Read Duty of the Chieftain - a Highland 'Lord's Right of the First Night' novella (Clan MacKrannan's Secret Traditions #3) for Free Online

they discussed.  At the mention of Ranald, the talk turned to whispers, all of it about 'a friend' here and 'an acquaintance' there but their descriptions and the shocking details were too intimate to be from a third party.
    She'd kept silent, having neither clue to what peculiar meaning they attached to his words nor personal experience of the outrageous acts they spoke of, yet feeling excluded and wistful of the joy they related.
    Last eve she had found out for herself just what sort of joy that was.  His attentions had been so ardent, and her heart jumped in remembrance at the strange feelings he had occasioned in her.
    And then he had bade her mount him to have her maidenhead destroyed.  Astride?  Astride?  Too lazy to be bothered getting off his back to do his duty in the Lord's Right?  Too lazy to shave before it?
    Fool… fool for trusting the MacKrannan chieftain.  She’d spent supper turning away from his every question, and he'd picked the veil of her bonnet out his supper where it landed each time she did so.
    How stupid she had been…   This MacKrannan was not a man to be duped and forgotten.  He'd nearly told her guard!  He'd be telling everyone how she'd tricked him, making mock of it.  All chance for her to be Countess of Maxton would be gone, and the safety of her people with it.  And the king and queen… oh she could not even imagine what they'd say!
    He'd devise some way to punish her.  MacKrannan trades, indeed!  A Scold's Bridle he'd shown her, and she'd not missed the implied threat.  Her late husband had told her stories aplenty of this MacKrannan’s prowess in battle and his ruthless treatment of spies.
    W ould he dare to use such a contraption on a lady of her birthright?  Have her stripped naked and whipped in public?  Never!  And yet the filthy shirt on that prisoner had been one of quality…
    E linor chilled with the realisation that MacKrannan would show no mercy to any who stood in his way.  And now she was on a boat far from anyone who would help her, and his parents had gone along with the kidnap, and all the guards and sailors totally under his command and showing a loyalty to him she’d scarce seen in her life.
     

     
    When at last the boat cast off from the island and Ranald entered the cabin again, stooping half double to come through the doorway, she did not wait for him to repeat his earlier question about her marriage to Alain.
    "Three years.  I was wed at the age of nineteen."
    "A bit late, no?" he said, closing the door.  "Sit down, if ye please, that I might also."  He settled himself on the berth before continuing, "For how long were ye promised to him?"
    E linor had no intention of telling Ranald MacKrannan anything beyond the minimum needed to appease, so she gave answer that would do so and no more.
    " Eleven years."
    "H is people delayed, then.  The Douglases were ever the clan for seeking a better offer."
    H is comment on the obvious was naught but impertinence.  She would not be intimidated!  Elinor jerked her head up, mouth firmly closed.  She was determined not to show fear, though he exuded a power that made dignity all but impossible.
    " Ye’re too silly a lass for games, Elinor Keirston.  Dinna start playing with me.  I knew Alain Douglas well enough and he never once spoke of ye.  I wouldna even have known to send ye particular word of his death were it not for his squire telling me of a wife by name of Elinor.  Why were ye never at court with him?"
    " He did not invite me," she retorted, simply.
    "Surely the queen would insist on yer presence."
    "He made constant excuse."
    "Did ye travel elsewhere with him?"
    It was as if he'd made a joke.
    "Nay."
    "And left you widowed at two-and-twenty, still maiden."
    D id he ridicule her?  She turned in petulance to search his face for any hint of it, and found his eyes would be giving nothing away.
    This lass was the same age as himself and his twin sister and he could no' think what different