Read Under an Enchantment: A Novella for Free Online

waving free and careless in the breeze. “You aren’t my cousin, Torquil,” she said, looking into Malcolm’s eyes.
    He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he didn’t dare, not with her brother and her fiance standing by. “Lady Spens,” he said, greeting her.
    The tension in the room increased threefold. “How do you know my sister?” Sir Angus demanded in a belligerent voice.
    “ Don’t be absurd, Angus,” Ailie answered for him. “Of course he knows my name. He’s come for me. To take me to the sea.”
    It was unnervingly close to the truth. Malcolm shook his head. “No, my lady,” he said politely enough. “I’ve just come for a bit of quiet.”
    She didn’t pout. He doubted she had such an artificial feminine expression in her makeup. Instead she shook her head. “If it’s quiet you want, you won’t find it here. Go back to the sea, selkie, before the seal hunters come after you.”
    “ Ailie, you are without a doubt the most tiresome creature,” Fiona said loudly. “Don’t bother Mr. MacLaren—he has better things to do than listen to your half-witted ravings.”
    The smile Ailie gave her pregnant sister-in-law was full of cheerful good humor, and Malcolm wondered whether he imagined the trace of mischief in her eyes as she turned back to him. “Have you been well fed, Malcolm?” she asked. “Collis is an indifferent fisherman.”
    “ I can take care of my own needs, my lady.”
    He was included in her mischief, he knew it. “I was wondering,” she said, putting a strong hand on his arm. “I know you eat only fish. But do you smash them against a rock and then bite their heads off, or do you swallow them while they’re still alive and wiggling?”
    “ Oh, God,” Fiona mumbled in a strangled voice, and rushed from the room, her face pale.
    “ You did that on purpose,” Angus said furiously, going after her.
    “ Did what?” Ailie asked, patently mystified.
    Torquil came up beside her, taking her hand from Malcolm’s arm. Malcolm felt her sudden clinging in surprise, and then she released him, so quickly that he wondered whether he might have imagined it. “You mustn’t disturb Mr. MacLaren, dear Ailie,” Torquil said in an avuncular voice. “He’s a visitor, and he doesn’t understand how very special you are.”
    “ You don’t think I’m simple, do you, Torquil?” she asked in a plaintive voice that sounded madder than anything Malcolm had heard from her before.
    Torquil looked very pleased. “Of course not, my love.” “Because you wouldn’t want to marry a woman who was half-mad, would you?” she continued. “Even for the sake of my inheritance you wouldn’t want to be saddled with a barren idiot.”
    “ Ailie!” he protested, his good humor vanished.
    “ Though we don’t know for sure I’m barren, do we?” she continued in that light, singsong voice. “That’s what you and Angus are waiting for. To see whether I’m breeding or not. It certainly would complicate matters if I were. Though I suppose I could ask old Morag the witch to take care of it for me.”
    She’d managed to shock even the phlegmatic Torquil into silence, and she took advantage of that fact, pulling away from him with gentle force. “I’m going back to the dower house,” she said. “It doesn’t appear as if we’re going to be getting any tea today.”
    Malcolm wanted to go with her. He told himself it was out of his need for revenge, but he knew he lied. He wanted to see what else she might say, what outrageous things might come from that artless mouth. He wanted to touch her hair, to see if it felt as soft and silky as it looked.
    “ I’ll accompany you,” Torquil said hurriedly.
    She spared one brief, sly glance at Malcolm. “No,” she said to Torquil. “You won’t.” And with a whirl of her skirts and her rich golden hair she was gone.
    “ Damn,” Torquil said, watching her run. He turned and shrugged his shoulders, giving Malcolm a smile that was no doubt meant