What value she had to him, she couldn’t imagine. That a stranger would take her surprised her very much indeed.

That her father would think so little of her that he would send her off with a stranger didn’t surprise her. She’d had much to occupy her and had paid little heed to one more unfamiliar fool loitering at the supper table.Ī pity she hadn’t, for the next thing she’d known, she had been given to the English-man. ‘Twas odd to see an English-man so far north, true, but her father often had men from many foreign places at their keep. Was it possible that just a fortnight ago the English-man had come to her home? She had stirred herself only long enough to determine that he held no interest for her, then thoroughly ignored him. That she found herself in straits terrible enough to warrant tears was difficult to believe. After all, she was a MacLeod, and MacLeods did not weep with fear.ĭespite how desperately she wanted to do so. She was tempted to weep, but she knew it would serve her nothing, so she forbore. ‘Twas almost a certainty she would never see the like now. It obscured the bleak, endless stretch of land that surrounded the keep in which she found herself captive–land seemingly so far removed from the sea she wondered if the villagers even knew that such a thing existed. The only thing she could see was darkness, but perhaps that was a boon. The woman stood in a cold guard’s chamber and stared out the small slit of a window before her. Father has traded you to make an ally, but you’ll have a keep on the shore as your recompense, her half-sister had said. Go with the English-man, and he will show you the strand, her half-brother had said. They had betrayed her with a promise of the sea. Excerpt: My Heart Stood Still The MacLeod Family Prologue

My heart stood still lynn kurland