A Highlander Christmas by Sophie Renwick Cindy Miles Dawn Halliday Read Free Book Online

She was so beautiful. Unconscious, she was the most precious thing he’d ever seen, but from the moment she’d opened those blue eyes and faced him without any semblance of fear, he’d been entranced.
    “Tomorrow is Christmas, isn’t it?” she said quietly, still facing the flames.
    Logan frowned. The days had melded together since he had begun to walk north, but he tried to keep count. “Aye, I think so.”
    “Today, then, is Christmas Eve, and we don’t have a Yule log to burn through the night.” She turned to him, her eyes bright. “Nevertheless, we must keep the peat burning until dawn. My mother always insisted upon it when I was a lass, for she said the elves are out this night, and a strong fire is the only way to keep them away.”
    The way she smiled at him, slightly pensive, slightly wry, made Logan’s body tighten all over.
    When he’d first brought her in from the cold, he’d stripped her naked. Then, the need to save her had kept his baser impulses in check. As he worked, he’d resisted reacting to the curve of her hip, her narrow waist, the creamy mounds of her breasts. He’d kept his focus on warming her. Nevertheless, as he’d tried to infuse his body heat into her, he couldn’t help but revel in the smooth softness of her skin, in her utter femininity. She was soft where he was hard, smooth where he was rough, narrow where he was wide, delicate where he was large.
    Now, despite the bruises, she was whole and healthy, and as vibrant as anyone he’d ever seen. Just looking upon her, even clothed as she was in a shapeless plaid, made his blood heat to a boil. And right now, as she gazed up at him, the firelight haloing her head, a light flush drifted across her pale cheekbones and her eyes shone with some emotion—was it longing?
    Was it possible she wanted him, too?
    Logan nodded gravely. “Aye, we’ll keep the fire going. Wouldn’t want elves filching the whisky.”
    She grinned, and blood roared through his veins. Every inch of his skin burned with the urge to touch her.
    Tearing his gaze away, he rose and yanked on his jacket, then gathered his plaid over his shoulder without returning his focus to her. If he looked, he didn’t know what he might feel compelled to do. He had to get away from her, even for just a few minutes, to soothe the edginess crawling beneath his skin. The perfect excuse came to him as he worked the row of buttons on his jacket. “I must search for your brooch.”
    “No, you shouldn’t. I didn’t know about your leg when I agreed—”
    “I told you I would search today, and I will,” he interrupted her. “Stay inside, and I’ll be back before dark.”
    “No!”
    He turned to her, raising a brow.
    “I . . . I’ll go with you.”
    “It’s too dangerous. It’s going to storm again.”
    She shrugged. “You said the place where you found me wasn’t far away.”
    “It’s far too cold to risk it. And your clothes—”
    “—are completely dry,” she announced, smugly victorious. She yanked her stockings from the ceiling and pulled them on.
    Sighing in resignation, he went to bank the fire. By the time he finished, she’d secured her stockings and dropped her shift over her head. Clearly she’d had much practice in dressing before others, for he only caught a glimpse of pale flesh as the plaid fell to the floor and the shift covered her nakedness. She retrieved the plaid and wrapped it around her body, finishing by fastening it with the borrowed pin. Then she strode to the trunk and removed the too-large men’s leather boots.
    Once she’d finished lacing the boots on as tightly as possible, she rose and smiled at him. “Are you ready, then?”
    Logan opened the door and turned his face up into the gently falling snow, allowing the coldness to collide with the heat boiling through him.
    Closing his eyes, he prayed for temperance.
     

    The place where Logan had found her looked different in daylight, but from the recesses of her mind, Maggie