King of the Isles by Debbie Mazzuca Read Free Book Online

hands? If the condescending look in her eyes was anything to go by, she did.
    “You can’t mean to—”
    Seeing Evangeline open her mouth, Lachlan stopped Bana midstream. “Excuse us fer a moment.” He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out of earshot. Backing her into a corner, he forced his gaze from the heaving bounty of her breasts straining against her magenta robes. He pressed his palms to the cool white marble on either side of her head and drew in a deep breath to regain control. Then he gave his head a shake in hopes of ridding himself of the intoxicating feminine scent he’d just inhaled. She ran the tip of her pink tongue over her lips and he jerked his gaze back to her eyes before he gave in to the urge to kiss her, to ravish her berry-red mouth with his.
    “What?” She flattened her palms on his chest and pushed.
    Captured in her violet gaze, he lost his train of thought. In an act of self-preservation, he dropped his hands to his sides and took a step away from her. The blasted woman was driving him mad. “What ... what? Ye accuse me of all manner of stupidity, take me to task in front of my subjects, then seek to instruct me on managing my affairs, and ye have the nerve to ask me ... what!” He’d tried to keep his voice low but failed miserably in the attempt.
    She thrust out her chin. “You know as well as I do that Fallyn and her sisters are the better choice.”
    “That may well be, but there are ways to handle matters that do not add fuel to the fire. But ye doona ken the first thing aboot bein’ diplomatic, do ye?”
    “I can be as diplomatic as the next person.”
    He snorted. “Ye’re aboot as diplomatic as a priest in a kirk full of sinners.”
    “But you were going to—”
    “’Tis no’ yer place to tell me what to do. My uncle allows ye to, but ye’re in my kingdom now, no’ his.”
    She scowled at him. “While you are charming Erwn and Bana into ceding to your wishes, I shall retrieve Fallyn and her sisters.”
    Bloody hell, there was no reasoning with the woman. He scrubbed his hand over his face. “They’re no’ here at the moment.”
    She narrowed her gaze on him. “Where are they?”
    The last thing he wanted to do was tell her where they were. She already thought him incapable of ruling his kingdom. Not that her opinion of him mattered. But once she learned Fallyn and her sisters were at his home on Lewis, he’d never hear the end of it. She’d know—as it had happened on previous occasions—that the women had taken offense to something he’d said or done. He couldn’t readily recall what had been the cause of their discontent this time.
    Oh, aye, now he remembered, they’d gotten it into their heads to open a school to train women in warfare and he’d refused their request. Lachlan imagined the three sisters were at that very moment pleading their case to Syrena. It wouldn’t do them any good. The men would revolt if he ceded to their wishes.
    “You’ve done it again, haven’t you?”
    “What are ye talkin’ aboot?”
    “Oh, no, you don’t. You’re not talking your way out of this. I’m going to Lewes.” With a haughty toss of her raven tresses, she stalked past him.
    He scowled after her, throwing up his hands when she walked past the little seer without so much as a second look. “Ye canna leave the bairn. I have too much to do to prepare fer the journey.”
    She came to an abrupt halt. Head bowed, her shoulders rose as if she took a deep breath and then she turned and walked back to Aurora. “I won’t be long. You stay with King Lachlan. And you,” she pointed her finger at him, “keep a close eye on her. You’ve already managed to lose one wizard. We can’t afford to lose another.”
    His subjects, who’d been listening to their exchange, gaped at her charge. Blood rushed to Lachlan’s face. For the umpteenth time since the blasted woman had strode into his State Room, his control over his temper snapped. Lachlan never lost his