Across a Dark Highland Shore (Hot Highlands Romance Book 2) by Kelly Jameson Read Free Book Online

Isobel had ever seen. Judging by her dress, she was in mourning. Her thick, dark hair, chestnut brown with shining strands of red, was piled elegantly on her head and held gold ribbons. Deep amber stones flashed at her graceful throat. She had luminous dark eyes, which also flashed—with irritation and disgust.
    The gown that adorned her slender figure was a shimmering black shade that caught the fire in her hair. It had a long, slender shape. There was beautiful wide trim on the sleeves and above the hemline, and twisted gold piping on the scooped neckline, shoulders, and sleeve ends. A small, bejeweled dagger hung in a sheath from a belt at her waist.
    “Is it wise to bring a MacKinnon witch across your doorstep on the New Year, Leith? ‘Tis bold, and ‘twould seem most unlucky.” She did not give him time to answer. “Regardless, ye foolishly think to use the witch-child to win hearts. Well, ye willna win this one. There will be no wedding in the spring. As soon as this horrid winter ends and travel is once again possible for ladies, I will take my servants and be gone from this hellish keep, where only sad memories of what could have been reside. Our clans will go on hating each other, as is only natural. There is only one man who could have changed that, and ‘twas your brother, Logan.” 
    Leith’s jaw tensed as his eyes traveled leisurely over her womanly form, lingering on her breasts and the ample swell of her hips. “Yer free to leave whene’er ye like, Lady Katherine. But with bands of blood-thirsty reivers about, it wouldna be wise. And I think e’en ye can see the folly of no’ considering what a match between us would bring to our clans. If there is no wedding….”
    She laughed, the sound hollow in the cavernous room. “Ye stand to lose the coveted peace ye would gain by my hand, Leith, the peace that would’ve come naturally had I married Logan. But if I married ye, Leith, our union would have naught to do with love, as it would have with Logan. I have never loved a man like I loved Logan and since I canna marry him, I vow to marry no man. Ye are no’ Logan.”
    “Nay, I am no’ Logan. I dunna speak of love, Lady Katherine. I dunna heap lavish praises on ye day and night, I dunna bow down to yer beauty every day. I dunna promise ye the stars. I dunna ask ye to love me. Look at my face.” He smiled wickedly while he traced the scar on his cheek with his fingers. “I am no’ handsome and perfect as Logan was. I am honest and practical. Only fools marry for love, Lady Katherine. So I will no’ pretend to be Logan.
    “I am my own man, a man with many faults. Yet ye, with yer misplaced pride and stubborn refusal to consider my offer, unromantic as it may be, risk escalating the feuding between our clans. Many more lives may be thus lost in battle. And we may soon be at war with England. The last thing we want is Macleans and Campbells continuing to kill each other. Our union, and the sons you would bear me, could bring years of peace.”
    Lady Katherine’s eyes rounded. “The sons I would bear ye?”
    “These are matters for private discussion between us. As long as ye are here, the peace has a chance to continue to exist. Will ye no’ think of yer own people, Lady Katherine?” Now it was Leith who did not give her a chance to answer. He looked at Isobel. “Have ye anything to say about this, witch-child?”
    Isobel looked into his rugged face, noted the tense set of his jaw, that the scar was white with anger. “Aye Maclean. I do. I thank ye for my life, but like love, the Sight is no’ something that can be forced at will, e’en by yer obviously fierce will. What if my visions are of no value to ye? What if ye dunna like what I see in yer future, or in Lady Katherine’s?”
    Men and women alike were aghast at the way she boldly addressed their laird, and Lady Katherine eyed her with interest.
    “If ye cease to be of value to the Maclean clan, then we’ll return ye to yer own