Part 11 (2/2)

”It's because you're a girl,” Ian spat the word. ”Girls don't play with horses. Girls don't deserve them.”

Maggie reached to strike him, but Braden caught her again.

”You know, Ian,” he said to her brother, ”you should take more care with Maggie. Sisters are special treasures.”

”How would you know? You've only got brothers.”

”That's how I know. If I had such a special little blossom for a sister, I would take care of her. Watch after her.”

Ian sneered. ”Then you can have her. Just give me the horse and she's yours.”

Maggie looked up at Braden as a tear fell down her cheek. ”I don't want to be a pest,” she said to him.

”I just want to play with them, but they think I'm no fun. They say I can't play anything because I'm a girl.” More tears fell. ”I hate being a girl. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.”

Braden drew her into a tight hug. ”There, now, little blossom. There's nothing wrong with being a la.s.s.

The good Lord made you what you are, and one day your brothers will come to realize just what a special gift they've been given.”

For the first time in her seven years of living, she believed that. If Braden liked her, she couldn't be all bad, could she?

Her brothers were just mean.

”What are the two of you doing in here?” Her father's angry tone split the air.

Maggie pulled away from Braden to see her father's irate face.

Her father stalked toward them and took her hand, then reached for Ian. ”I thought I told the two of you to stay in the wagon until I finished my business with the laird.”

Maggie swallowed. There would be a beating for this, to be sure. And all because she'd wanted to play for a few seconds instead of sitting in the stinky old wagon.

Life was just so terribly unfair!

Her father apologized to Braden, then quickly returned them to the yard where their wagon waited.

Maggie scurried up the back of the empty wagon and took a seat on the remnants of hay while Ian settled up front. Her da left them with a dire warning should either of them move again.

Her heart heavy, she tucked her feet beneath her dirty saffron kirtle and watched her father disappear into the stable.

Oh, what a wretched, awful day. Why couldn't she ever listen to what her da told her? Perhaps Anghus was right after all. She did have a demon in her.

Sighing, she kept her head sedately bowed and studied her folded hands, and prayed that her da wouldn't be overly harsh with his beating.

A few minutes later, a painted horse appeared just before her teary eyes.

Gasping, she looked up to see Braden's wonderful, ten-year-old face smiling at her.

”I named him Connor,” he told her, ”but he said he'd like to play with a wee la.s.s for a bit. He thinks a la.s.s would be more fun than playing with a mean old boy.”

”Thank you, my lord,” she breathed, cradling the horse to her chest. It was painted a deep rich brown with great big black eyes. Never had she seen anything more incredibly beautiful. ”I'll take good care of him for you.”

Braden nodded, then handed Ian a white one. ”Remember your promise, Ian. You can't kill your sister.”

”Can I hit her, then?”

”If you do, I'm taking the horse back.”

”Oh, all right,” Ian said huffily.

Maggie watched as Braden left them and in that instant she realized she loved the young lord.

He was her hero.

Clutching the horse tightly in her hands, she vowed that one day she wouldn't be a fish's wife. One day she would be...

One day, she would be Braden MacAllister's wife.

Maggie smiled at the memory.

Fifteen years had pa.s.sed since that day, and yet in some ways it seemed like yesterday.

So much had happened to her and Braden since then. So many things had come between them, and her promise to marry him.

Of course, most of thosethings were other women. Women like the tall, beautiful Nera, who had caught Braden's eye when he turned ten-and-five.

But how she missed those days of childhood when she would go fis.h.i.+ng or swimming with Braden and her brothers.

How she wished she could go back for just a moment to when her life was simple.

”Are you ready, then?”

Maggie jumped at Braden's voice behind her. She'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't even heard his approach.

She pushed her reminiscing to the back of her mind as she turned to face him. ”I was but waiting on you.”

Standing beside the dark kirk with a pack thrown over his shoulder, he was incredibly handsome. The fading light played across his face, which made the angles of his cheeks even more p.r.o.nounced than normal. Even so, it in no way detracted from the perfection of his tanned face.

At that moment, she wished she were his feminine equal. That she was as perfectly formed as he, with long ebony tresses and creamy skin unblemished by freckles.

If she were, then perhaps...

Maggie pushed the thought aside. She was what she was and there was no help for it.

Banis.h.i.+ng her wishful thinking, she picked her own pack up from the ground at her feet and went to stand beside him.

Braden a.s.sessed her as she drew near. Never before, in deference to his friends.h.i.+p with Anghus, had he paid her much notice. But tonight, he saw her in a way he'd never seen her before. As a woman.

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