A Minx for the MacKenzie [Highlanders Love #2]

Chapter 1

Evening's were his favorite time in MacKenzie Keep. As the day wound down, everyone would be freshening up for their supper, after a long day of being and feeling productive. Warmth from the blazing hearths made up for the cold night common in the Highlands which the MacKenzie clan made their home, and his clansmen trooped in eagerly awaiting their usual supper prepared by the efficient kitchen in the Keep. Mrs. O'Leary was perhaps the best thing in his keep, in Hammond's opinion, for the old lady kept a tight ship running to be able to feed the hungry troops, and farmers of the clan.

The younger boys ran to the communal bathhouses outside, eager to wash off the grime after a day of performing their duties as pages, stable boys and apprentices. Hammond had to be alert to be able to avoid the sprightly young lads and girls. He greeted his clan members as he made his way to the dining hall, his stomach growling when he saw the platter of cheese and corn bread. As he looked up, maids were bringing in trenchers of poached fish, placing them in the tables scattered around the dining hall.

"Laird, ye be early fer sup. Worked up an apetite, eh?" Mrs. Griselda teased as she walk past in her classic brown skirts and white shirt, with the clan plaid draped around her shoulders. Hammond smiled at her tease, not giving much of a reaction as his old nursemaid walked away. Mrs. Griselda had seen him since he was in leading strings and diapers, and was perhaps one of the few who could get away with teasing him.

Making his way across the entrance, he took the route around the various, smaller tables arranged from the middle of the hall, and took his seat at the head of the long table placed right in the center, towards the head of the hall. Hammond rearranged the plaid held up by his wide black belt, before taking his usual seat at the head of the table, pulling up the sleeves to his white shirt. His messy, rust red hair fell in locks, which he brushed away from his eye. The keep's main hall began slowly filling with people. It wasn't difficult to catch sight of the bright red locks dressed in a ballooning wide, peach colored dress, as she entered on the arms of her dark haired husband, his first-in-command, Connor Gilroy. 

They had been residing in the Keep whenever they returned from their trips to England, where Evie's heritage resided. Cavalon Castle would eventually go to the husband and wife, but Evie loved the Highlands too much to leave it for now, which was why they had decided to go back and forth every 6 months. With Evie's form growing rounder with each passing day of her pregnancy however, the next trip back to England in a month's time would be the last time they would go, before she prepared for her labor upon MacKenzie land's.

He had grown to be very fond of his cousin over the year he had gotten to know her. Evie's fiery attitude had also been a good balm for his best friend and first-in-command, whose brooding attitude had lightened up considerably. Now he often heard him laugh, which was usually not a common thing before within the Keep. While many of the ladies had been disappointed at the loss of Connor as a eligible bachelor, he had never seen the dark, brooding commander happier, and Hammond couldn't be more delighted for the couple.

"I thought yer gonna be late fer sup again, Connor." Hammond teased, as his friend pulled out a seat for his wife. Evie flushed, remembering how late they had been to dinner the night before. For reasons they'd rather not disclose as husband and wife, of course, but it didn't take a genius to figure out why, and Hammond was no green boy. He chuckled as his best friend shot him a glare, smoothening out his own plaid before taking a seat between Hammond  and Evie, just as the other redhead in residence sashayed her way into the dining hall.

Gillian had always been the light of the Keep, for her laughter kept the broodiness of Connor and the strict, no-nonsense attitude of Hammond at bay. It was obvious by how his clansmen greeted her that they all loved her, and in turn, Gillian bestowed them with a warmth that Hammond wondered would ever putter out of his younger sister. Her red locks were not quite as rusty red as his natural curls, neither were they as vibrant as Evie's, but settled somewhere comfortably in the middle, with the brown eyes that always glittered with life.