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“Oh, I will,” she said at last, in the same cold voice she had arrived with “Don’t worry, Captain, I will!”

Meg went upstairs again to her sanctuary There was plenty to do It was she who ran the estate now, and she wasafternoon she worked Sometimes the voices froed to block thelance out of the , she saw that Gregor had stripped off his shirt, leaving just his kilt slung low on his hips Most of the otheron their bodies, their chests heaving with effort

But it was Gregor who drew her gaze

He was just a man, she told herself crossly And not even the man she had dreamed of, the boy artist she had half fallen in love with He was a stranger Why did she find hiaze into his eyes like sorooman, alert to the ways of men, aware that her attractiveness was in her inheritance rather than her face and figure and what she had to say She accepted that…or she had

Why did she noish it all different?

Outside the , Gregor captured a young lad who had run in front of athe young boy up onto his hip, holding the child while he issued more orders

It was the strangest thing…

Meg felt so dizzy she had to sit down She knehat she was thinking, but she hardly dared ador Grant was hers, then they could have a child together A child to grow up and run free in Glen Dhui, just as he had done But this child would never be sent aould never be outcast, as Gregor was It…they would live here, happily, forever

She groaned and put her face down onto her books, uncaring if she got ink on her cheek She was or Grant would not want her, he would have too much pride to sell himself for Glen Dhui

Wouldn’t he?

Chapter 14

Alison Forbes had laid out the ular table gloith a sheen that reflected a greatIt was set with the usual pewter, solassware, rarely seen in the Highlands Lighted candelabra fluttered in the draft froht with it the rush of the burn and the rustle of the yew leaves Portraits, shadowy and faintlywith Mackintoshes as if they would never have been deadly enemies in life

The irony was not lost upon Meg as she entered the rooown, nor the aardness of the situation Gregor Grant was there already, waiting, a glass of claret in his hand He turned to face her, his expression giving away little, his orn but elegant clothing doing nothing to disguise what he was

Meg had had plenty of ti afternoon to take stock of her reactions to him, and to tamp them down The cool smile she presented him with, as he politely drew out her chair, was exactly as she had planned it Distant and untouched

“A productive afternoon, Captain?” she asked him, as she sat down