Highlander's Rebellious Love by Donna Fletcher Read Free Book Online

her sheath so fast and at his throat that Hunter actually startled, taking a few stumbling steps back away from her. “I will have my answer.”
    Hunter answered without delay. “Greer believes he has an ally in the Dark Dragon.”
    Patience was unable to do anything but stare at him for a moment, so shocked was she by his words. The implications and possibilities startled her and had her mind stirring and questions mounting.
    She started with one. “Why would your brother think that?”
    “Greer knows the Dark Dragon’s uncle.”
    “The Dark Dragon’s uncle resides in this area?”
    “He once did,” Hunter confirmed.
    “And Greer and he were friends?”
    “He was more friends with my father, but where you found my father, you also found Greer. My father wanted him prepared to take the reins of the clan when the time came. So, he had Greer trail him like a faithful hound.”
    “Then he is counting on the uncle to persuade the Dark Dragon to help him?”
    Hunter nodded. “That is his plan and hope. Of course Hew McDolan encouraged him to do so.”
    Patience did not want to show her excitement to Hunter, but it was difficult to keep it contained. This news was an unexpected gift. She asked with as much calm as she could muster, “Greer is in touch with the uncle and knows where he lives?”
    “Ewan, the uncle, has a family croft about a day’s ride south from here. Most of the clans and folks in the area know his relationship to the Dark Dragon and leave the family alone. Ewan can be found there now and again, visiting.”
    That news changed her plans. As soon as she finished here, she knew where she would be going. So, the sooner she settled this mess, the sooner she could take a step closer to finding her sister.
    “If Greer has clans already willing to help him take McFarden land, why does he want help from the Dark Dragon?” It struck her then and she turned glaring eyes on Hunter. “He is power hungry and wants to lay claim to all Macinnes land, and he would need a powerful army of warriors to accomplish that.”
    “You have a warrior’s mind,” Hunter complimented. “And perhaps now you see why a marriage between us would foil all his plans.”
    “Yet your brother Rab encourages our immediate departure after we are wed.” Patience thought a moment, and then shook her head. “Please tell me that your brothers would not attempt to take our lives.” She shoved her dagger back in its sheath.
    “Not yours, mine and my mother’s.”
    “Of course,” she said annoyed at not having thought of it. “Greer will claim that I never wanted a union with the Clan McLaud and that I rid myself of the problem.”
    “And end his worry that he could also lose his claim on McLaud land once you get with child.”
    “That is one concern of his that will never happen,” she assured him or was she assuring herself? It was difficult to ignore his fine features and sensual blue eyes. The more she was around him the more she realized that he simply oozed lust. She doubted that one woman would be able to please him. He would probably wear her out, and then be off chasing after other women. That was not what she wanted in a husband. She would never be able to trust him. And she wanted a husband—no— she wanted a partner who she could always rely on no matter what.
    “Do you not want children?” he asked.
    His concern surprised her, and she said, “Do you?”
    “Aye, a keep full,” he said with a smile and a nod.
    She would not have thought that of him and she shook her head. “That is a large brood to tend to and a lot to ask of a woman. Or do you believe that is what a wife is for... to bear child after child and be a slave to her husband’s whims and desires.”
    Hunter laughed. “A slave you would never be, though...” His eyes filled with such lust that they turned a deeper blue. “I could show you how enjoyable playing at being a love slave could be.”
    Between the lust in his eyes and his sensually