A Highland Pearl (Highland Treasures Book 1) by Brenda B. Taylor

had gone with her father to the feast. Kenneth and she immediately
fell in love as they danced. He was a dashingly handsome man with bright red
hair and green eyes. Her heart melted while she danced in his arms. Kenneth
visited her home in Lochaber a month later and asked her father for her hand in
marriage. She left the manor house of her father to live in a cottage with
Kenneth, but she cherished every minute of their time together.
    Kenneth promised to build a larger house on the two-pennyland
tract Chief William had granted him. They would need more room for their many
children, he told Maidie. Tears brimmed over in her eyes on remembering Kenneth
and the love between them. Oh, how she missed him, his warm embrace, his
gentleness. Kenneth, Kenneth ,
came the name from the depths of her heart.
    Upon reaching the abbey’s kirk, Maidie sat her wicker basket
on the stoop, opened the studded oak door, and entered the quiet sanctuary. She
stood for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light while reveling in
the quiet surroundings. Moving forward, she genuflected and then dipped a
finger in the stoup of holy water, making the sign of the cross toward the
wooden crucifix behind the altar. Maidie knelt at the altar’s railing to pray.
Surely, the Lord would hear her cry for peace to be restored between the clans
of Munro and Cameron. While fingering a small gold crucifix around her neck,
she prayed for Chief Andrew’s healing and the healing of her own heart.
    A figure knelt at the railing beside her—most likely one
of the villagers. Maidie did not look up, not wanting to intrude on someone
else’s prayer because of her curiosity. After a long while and many pleadings
with the Lord, she rose. The figure slowly pushed up from the railing to stand.
Maidie turned to see who prayed with her.
    “Laird Andrew,” she whispered.
    He answered in a quiet voice and a bow of his head, “Madam.”
    Shocked to see the Munro chief, Maidie could only stare at the
striking leader. He looked pale beneath the dark hair now plaited in two braids
hanging to his shoulders. The dim light from the kirk windows cast a gleam
along the black sheen. His grey eyes under heavy brows pierced through her
until a shiver ran up her spine. He appeared to be dressed for a special
occasion in a belted plaide of Munro colors, billowing sleeve léine , and quilted waistcoat. A large
silver brooch secured the plaide on his broad shoulder with a deerskin sporran
trimmed in silver hanging on a wide leather belt. Red garters held white woolen
knee socks to muscular legs with black leather brogans on his feet. He looked
every bit the chief of a Highland clan.
    “You look well, M’Laird.” Maidie smiled, clasping trembling
hands together.
    “Thanks to your tender care I can now get out of my bed. You’re
a fine healer, Madam Munro. Our village is fortunate to have one such as you.”
The corners of his fine mouth and twinkling eyes turned up.
    “I’m afraid the villagers dinna share your sentiment, M’Laird.
They have grown to hate me since the feud between our clans killed Randal and
wounded so many others, including yourself.”
    The laird stared at her without comment and then looked around
the small sanctuary. The smile vanished. “Tavish should accompany you when you’re
out in the village.”
    “He and Sven are grooming his steed, M’Laird. I really dinna need
an escort.” Maidie could not understand his concern.
    The villagers were angry with her at present, but they were
her friends, and had been for seven years now. ‘Twas not her fault the Camerons
raided the Munro lands.
    “There are Cameron and MacKenzie reivers about.” A crease
formed between his brows.
    “You would need to put a guard on every person in this village
if that be the case. They make no distinction on whom they cast their thieving.”
Maidie could not understand his concern for her and not the rest of the
village.
    “I have my reasons, Madam. I would be very