A Pirate's Wife for Me by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online

you —"
    Taran glared at him.
    Blowfish swallowed his words.
    It would not do to speak of Taran's dockside loves in front of his mother.
    "She looks like the type of lady you favor," Blowfish said sedately. Then, as if he were puzzled, which he certainly was not, he scratched at the gray stubble on his chin. "So ye're telling me that years ago, ye seduced the young miss upstairs and left 'er alone to deal with the consequences."
    In profound irritation, Taran snapped, "I was kidnapped and sent off to be murdered!"
    His mother gave him no reprieve. "This is no excuse! You should never have taken her in the first place. As for the present state of affairs — her bed was rumpled. Tonight you tried to seduce her …  again."
    And he got caught by his mother . Taran had lived through every man's worst nightmare — his mother had caught him bedding a woman. No, worse — trying to bed a woman and failing.
    "I want Cate to go away, and I thought the best way to frighten her was to … to …" To threaten her … with himself. Taran had thought if he took her in his arms, held her struggling body against his, and forced his kisses on her, she would recall the disgrace their liaison had brought her, and run away.
    Instead, he was the one who had remembered. Remembered her silky skin against his, the scent of her hair, the passion and the fire of her body.
    Blowfish helped Taran to roll over and started on the exit wound.
    In a voice that was worse than severe – in a voice that was saddened – his dear, darling mother who had undergone so much, said, "I am disappointed in you."
    "Ma'am, truly, no more disappointed than I am in myself. The first time, I was …" He turned his head to the wall. "I was angry at myself for being such a coward, for not returning to Cenorina and doing my duty."
    "And ye were seventeen," Blowfish said. "The selfsame definition of stupid."
    "Yes, thank you, Blowfish," Taran said in profound irritation. "We have established that I was and am stupid!"
    Blowfish applied such pressure to the wound Taran's eyes rolled back in his head. "Ye are stupid to give grief to the man cleaning this pitiful little hole in yer arm."
    When Taran had ceased writhing, Sibeol asked, "Your father and I tried to impress on you your noble obligations."
    "You did," Taran admitted. "I knew right from wrong. I have no excuse except … that last year in Cenorina, Father was sick and you were busy with him, and Mr. Davies was my tutor. He … he encouraged me in every foolish endeavor, in every dissipation and careless emotion."
    Sibeol took a wavering breath.
    Cautiously Taran reached out to her to touch her hand. "But between the pain at losing my father and knowing you were imprisoned, and the MacLeans and their good teaching, I swear to you I thought I could make things right with Cate … somehow. And Cate … she was sixteen and so beautiful, and she loved me. Truly loved me for myself. She saw no blemish, no corruption, no stupidity . She soothed me, pleased me, gave me happiness where all was a desert…"
     
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
    The Isle of Mull, Scotland, 1834
     
     
    Sweat dripped off of Taran's forehead as he slashed with the claymore, using the heavy steel blade with the skill Kiernan had taught him and an aggression all his own. He drove Graeme MacQuarrie back toward the fence, and it took Kiernan's shout before he would back away.
    Kiernan removed the handle from Taran's sweaty fingers. "Damn, lad, you've got no enemies here. If you've got a fire in the gut, save it for true battle."
    Taran nodded, his chest heaving. But he didn't really listen. It had been three years since his father, the king, had died. Three years since his mother, the queen, had sent him away from Cenorina, and since then he'd heard not one word about his kingdom, not one word of his mother. His heart ached to see her, to hold her in his arms and comfort her in her grief and loneliness. But he didn't even know if she was alive; he