Highland Harmony: Avelina and Drew (Clan Grant Series Book 8) by Keira Montclair Read Free Book Online

antics, though I often hear of them from my sire.”
    “Have you an interest in the Ramsay lass, Menzie? Other than making her one of your bedmates?”
    Drew jerked his gaze back to Aedan’s. “Hellfire, Cameron. I would never treat her like that. I only play with maids who want to play, and I make sure to leave no bastards behind. Avelina’s of noble blood, whether Lachlan chooses to acknowledge that or not, but more importantly, she’s innocent and unwilling.”
    Aedan held his friend’s stare for a long moment. “Good. I’m glad you recognize the difference. She’s my wife’s closest friend, and I will protect her. I want you to know that.”
    “Understood,” Drew said.
    Hellfire, why did he have an inkling that Avelina Ramsay would prove to be much, much more to him than just an appealing innocent? More importantly, why did that thought give him more hope than he’d felt in a long while?
    ***
    Lina crept down the stairs and into the kitchens in the middle of the night. She had spent all night tossing and turning and was hoping to find a cup of goat’s milk or a pastry, something to help her sleep.
    In the middle of the worktable sat an apple pastry, so she grabbed it and turned to leave the room. A giggle erupted from the buttery, a storage room at the back of the kitchens. Lina’s mind told her to ignore it, but something else pulled her back to the sound. She made her way toward the giggles.
    As she came closer, the giggles turned to moans. “Drew, you know how to please a lass, do you not?”
    Drew’s voice, husky and deep, echoed through the kitchens. “Aye, I do. You sure are a sweet one.”
    Lina couldn’t help herself. She moved two steps closer and peeked around the corner of the door. There stood Drew, tall, handsome, and his hands wrapped around the bottom of a kitchen maid. He had naught but his plaid on, so her gaze followed the totally unkempt dark hair on his head down to the dark hair on his chest. The two were so intent on each other they had no idea she was there. Their arms and hands were everywhere as he kissed her deeply, causing the girl to moan.
    A heat unlike Lina had ever felt before swept through her body, so she turned away and rushed out the door. Her foot knocked a stool over on her way.
    “Who goes there?” Drew’s voice reached her ears, but she ignored him and flew through the door and back up the stairs.
    Once on her bed, she started to sob helplessly. She could never compete with a woman like that. That lass obviously knew how to pleasure Drew Menzie, something Avelina Ramsay knew absolutely naught about.
    She rolled onto her side and cried herself to sleep. She’d never get married. No one would ever want her.
    ***
    Drew grabbed the rest of his clothes and headed to the door, listening to his partner’s wails over his shoulder.
    “Drew Menzie, don’t you dare leave me begging for more.”
    “Sorry, lass, but I must run.” He ran through the door, needing to see who had caught them. He prayed it wasn’t Jennie, for then he would be forced to leave Cameron land immediately. At home, they were used to his voracious appetite, but here? Nay, he could not cause any problems here. He needed to be in control. Thus, he had to know who had interrupted them.
    As soon as he moved into the great hall, he caught a glimpse of a tall, lithe beauty moving up the staircase. Avelina? Hellfire, he didn’t want it to be her. The lass was definitely an innocent.
    He ran close enough to confirm that it was her, her cheeks dark red from embarrassment, and then whirled around to go back. Something soft squished under his foot. He leaned over to pick up the ruined apple pastry, probably the reason Avelina Ramsay had come to the kitchens at such a late hour. He cursed himself and his insatiable appetite as he thought of how it must have looked from her vantage point. How could he explain that it was because of Avelina that he had sought out the maid? She had left him wanting, yet he