The Chieftain's Yule Bride - a Highland Christmas novella (Clan MacKrannan's Secret Traditions #10) Read Online Free Page B

only one the insurers are ignorant of and therefore absent from the database.  You'll be wanting another look at it?"
    Callum turned to the window where the rain and hailstones were now lashing against the panes.  A crack of lightning lit up the darkened ocean briefly.
    "Let's wait and see if she's here to do something about the weather first."
     

     
    Freya was reluctantly drawing away from the whole idea of a Medieval theme for her wedding.  The way Zavier had said she'd 'gone all Maid Marion' rather put her off.  It was his wedding too and she must do something to make him happy after his disappointment at all his glitzy ideas being thrown out.
    Over dinner she explored different themes with him.  They were a bit limited to historical Scottish in a setting like this, and he flipped his lid at the thought of wearing tartan in any shape or form.  The Jacobite look was out.  In fact, any kilt look was out except for the men on her own side of the guest-list who wouldn't be seen dead in anything else.
    The complications of marrying an Englishman sank in dolefully.  She pushed her half-eaten entrée away, determined to find some era to suit them both – and to suit the castle that she wanted more than ever to be married in.
    "Roaring Twenties?" he suggested.  "Turn the Banqueting Hall into a Speakeasy with bathtubs full of gin and you coming down the aisle in a chic flapper dress dripping with ostrich feathers... oh god, yes, I like the idea of that."
    "It could work," she said vaguely.  "Zavier, why do keep turning round?  Somebody we know?"
    He shook his head.  "Thought I was imagining it, but I'm not.  The staff here – they're always staring at you, especially the older ones.  I've been noticing it since we got here."
    "You're in Scotland, darling.  They're being friendly."
    "What I'm saying is, they only stare at you .  And lots of whispering and grinning going on."
    "At me?  Why would they do that?"
    He winked at her.  "Sure you haven't been here before?  A naughty weekend at the seaside with some caber-tossing lover before I came on the scene?"
    "Never been anywhere near it.  Honestly, have you any idea how many castles there are in Scotland?  This one's quite far off the usual tourist routes.  I've always had my heart set on a Scottish castle wedding and came across it when I was looking up venues.  You know Auntie has always had her heart set on me being a Celtic princess for a day."
    "And so you shall be, my love.  Have I talked you into the ostrich feathers yet?"
    Freya wrinkled her nose.  "Not really me.  Tell you what, though, let's have a Speakeasy Party back in London afterwards for all the people we're not inviting to come here.  That would be fun."
    "Fantastic!  Yes!  God, that old waiter's in trouble.  Looks like he's seen a ghost and needs oxygen."
    A thundercrack came at that moment and she nearly jumped out of her skin when lightning flashed through the windows.  She followed Zavier's sightline to find the gentleman being steadied by his colleague and helped onto a chair.  It was herself he was staring at.  He raised a friendly hand in greeting when she smiled in concern, and kept staring at her as if she came from another planet.
    A shudder ran through her as she turned away again, one that had nothing to do with Zavier's hand squeezing her own across the dining table.  She'd always been pale of color, her blonde hair so naturally near white that it was the envy of many.  With her eyes being so pale a blue also, the ghost jokes had worn a bit thin over the years.
    "Maybe I should go brunette and stop spooking people."
    "Don't you dare."
    "No... but you're right about the staring.  It's them spooking me now."
    "Want me to have a word?  Be your knight in shining armor?"
    He had the grace to laugh at his own joke.  Half her working life was spent shielding him from the difficult people in their world.
    "I'll deal with it myself if I have to, thank you.  Maybe we're