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He knelt aardly on his good knee, and splashed water froulped several handfuls of the cold, peaty-tasting water Having no towel, she pulled her long shirttail froht Ian’s scandalized look at the glimpse of her bare stomach thus afforded, and dropped the shirttail abruptly, her cheeks flushing

"You were going to tell me why my father married her," she said, to hide her eone a dull red, and he turned hastily away, talking to cover his confusion

"Aye It was as I told ye--when Jaone out o’ hiain I dinna ken what it was that happened in England, but soed, the back of his neck fading to its normal sunburnt brown

"After Culloden, he was bad hurt, but there was fighting still to do, of a kind, and that kept hi here for hi his footing on the rocky ground

"So Jenny lanced at her, eyes bright and shrewd

"You’ll h to know, for all you’re unwed yet What a woman can do for a man--or he for her, I suppose To heal hi absently "Jahaire from pity, I think--and if she had truly needed hiain, and sht have been or should be, is it? But he had left Laoghaire’s house some time before your mother cae of relief

"Oh I’lad to know that And lad to see her," Ian said sihted his whole face, like sunshine "So was I"

35

BON VOYAGE

It ree, halfdark space whose rafters rang with yelping, and an at on the reat many enterprises--food vendors, cattle and swine brokers, assurance agents, ship-chandlers and Royal Navy recruiters, but it was the group of men, women and children bunched in one corner that lent most force to the illusion

Here and there a roup, chin out and shoulders set in a show of good health and spirit, putting themselves forward But for the most part, the people who offered thelances whose expressions were fixed between hope and fear--s in the animal shelter where her father had now and then taken her to adopt a pet

There were several fa to theirblank-faced beside their parents She tried not to look at them; it was always the puppies that had broken her heart

Young Jaainst his chest to save it being crushed by the crowd, eyes half closed as he considered the prospects on offer Her uncle Ian had gone to the shipping office to arrange her passage to A her cousin Jamie to choose a servant to accompany her on the journey In vain had she protested that she didn’t need a servant; after all, she had--so far as they knew--traveled from France to Scotland by herself, in perfect safety

The men had nodded and smiled and listened with every evidence of polite attention--and here she was, obediently following Young Jah the crowd like one of her aunt Jenny’s sheep She was beginning to understand exactly what herthe Frasers as "stubborn as rocks"

Despite the hubbub around her and her annoyance at her ave a sht of her mother It was only nohen she knew for sure that Claire was safe, that she could admit to herself how sorely she had hlander who had come so suddenly and vividly to life for her as she read his letters Theocean seemed no more than a small inconvenience

Her cousin Ja her ar close to shout in her ear

"Yon felloi’ the cast in one eye," he said in a subdued bellow, indicating the gentle with his chin "What d’ye say to hiler," sheinto her cousin’s ear, "He looks like an ox! No!"

"He’s strong, and he looks honest!"

Brianna thought the gentleman in question looked too stupid to be dishonest, but refrained fro Jaed philosophically and resu around those who took his particular interest and peering at thely rude had a nu likewise

"Bridies! Hot bridies!" A high-pitched screech cut through the rumble and racket of the hall, and Brianna turned to see an old wo tray hung round her neck and a wooden spatula in hand