Cowboys and Highlanders by Tarah Scott, KyAnn Waters Read Free Book Online Page B

took flight in the trees up ahead. She gave a small cry. Michael shot her a look that said, Not so sure there aren't any Campbells on MacGregor land, are you?
    Heat warmed her cheeks and she looked straight ahead. The Campbells had eluded Marcus that night three weeks ago. No further trace of them or their kinsmen had been found since, but Marcus was on a mission to discover who had trespassed onto his land. As a result, she wouldn't be able to ride more than an hour without encountering one of his men.
    Damn him. If not for his watchful eye, she would be on a ship to America. The night he fetched her from Michael's, she had decided not to return to Brahan Seer but to continue to Glasgow and chance the first ship away from Scotland. The wanted notice had been in the Sunday Times dated three weeks prior, but Price could have given up since then.
    She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. Price stared back at her from behind her father's mahogany desk at Landen Shipping. MacGregor men wouldn't crawl the land like mice much longer. Soon she would return for the man who had put her mother in an early grave, then quietly took part in her daughter's murder. Her heart constricted. Steven was a casualty of her making—a casualty she knew Price Ardsley relished. Elise forced back tears.
    Beware, stepfather. I will return.
     
    "Will you come to the great hall?" Elise asked Michael when they passed through the castle gates.
    "Aye," he replied shortly.
    "Michael," she began, but he pulled his horse to a halt beside her and dismounted.
    He came around to her and helped her from the saddle. "Go on." She hesitated, and his eyes softened. "I'll be along after I have seen to the animals."
    She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're a good man, Michael MacGregor."
    He shook his head, but she could see that he was pleased. He limped off leading the horses, and Elise headed for the great hall. At the postern door, she entered and saw Marcus standing near the hearth. He broke off his conversation with the two men who stood with him and glanced over his shoulder. The drawn look on his face snapped into a dark scowl. He started forward. Elise faltered when she saw he meant to intercept her. His companions disappeared up the nearest staircase and a hum of apprehension began deep in her stomach.
    Marcus rounded the table and reached the midway point when she blurted, "Good afternoon, Marcus. How are you?"
    "Where have you been?" he demanded.
    "I—" She fell back an unsteady step when it seemed he would ram into her. He halted three feet from her. "I have just returned from visiting Michael."
    "So I was told," he replied curtly. "Winnie's warning did nothing to deter you?"
    "Winnie's warnin—" Elise recalled her encounter with Winnie that morning. Good Lord, Winnie had told him she saw her leave.
    Marcus's eyes narrowed. "Aye, you remember. Fortunately for you, I only just discovered your absence. Unmanageable wench," he added in a dark voice.
    "You have your answers," she shot back. "Why bother asking?"
    "Because I couldn't believe you were traipsing about the countryside."
    "I was not traipsing about the country. Not that it's your business."
    "It is my business—and I will see to it you no' do it again."
    She ignored the warning bell the definite hardening of his brogue set off inside her head. and said, "You're insane if you think I'll be ordered about."
    "Ye will do as you're told," he said in a quiet voice that was perversely more unsettling than a shout.
    "I come and go as I please, just as everyone else at Brahan Seer."
    A keen light shone in his eyes. "If you will note, the women are staying close to home." His expression hardened. "At the express command of their men."
    Elise gasped, then glanced past him, gauging the distance between him and the freedom the kitchen offered. He stepped closer and her temper flared. She raised her hands to shield herself from his advance and her palms met the unexpected warmth of his chest. She gaped at