Highlander's Reckoning (The Sinclair Brothers #3) by Emma Prince Read Free Book Online Page A

himself wearily to his own
chamber, he was too exhausted to spend time chewing on her strange behavior—and
his strong reaction to her.
    He’d woken early, having spent a fitful night
dreaming of her eyes, which shifted from defiant to vulnerable and back again.
His mind had also conjured up a few other choice images of her that left him
feeling achy and unsatisfied upon waking.
    Seeing her now, dressed in a bright green gown, her
red hair flowing loosely around her shoulders, the images from his dreams
suddenly came back to him.
    Her, naked and spread out on his large bed.
    Those pert breasts, creamy white and tipped with the
same rosy shade as her lips.
    Her blue eyes flashing at him in pleasure.
    As he approached her in the doorway, he scooped up
his discarded shirt but didn’t bother donning it. The men around him began to
disperse, but he could feel the curious looks they sent toward their new lord
and lady.
    “Did you enjoy the spectacle, lass?” he said,
stopping right in front of her.
    Though she tried to put on a regal air, he didn’t
miss the flutter of her eyes down the bare expanse of his torso.
    “Men are strange,” she said simply, raising her eyes
to his in an attempt at nonchalance.
    “I’d say that at least we are straightforward. It’s
much easier to gain a man’s trust than a woman’s.” He let his eyes openly rake
over her. “You are looking well today, Rona. The illness you felt yesterday has
passed?”
    “Aye, it was nothing,” she said with a wave of her
hand. They were standing so close, however, that her fingertips brushed his
chest.
    He clenched unconsciously, and a little gasp escaped
from her parted lips.
    Bloody hell, why did she have such a strong effect
on him? He had enjoyed the company of a few lasses back at his uncle’s keep and
had even been pursued by a couple of them. But none could have had him reeling
simply by brushing his chest.
    “Perhaps you look so hale and hearty today because
it is our wedding day,” he said in a low voice.
    That didn’t have the desired effect. Instead of
blushing prettily or batting her eyelashes at him, a look of fright crossed her
face, and she took an unconscious step backward. Though he’d never had a
problem with the lasses before, perhaps he wasn’t as knowledgeable as he
thought.
    Or perhaps Rona was a different kind of lass. Her
reactions kept catching him off-guard. She put up walls where other lasses
would have flirted or preened, and she softened at the most unexpected moments.
    “So you remain determined that we must wed today?”
she said. Was that a hint of anxiety in her voice?
    “Aye. There is no point in putting it off,” he said
flatly, once again unsure of her reactions. “Is there a reason you wish to
delay?”
    “We are still strangers, my lord, and—”
    “Call me Daniel. That’s at least one formality we
can do away with.”
    “Very well…Daniel. We hardly know each other, and
yet we will be expected to—that is, we will…tonight…”
    Now she blushed, but it wasn’t coy. Her face was
filled with deep embarrassment, and something else, something like…fear?
    Realization hit him like a splash of cold water.
    “Has no one explained to you what happens between a
man and a woman on their wedding night?”
    If it was possible, the redness in her cheeks darkened.
“Nay, my mother and Agnes…I understand the basic events.”
    Suddenly Daniel felt like the barbarian she had
called him earlier. Here he was, thrusting his bare chest in her face and
speaking to her quietly about today being their wedding day when instead of
enticing the lass, he was terrifying her.
    He pulled his shirt over his head and extended his
arm to her. “Take a turn around the yard with me, Rona.”
    Hesitantly, she placed her hand on his, and despite
how uncomfortable she seemed, a bolt of heat shot through him at her touch.
    “Why isn’t your mother here with you and your father
at Loch Doon?” he said casually, hoping to ease