Border Lord by Julia Templeton Read Free Book Online Page A

shape.
    “Uncle Hamish, I trust ye have kept the castle running smoothly in my absence?” Brochan asked, dismounting. He lifted his arms to help Terri down, and she put her hands on his shoulders.
    The blood in her veins warmed as she slid down his body, his long fingers wrapping around her hips, reminding her of their sexual play last night.
    They had made love three times in the space of a few hours, and she still burned for him. The sexual attraction to this man was so intense, unlike anything she’d experienced before.
    His hands fell away and he stepped back.
    “A comely lass, too,” Hamish said, his gaze moving over Terri in a way that made her shudder. Catching her reaction, the older man laughed under his breath, while walking around her, checking her out.
    Brochan straightened, his eyes narrowing. If Terri wasn’t mistaken, Brochan and his uncle were not on good terms.
    Hamish lifted a lock of Terri’s hair and brought it to his nose. “You smell of heather. Bet you taste as sweet too.”
    Terri wished she could say the same. The man’s breath smelled foul, and a funky body odor lingered in the air.
    “Uncle Hamish,” Brochan said, his voice deadly calm. “MacLellan’s daughter is my prisoner. She is to remain untouched.”
    His uncle immediately let the curl fall back on Terri’s shoulder, his low laugh making her take a step back. The man had “creep” written all over him.
    “Forget not who she is, Brochan. Your brother is dead because of her father.”
    “And well I know it,” Brochan said, taking Terri by the hand, his warm fingers wrapping around her wrist. She would rather have had him take her by the hand, but he had appearances to worry about. His clan probably wouldn’t take too kindly to hand-holding.
    She found strength in that touch, and was grateful when he started walking toward the castle, nodding to the people they passed. Terri didn’t look at anyone, but gazed directly ahead, at the drawbridge that had been lowered, and the portcullis overhead that looked like thick, black knives.
    The inner bailey was larger than it appeared from the outside, and alive with activity. Many stopped what they were doing to watch them pass. To the right sat a chapel, to the left the great hall, an armory, buttery, and kitchen, and finally the stables. There were two towers, both large and formidable, and she knew even as she followed Brochan into one of them that this would be her prison. Though she told herself she shouldn’t be surprised he was throwing her in a cell after making love, it still hurt.
    The spiral staircase was steep, and each room they passed she glanced into. There were several good-sized chambers, one extremely masculine. Even the bed was massive, made of dark wood and thick draperies.
    She assumed it was Brochan’s chamber. Unfortunately they didn’t stop at that room, but climbed higher.
    They came to the top of the stairs, and he pushed open a door. The small room had one window, but it was narrow…so narrow she couldn’t escape if she wanted to. Not that she’d ever consider scaling a wall that was four stories high. Then again, she’d never been locked in a solar before. Give her a few days and she might just try it.
    “So, what will become of me, Brochan?”
    He looked at her, his green eyes distant. Now that he had returned to his clan, she had become the enemy once again. The time they’d had together, just a pleasant memory. “Ye will be locked in.”
    “What am I to do? Just spend the days looking at the walls?”
    He winced. “Ye are a prisoner here, Annabelle. Yer fate has not yet been decided.”
    In essence she had traded one cell for another. She didn’t know which would be better, the priory or Castle Kildare.
    “I will see to it that ye are brought embroidery, and other things to keep yer mind occupied.”
    “I have never embroidered. I wouldn’t know how.”
    His brows furrowed. “All women embroider.”
    “Well, I don’t, so there you have