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

suggestive tone, she felt herself growing wet yet again. She was quick to grab her dagger and point it at him, though she did not take a step near him.“I will never be a slave to you or any man and especially no love slave.”
    “Never say never, mo chridhe , you do not know what the future may hold.”
    “My future will not be me being enslaved by my husband, and do not call me my love. I am not your love.”
    “You will be my wife, so you are mo chridhe .”
    “I am not going to be your wife,” she insisted while slipping her dagger back, once again, into the sheath at her waist, fearing if she did not she just might use it on him.
    “How else do you propose this matter be settled?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
    Of course, her eyes could not help being drawn to the way his shirt suddenly hugged the muscles in his arms or grew taut against his defined chest. The man was all lean, hard muscle and it only added to his appeal.
    “Greer is intent on claiming Macinnes land one way or another. Our marriage can, at least for a time, delay his plans until we can finally put an end to his power-thirsty intentions. This marriage could save thousands of lives from being lost in a senseless battle. It could unite clans and give some people who have felt down-trodden some hope. It would gain other clans’ respect by seeing that an unnecessary battle was prevented. And it would strengthen the north against invaders.”
    Damn, why did he have to make sense? Patience was all for preventing unnecessary battle. Raising swords against other clans only served to create more animosity. In the last few years, she had been able to settle disputes without drawing her sword. Well, at least without drawing it in battle. There were times a well-placed sword served a good purpose and prevented major bloodshed.
    The problem was being shackled to this man for the rest of her life. He would not even have made it on her list of possible men to wed.
    “What is it that you object about me being your husband?” he asked.
    Patience was about to tell him how selfish she thought he was, but stopped herself. A selfish man would not care about his mother and take her with him when he wed. He would also not care about lives lost in battle or that it was a senseless battle to begin with. No, in certain respects, Hunter McLaud was not selfish.
    So, what then did she object to about him?
    She stared at his fine features and his blue eyes so boldly lustful and knew. “You will not be a faithful husband.”
    “Why do you think that?”
    “You admitted it yourself when you laughed at your brother and told him that you did not go a day without poking a woman. What if your wife does not favor coupling every day? Will you find your pleasure elsewhere?”
    He rubbed at his smooth chin. “That is a reasonable question and one that troubles me. I would more than please my wife when we make love, so I do not know why she would not want to couple with me every day. And I certainly would not want her making love with me out of sheer duty.”
    “Then what would you do if she denied you? Find another woman to satisfy your insatiable appetite?”
    Hunter dropped his arms away from his chest as he laughed. “My wife would enjoy coupling far too much to ever deny me.”
    “You are—”
    “Confident and extremely skilled at making love.”
    “Making Love? You cannot love every woman you poke,” she insisted frustrated with his arrogant demeanor.
    He scrunched his brow. “But of course I have loved every woman I have poked. Only when a man loves the woman he couples with can either of them find true pleasure.”
    “So then love means nothing to you, since you can love every woman you have rutted with.”
    “I do not rut . Animals rut ,” Hunter said with tempered anger. “And as far as love, mo chridhe , it would take you many years, perhaps your whole life to understand love as I do and to cherish it as I do. We may be strangers to each