Bride of the Black Scot by Elaine Coffman Read Free Book Online Page A

MacBeans?” she asked, remembering what he had said earlier.
    “You sound disappointed, lass. Want me to call the man
back?”
    “Don’t be foolish. I was merely curious, that is all. It is
easy for you to be jocular. You would not be the one forced to marry a
MacBean.”
    “Dinna fash yourself, lass. I ken if you had given them as
much trouble as you have given me, they would have returned you before
nightfall. You are a troublesome lass.”
    “You have told me that before, m’lord.”
    “And you talk overmuch.”
    “Well, at least I answer questions,” she said, giving
him a direct stare and not caring if he noticed.
    He noticed, but he didn’t say anything. He simply sat mere,
with his back to the sun, staring back at her as if he were trying to figure
her out—as if a man could figure out a woman by looking at her. Now, looking at him was a different matter entirely.
    She found herself momentarily absorbed in the way the sun
seemed to highlight the black tones of his hair and turn them to silver. The
hard elegance of his face, however, needed no sunlight to hold her attention.
It was difficult to ignore a mouth that offered such sensual promise, eyes that
touched her with such heat. Her gaze drifted to his mouth and seemed content to
stay there. Enraptured, she recalled the feel of those lips against hers.
    “Alexander MacBean is already married,” he said,
interrupting her reverie.
    The blissful memory was shattered and she could not hide her
disenchantment. She sent him an irritated look.
    He had the gall to look taken aback. “You are no
disappointed, are you?”
    “No, of course I’m not. I am not such a dolt, m’lord. If I
must marry, I much prefer marriage to the Black Scot.”
    “You have never met him. How do you know you prefer marriage
to him?”
    “I like his name.”
    Stephen choked. “His name? You would marry a man because of
his name? A man with a reputation like the Black Scot?”
    She scowled. “Not even the devil is as black as they paint
him. Besides, I am marrying a man simply because the king ordered me to. Now, I
don’t see that liking his name is any more ridiculous than that. At least I
know there will be one thing I like about him. Besides, you told me that
he looks a great deal like you, did you not?”
    “Aye, I did.”
    She nodded. “Well, suffice it to say that that pleases me.”
    He grunted. She recognized a skeptical sound when she heard
one, but she stubbornly remained quiet.
    That didn’t seem to deter him, however. “An intriguing name
and a fair face…you dinna ask for much in a husband, I ken.”
    “Oh, I hope for more, but until we have met, I know only
what you tell me. Please, will you tell me more about him?”
    “Lady Juliette, you are a great deal of trouble.”
    Juliette sighed and looked off, speaking softly. “Yes, I
fear that is primarily the reason I am here.”
    Stephen threw back his dark head and laughed.
     
    Juliette watched him spur his horse and ride ahead of her.
When he gained Angus’s side, he slowed down beside him, leaning low over his
saddle as he spoke. If Stephen’s words had any effect upon him, Angus did not
show it. As far as Juliette could tell, his face was as blank as the white
cliffs of Dover.
    A moment later Edith’s pony came trotting along, slowing
down as it drew even with Juliette’s.
    “That black devil seems to enjoy your company, m’lady,”
Edith said.
    “Sometimes,” Juliette said, looking wistfully at Stephen’s
broad back. “I don’t know why, but I keep having the feeling that he is playing
games with me.”
    “It is a man’s way. They act that way ’til the day they
die.”
    Juliette took a deep breath. “Stephen Gordon is a perplexing
man. He is like a gem with many facets.”
    “I don’t know about facets,” Edith said, giving him the once
over, “but he is a handsome devil, even when naked as the truth.”
    A slow smile stretched across Juliette’s face. “Especially
then,” she said,