Highlander Most Wanted Page 0,101
McInnis, and she’ll be staying with us. I’m afraid we’ll have to cancel this afternoon’s lesson. I’m showing Genevieve to her room.”
Father Drummond smiled, and Genevieve was warmed by the welcome in his eyes.
“ ’Tis good to make your acquaintance, Genevieve,” Father Drummond said, his voice soft and kind. “I hope you’ll find your accommodations to your liking, and that you’ll enjoy your stay with the Montgomerys. A finer clan I have not found.”
“I’m discovering that,” Genevieve said quietly.
“Come, Genevieve. Time’s a-wasting,” Rorie said, pulling her toward the inside of the keep.
Genevieve allowed herself to be dragged through the hall and up the stairs to the third level, where a row of chambers lined the hall.
Rorie directed her to one in the middle, but she paused outside a door and put her hand on it. “This is my chamber. Bowen’s is across the hall, and Graeme and Eveline’s is at the very end. Teague has the one on the other side of you. If you ever have need of anything, just knock on my door. I don’t bite. I promise.”
Genevieve smiled. She couldn’t help but like the younger lass. “Thank you. I will.”
They went to the next door and Rorie opened it and pushed in, gesturing widely.
“This is your chamber. ’Tis bare at the moment, but we can remedy that. No one has occupied it in quite some time. It’s used for honored guests, but we have few of those. I can help you soften it and make it not so harsh. ’Tis not fit for a woman as it stands. It could use some flowers and feminine objects.”
“You’re very kind,” Genevieve said softly.
Rorie plopped onto the bed, bouncing as she landed. “So what’s your story, Genevieve? I’m alive with curiosity. I’ve heard nothing about you. No word was sent ahead, and Bowen has never brought home a woman. He has no need to. They follow him wherever he goes.”
Genevieve’s eyes widened. “He’s that popular with the lasses?”
Rorie snorted. “Have you looked at him? There’s not a fairer face in all the Highlands. He’s prettier than most women. They either want him or are jealous of him. He can’t walk for tripping over a lass batting her eyes at him.”
Genevieve automatically raised her hand to cover the scar on her cheek. Why then was he bothering with her? ’Twas obvious he could have any lass he wanted, and there were many far more comely than she. And not as damaged and sullied.
Rorie looked chagrined. “I’m sorry, Genevieve. ’Tis a well-known fact that my mouth becomes carried away and that I prattle on about things I should not. My brothers despair of me, but they love me, and so I escape their censure. Most of the time,” she added hastily.
Genevieve couldn’t help but smile. The lass was charming in her own way, and Genevieve couldn’t help liking her.
There was a knock on the door, and Rorie hastened to open it.
“Oh, ’tis your trunk!” Rorie exclaimed.
Bowen appeared with two men bearing her trunk. They brought it inside, and Genevieve directed them to put it at the end of her bed.
Bowen looked as though he wanted to say something, but Rorie immediately began shooing him from the chamber.
“Not now, Bowen. Genevieve and I are conversing. I’ll bring her down for the evening meal when we are done.”
Bowen suppressed a grin and looked helplessly at Genevieve. “You see what we all have to suffer.”
Genevieve smiled, comforted by the feeling of family around her. ’Twas just as it had been with her own clan. Though she hadn’t had siblings, there had been countless cousins and clansmen who bickered good-naturedly. And Sybil, her closest friend since childhood.
For a moment, Genevieve was saddened. It had been agreed that Sybil would come to Genevieve once Genevieve was married, and that Genevieve’s husband would arrange a marriage for her through his clan so the two lasses would not be separated.
It had been months since Genevieve had thought on Sybil. She’d put her friend from her mind because it was too painful to think on her.
But the antics within the Montgomery clan had made her remember.
“You look sad,” Rorie said bluntly as she closed the door.
Genevieve shook off the melancholy surrounding her and forced a smile. “I was only thinking of my own clan and how you and Bowen remind me of my kin and of my childhood friend Sybil. I miss them.”
Rorie pulled Genevieve down onto the bed and leveled a determined stare at her. “Tell me, Genevieve. How