandmother call out for him.

Rowley Hetherington was not sitting up in bed, but he was awake and speaking very softly to his wife. When his gaze found his grandson standing in the doorway, his bright gray eyes filled with tears.

“Greetin’s, Grandsire.” Galeren’s voice sounded too loud in the stark hush that had come over the room. “’Tis good to see ye.”

“Then why are you still standing way over there?”

Galeren crossed the room in three strides. When he reached the bed, he bent to his grandsire’s arms and was engulfed in a firm but frail embrace.

“How are ye feelin’?”

“Not bad. Not bad. How long are you here for?”

“Now, Rowley,” Galeren’s grandmother stopped him. “I told you he must deliver Sister Silene to the high steward.”

“We shall see, Grandsire. I dinna think one more night would hurt.”

His grandsire smiled and Galeren was sorry it had been so long since he had visited his mother’s side of the family. His grandsire had almost died without seeing him again.

“How is my Braya?” he asked.

Galeren smiled. “Still as quick and as deadly as ever. She has a happy life with my father.”

They spoke for over an hour, until Galeren’s grandsire fell back to sleep. His grandmother remained by his side in case he needed anything when he awoke again.

Galeren went in search of Silene. He found her in the village chapel deep in her prayers with Mac and Morgann guarding her at the door on the inside of the chapel.

Joining them, the three waited in silence while she prayed.

Galeren’s breathing slowed while he watched her, bathed in golden candlelight. She knelt before the small altar. Behind it, a wooden cross rose in the air. Her head was tilted upward. Her eyes were closed, and her hair was pushed off her face by her bandage.

His thoughts brought him to her abduction. When he’d found her gone, his first notion had been that she had run away. But she hadn’t seemed the foolish type to put herself in such danger. She’d been taken. Under his care. But the panic and fury he’d felt hadn’t been because she was his responsibility and he’d failed. It was more than that. A little more that made him want to kill them all for daring to take her.

There was no reason to keep watch over her so closely in the village. Mostly everyone who lived here was kin. But if anyone touched her, being kin wouldn’t matter.

He’d asked his men to guard her and none hesitated to be about the task. They liked her. He had to watch them and make certain none of them cared for her in an inappropriate way. It wasn’t impossible for she was mesmerizing, an extraordinary feast for his eyes. Whenever she stepped out into the light of day, the world came alive with color.

Of course, he could control his urges. Could Mac or Morgann, Will or Padrig? In truth, he had no idea what Padrig thought of her.

Watching her, he knew to whom her heart belonged.

She finished her prayers and stood up. When she saw him…them, she smiled and went to them.

“Captain, how is your grandsire?”

“Asleep,” he told her, doing his best not to smile like a fool. “Come, ’tis getting’ late.’

They stayed the night and Galeren spent more time with his grandparents.

“You fancy the orange-haired lass,” his grandsire remarked. He’d awakened and was even able to keep some soup down.

“No, Grandsire. The high steward wishes me to be betrothed to another.” He hadn’t thought of Cecilia Birchet in days. He closed his eyes and didn’t see his grandsire’s sharp eyes on him.

“Do you love this woman the high steward wishes you to wed?”

“No. But even if I refused him, Silene is goin’ to be a nun.

“She is not one yet. There is still time.”

“No,” Galeren told him gently. “I am no lout to try and tempt her from the Lord.”

His grandfather’s smile faded. “You are very much like your father.” He sighed and then smiled again. “I like the one with the red hair.”

“Silene,” Galeren reminded him gently, patiently.

“Aye. She has a sweet face and a kind demeanor.”

Sweet face? She was glorious to behold, like seeing a flame come to life, like wanting to dive into the deep, blue-green oceans of her eyes. The delicate cut of her jaw