This was no time to show cowardice, so Laird Ferguson boldly rode his horse across the bridge, dismounted and waited in the courtyard for the MacGreagor laird to meet him. He was standing with his legs apart and his hands behind his back when he saw her coming down the path. She took his breath away. He didn't especially like red hair; he preferred golden hair like his instead. But she was so becoming, he would not have cared if her hair was green.
Kenna spotted him too and didn't think she had ever seen a more handsome man. She stopped and stared at him. Did Kevin really want her to turn down this marriage proposal? Then she remembered she was supposed to be Charlet. She turned, gracefully climbed the steps with her head held high and went inside the Keep.
Shaw Ferguson waited. Another woman with red hair came out of a cottage and then another appeared. He hardly moved his lips when he spoke to the guard standing beside him. "Do all their women have red hair?"
Just then, Connor came out to the landing and motioned for them to come up the steps. As soon as he entered, Shaw spotted the woman sitting at the long table with her hands gracefully folded in her lap. She was looking down as though she were bored.
Kevin, on the other hand, was standing with his arms tightly folded. "You are on MacGreagor land."
"I am Shaw Ferguson. You killed my brother and I came to thank you for it."
Kevin was impressed, but he didn't trust a Ferguson and wouldn't be pacified so easily. He didn't say another word and instead glared at the man.
But Ferguson didn't back down and finally said, "I have come to ask for peace between our two clans. Many of my followers have family here and they want to see them again. Will you allow it?"
"And that is all you want?"
"It is." The woman looked at him then and he looked at her. To his surprise, she smiled. But he couldn't be sure she wasn't Kevin's wife or daughter, so he looked away.
Kevin didn't quite believe him. "You have not come to ask for a wife?"
"I will, if it will bring peace between us. Which lass would you like me to consider?"
Kenna started to laugh, Connor smiled and Kevin was having a hard time keeping from laughing.
But it confounded the Ferguson. "Do I amuse you?"
Kevin tried to quickly mend the damage. "Lately, there has been an unusual number of requests for the hands of some of our lasses. We expected you to want the same."