Highland Sanctuary by Jennifer Hudson Taylor Page A

she approached. The door stood ajar. She forced herself to step through it. Iain MacBraigh sat at his desk writing. He didn't notice her until he looked up to redip his quill and paused. His gaze traveled up the length of her, meeting her gaze.
     
"Why didn't ye make yer presence known?" He set the quill aside and leaned back, linking his fingers over his flat belly. A piece of auburn hair fell over his forehead, almost covering one hazel eye.
     
She disliked being studied, but what else could she do but bear it? Iain MacBraigh was her superior in every way. Serena cleared her throat. "Ye seemed so intent upon what ye were doing that I didn't wish to disturb ye. I'm sorry if ye feel I was eavesdropping, but I assure ye, I wasn't."
     
"So direct." A slow smile eased across Iain's face, relaxing his firm features. "That's what I like about ye, Serena Boyd. No airs. No silliness. Only honesty. Serenity—the kind a man like me craves. I think yer name suits ye well. It isn't Scottish, yet ye say ye've lived in the village yer whole life?"
     
"Aye, I have." Serena nodded, familiar with people's curiosity about her name. "I'm named for my grandmother. My mither's mither was Spanish. She married a Scot by an arranged marriage."
     
The laird stroked his shaved jaw. "An arranged marriage across country borders are usually only done by families of consequence. What of yer father? Did yer mither marry beneath her station then?" He raised a brow.
     
"I know naught." Serena lifted her chin and stiffened. "Mither dislikes talking about him. What I've learned doesn't make me wish to know more."
     
"Och! Forgive me for prying, but I canna help wanting to discover more about ye."
     
"My laird, Doreen said ye wanted to see me about something?" Serena hoped to distract him without encouraging his wrath or more curiosity. Could he not give new orders and allow her back to her duties?
     
"Such an eloquent way of forcing me back to the point." Iain tilted his head, steepled his fingers, and regarded her. "But first, tell me who educated ye. Lass, ye're not like the others in the village. Ye read as well as I do. Yer manners are perfect. Ye may live in a wee cottage, but ye know how to run the household of a castle and ye've only been doing so these past six months."
     
"My mither has been my only teacher."
     
"I see," Iain said. "As ye might have guessed or heard from the gossips, I was sent away to England to be educated by my uncle. To the merciless delight of others, I never lost my Scottish brogue and became the source of much taunting at social events. When it became known that I stood to inherit a large estate here in Scotland, only then did I earn the respect of my peers, but by then I no longer desired it."
     
He picked up a letter on his desk and stood, walking around to lean against the front of it. "I received this letter from my cousin, Hogan Lennox, the Earl of Caithness. He has heard that the sons of Birk MacKenzie are here, the Chief of the MacKenzie Clan. Since Gavin is next in line as the MacKenzie heir, my cousin has chastised me for not holding a welcoming party to introduce the MacKenzie brothers to him and other residents of influence in the shire of Caithness." The laird tossed the letter on his desk and folded his arms. "I'd hoped to be free of such organized events when I moved back here. I grew weary of all the social games people play among the elite in England."
     
"My laird, ye're a wealthy man in this shire, ye canna expect to remain hidden forever. People are too curious about ye." Serena stepped forward, wanting to encourage him.
     
"Lass, I see ye almost daily. Can ye not think of me as a close enough friend to call me by my given name? Please? I desire it." He raised his chin and looked into her eyes with such an earnestness that she faltered and looked toward the open window through the library doorway. Birds chirped in the distance and a slight draft lifted the white drapes.
     
"I fear that may be