Highland Knight by Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online Page B

watched Cameron walk off into the surrounding wood with his cousin and was not surprised at how her gaze remained fixed upon his taut, well-shaped buttocks, or how her palms itched to touch him there. “Several times today I wanted to kick him out of the saddle, but ’tis nay longer so that I can laugh at the oaf sprawled in the mud. Nay, I wanted him on the ground so that I could jump on him and start acting upon some of the crazed, heated thoughts which have tormented me.”
    “Then just do it.”
    “I ken we have talked of ways to take the sting from his plots of revenge if I do, but there is naught that can take the sting out of the fact that he beds me for revenge.”
    Gillyanne rolled her eyes. “Trust me, cousin. The verra last things that mon will be thinking when he finally beds down with you are Payton, his sister, and revenge. All ye need to do is make it verra clear that he isnae winning or taking; ye are giving. I dinnae mean ye should bare your heart’s secrets to the oaf—just let him ken that ye are doing only what ye want and ye will ne’er let him use that against your brother or your clan. Now, he being a mon and as arrogant as the rest of the breed, he willnae believe ye can rob him of that weapon. Ye ken that ye can. Let that confidence guide you.”
    “’Tis such a gamble,” Avery murmured.
    “Aye, but do ye want the prize ye can win bad enough to take it?”
    “Oh, aye.”
    “So, how quickly do ye concede?”
    “I cannae say. I believe I will torment him until I cannae take it any more.” She laughed along with Gillyanne.
     
    “They are laughing again,” muttered Cameron, scowling at the two Murray lasses as he and Leargan returned to camp.
    Leargan chuckled and shook his head. “They are unusual lasses.”
    “They are wretched brats who take great glee in making my life a pure torment.”
    “So, ye want her that badly, do ye?”
    “I didnae say that.”
    “Ye didnae have to. Ye fair stink of it.”
    Cameron fought against the sudden whim to sniff himself and glared at Leargan. “’Tis a good thing, isnae it. ’Twould be verra hard to get my revenge if the lass didnae stir me in any way.”
    “And ye willnae wait until ye can more closely study the situation at home, will ye?”
    “My sister, my aunt, and Iain all tell the same tale. What difference would it make to hear it again, to wait until I am close enough to watch their lips move as they speak? Nay, Payton Murray will pay, and he will do right by my sister.”
    “And, if he does, will ye do right by his?”
    “What?”
    “Ye mean to seduce the mon’s sister to force him to do right by your sister. If he does as ye wish, that still leaves one seduced lass without a husband. A lass who has done ye no wrong.”
    “I dinnae want a wife.” Cameron resented the way Leargan had found the weal: point in his plan.
    “Yet ye dinnae accept that Sir Payton may not want one either. Ye are a contrary mon, cousin.”
    “Aye, and ye will soon be a mon weel covered in bruises if ye dinnae leave the matter alone.” He nodded in satisfaction when Leargan said no more, yet he knew his cousin had not quit but had simply withdrawn from the argument for a while. “Ye take young Gillyanne back to the women,” he ordered as they reached his tent.
    The moment Leargan and Gillyanne had left, Cameron sat next to Avery and stared into the fire. He wanted to clear Leargan’s words from his mind, but they refused to leave. There was that taint of unfairness to his plans. He could not deny that. He would demand Payton Murray restore his sister’s honor with marriage, yet he would not offer the same. Telling himself such revenge was fair because Payton had refused to do what was right, and with his clan’s full support, did not really ease that pinch of guilt. Yet he could not—would not—take a wife.
    When Avery rose and went into the tent, he picked up the wineskin she had left behind and took a long drink. It was tempting to drink