Taming a Highland Devil by Kimberly Killion Read Free Book Online Page B

hand to his mouth and brushed his lips over her palm. “Did your husband no longer find ye desirable?”
    She didn’t want to answer his question. She didn’t want the warmth of their union tainted by the memory of Gavin’s infidelity.
    “Effie?” The man was damned impatient.
    She attempted to separate herself from him, but he held fast to her hips. “I dinnae want secrets between us.”
    Effie only stared at him.
    “Was your husband auld when ye wed? Was he good to ye? Did he pamper ye with gifts?”
    “Why do ye want to know all of this?”
    “Because I’m competing with his memory.”
    Effie blew a breath and settled back atop him. “I was verra young when we wed, barely fifteen winters. Gavin was my father’s seneschal, and I was given to him as a gift for his loyalty. He was twelve years my senior, but we were a good match,” she admitted, remembering a time when she’d been proud to be Gavin’s wife.
    “Did ye love him?”
    “I loved him verra much.” Unshed tears burned her eyes, sorrow tightened her throat. “I was faithful to him. Then he strayed from our marriage bed while I was carrying Leena.” A memory flashed through her mind’s eye—Besse, blonde and beautiful, lay over a barrel in the armory, her skirts balled atop her back while Gavin took her from behind. “I blamed myself for not holding his attention. I was sick with guilt and jealousy and anger. ’Tis why Leena came early.”
    Effie suspected the day she held Leena’s small lifeless body was the day vengeance took hold of her heart. “I blamed him for our daughter’s death and he begged for my forgiveness.” A tear slipped over her nose as the memories filled her head. “I will always regret not giving it to him.”
    “Because of the babe?”
    “Aye, and because of what I did after that.”
    “Go on,” he prodded her when she held silent.
    “Gavin begged me not to tell my father, but at the time, I felt betrayed and wanted to see him pay. I wanted to see them both pay.”
    “The woman too?”
    Effie nodded against his chest. “The woman’s name was Besse. She was my father’s second wife, Vanna’s mother. Da ousted her from the clan and sent Gavin to the border after I exposed their affair.” Her tears came fast and hard. They rolled over her nose and dripped onto his chest. The guilt had never felt so raw. “My son went with him and they both died in a raid.”
    “Ye are not to blame for their death.” He hugged her tight.
    Her bitterness killed them. Her inability to forgive was the reason she no longer had bairns to hold. She sobbed against his chest until the emotions dried themselves out.
    Magnus rolled her to her side and wiped her cheeks. “I need to know if ye changed your mind because ye hold your sister responsible for her mother’s transgressions?”
    Effie shook her head, but even she could admit there was a morsel of truth to his statement. Though Vanna bore no resemblance to Besse, she was a constant reminder of how much Effie had lost. “I’m here because I no longer wish to be alone. I want a husband and a family. I want to start anew.”
    Magnus pulled her mouth to his and kissed her with a passion that made her believe he could give her what she wanted. He made love to her until dawn slipped its lighted fingers between the furs covering the window slits, then he tucked her into the curve of his body and allowed her to dream of the life he promised her.
    A thunderous pounding on the door jarred her awake hours later. “Maggie! ’Tis bluidy noontide!”
    Who in the bleating hell is that? Exhausted, Effie reached behind her to wake Magnus, but the bed was empty.

    Effie bolted out of warm covers and tottered on unsteady legs. Her aching body protested her attempts to dress while the woman on the other side of the door continued to shout demands at the top of her lungs.
    Effie pushed wild red locks from her face and tried to control a temper that was quickly rising. She was ready to cut the