title: The Speak of the Mearns: Short Stories and Essays
author:  Lewis Grassic Gibbon 
description: <B>Lewis Grassic Gibbon</B> (James Leslie Mitchell) was one of the finest writers of the twentieth century. Born in Aberdeenshire in 1901, he died at the age of thirty-four. He was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays and science fiction, and his writing reflected his wide interest in religion, archaeology, history, politics and science. The Mearns trilogy, <I>A Scots Quair</I>, is his most renowned work, and has become a landmark in Scottish literature. <B>Ian Campbell</B> is Professor of Victorian and Scottish Literature at Edinburgh University.
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  WHEN YOU KISS A HIGHLANDER
  
  Gybbon gently stroked her face and tucked the few stray locks of her hair that
  had come loose from her braid behind her ears. “Time to go inside.”
  
  They slipped in with only one lone kitchen maid noticing them and then went up
  the stairs. By the time they reached the top of the stairs, Gybbon had his arm
  around her waist. They had reached her door when he suddenly pulled her into
  his arms and kissed her.
  
  Mora let herself sink into the kiss and enjoyed the heat it stirred within
  her. She knew what he wanted and she was uneasy. A large part of her wanted
  it, too, but she was neither a widow nor a tavern maid and she knew she should
  not. There had been no words of love or even need. No promises she could cling
  to for a future.
  
  Then she thought of all that had happened. What good were promises to her when
  she had a man determined to kill her? She was filled with a grief and anger
  that had little place to go and his kisses eased all that, g