Highland Thief by Alyson McLayne

Epilogue

Kerr stared into Gavin’s furious eyes and knew that he wouldn’t come out of this unscathed. His foster brother, now his brother-in-law, looked ready to kill him rather than welcome him into the family.

Gregor, Darach, Lachlan, and Callum gathered around them in the library, ready to step in if things got out of hand, but Kerr could see that they were enjoying themselves—and that they agreed with Gavin. They wouldn’t intervene until one or both of them was bloody.

Which didn’t suit him, as he was getting married—again—in an hour.

No doubt they’d have money on the encounter. The bastards.

Gavin leaned forward until they were almost nose-to-nose and jabbed his finger into Kerr’s chest. “Of all the irresponsible, reckless, addlepated things to do… Isobel could have been killed!”

Kerr closed his eyes, breathing deeply to keep himself calm. Then he heard Lachlan whisper, “The ‘chest poke.’ I should have doubled my wager.”

“Even I couldnae have predicted that,” Callum whispered back.

“She wasn’t killed. I protected her,” Kerr said, opening his eyes and restraining himself from breaking that damn finger.

Barely.

“You wouldnae have had to protect her if you hadn’t run off with her!”

“I tried to get her to go back, Gavin, I swear. She wouldnae leave. You know Isobel.”

His foster brothers grunted in agreement.

“Which is why you shouldnae have left with her in the first place!”

They grunted in agreement again.

“Even I could have told you that, Son,” Gregor added.

Kerr ignored him—and the others too. Squaring his shoulders, he met Gavin’s gaze. “Perhaps so, but I doona regret it. We’re together now because of it.” Then he poked his finger back into Gavin’s chest. “But you shouldnae have taken Deirdre, my cousin, off of MacKinnon land last spring. At least I ne’er intended to hand her over to someone else and tear her away from her son!”

“Oooooh, a low blow,” Darach whispered, and the others nodded.

Gavin’s face contorted with guilt. “I brought her back, which you ne’er did. And I gave you one free punch for it.”

“It wasn’t free.” He raised his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “You damn well broke it in retaliation!”

“And I’ll do it again!”

A door slammed shut behind them, making them all jump. The sound of six swords being drawn filled the room.

Too late.

Isobel stood there, her shoulders back and her head held high in a regal fashion. She looked like an avenging queen, and he smirked.

“You’re in trouble now,” he whispered, and then raised his voice so Isobel could hear. “Dearling, they ambushed me! All five of them. And Gavin is threatening me!”

Behind him, Callum snorted and Gregor muttered something beneath his breath.

“Izzy,” Gavin said, stepping toward her. “You doona have to marry this donkey.”

“She’s already married!” Kerr protested.

Gavin raised his fist to him. “And I can make her a widow easily enough.”

“Oh, for the love of God,” Isobel said and then marched toward them. “Everyone put your swords away.”

The sound of six swords being resheathed filled the room.

She glared at Gregor, who shrank back a little, and then eyed his other foster bothers one by one. Kerr barely stopped himself from hooting. They were afraid of his wife! He could lord it over them all now and threaten them with Isobel every time they stepped out of line.

“What were you thinking?” she asked them.

“They were thinking they could make a little gold,” Kerr said from behind her, grinning widely. “They wagered on me and Gavin fighting.”

She turned to him, her hands on her hips. “And what were you thinking?”

His smile dropped. He tried to look wide-eyed and innocent. “Well, I wasn’t thinking so much as praying that Gavin wouldnae hit me in the face and break my nose—again—when you and I are getting married in under an hour. So, really, I was thinking of you.”

He swept his eyes over her, her face glowing and her eyes sparkling, her long hair curling down her back. Her dress was made of the finest MacAlister wool and colored in beautiful reds and greens with a stripe of blue. “You look lovely, by the way.” He lifted her hand and kissed her fingers. “My angel.”

Her eyes softened as she smiled at him. Then she turned back to the others and held out her palm. “Give me the money.”

Lachlan didn’t protest, he just opened his sporran and gave her everything they’d wagered.

She wrapped her fist around it, and when she realized she had no pockets in her wedding finery, she stuffed it into Kerr’s sporran. “My husband will hold this for me. Consider it a wedding gift.”

Gavin sighed, but Kerr could tell his anger had faded. “Izzy, are you sure?” he asked. “The choice is yours—always. But is this who you truly want?”

“Aye, Kerr is who I truly want. I wouldnae have it any other way.” She reached out and squeezed his hand.

He swore he saw his brothers and Gregor melt at the sentiment like a gaggle of young lasses.

“He’s not on your bad side for what he did?” Gavin asked.

“Nay, Brother. And according to Kerr, I doona have a bad side. Or a good side. Just me. Which is one of the reasons I love him.”

“But…he took you across the loch, knowing you couldnae swim. He stole you.”

She leaned into Kerr, a smile on her lips. “Aye, my Highland thief. ’Twas exactly as I’d planned.”

His head whipped toward her. “You planned?” he asked.

She shrugged, smiled mysteriously, and then tugged him toward the door. “Come on. We have a wedding to attend. And no talking about the Campbells tonight. Any of you. You can discuss your plans against them another time.”

“Speaking of the Campbells,” Gregor said, and his foster brothers snorted. When Isobel shot him an exasperated look, he said, “Well, you said tonight. I was only going to mention that I know Campbell’s wife, Tara. She is…was…my Kellie’s cousin. It broke our hearts when we heard she was to be married off to him. She was only seventeen and Campbell was already an old man.” He sighed. “She had a lot of spirit. I haven’t seen her since Kellie’s funeral. I hope he didn’t break her. I should have kept track of her over the years. I should have followed up.”

“’Twould make things easier if that crafty old badger up and died on his own,” Darach said.

“Aye, ’twill not be an easy assault,” Lachlan added.

“Maybe we could turn Tara against him,” Callum said.

Gregor shook his head. “Nay. I willna put her in such a position. She has her children to think about.”

“Gregor,” Isobel protested. “That’s verra sad, but…you promised. I doona want any talk about war during my wedding.”

He kissed her cheek and then stepped with her through the door. “Aye, dearling. Let’s go get you married to my son—again—and make me a happy father.”

He stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Kerr and his brothers. Then nodded with satisfaction. “If Kellie were alive, she would be so proud. Such good men—all of you—and married to even better women.”