Taming the Heiress by Susan King Read Free Book Online Page B

holiday home for her. A place of respite and rest."
    "She does keep to herself, your baroness. I cannot gain any time with her, despite our correspondence."
    "I have heard that your exchanges are not amiable."
    "Sometimes. Well, if I cannot meet her here, perhaps you will convey a message to her from me. Though I wager Lady Strathlin is heartily sick of messages from me," he added wryly.
    She was looking up. The soft light caught the curve of her cheek, and her eyes grew wide.
    "Oh, look!" she cried, pointing out to sea. Dougal turned.
    A pale green arc bloomed on the horizon and expanded, exploding in sudden swaths of light and color. Pink and green swirled overhead, flinging out like silken veils. Dougal watched, entranced. Without thinking, he lifted a hand to take her elbow again, a gentlemanly gesture, yet he wanted simply to touch her, to watch the miraculous flare in the sky with her.
    "So beautiful," she breathed.
    "Aye," he agreed. "The aurora borealis."
    "The Merry Men, we call the northern lights here."
    He smiled. "In the old days, I hear, the lights were believed to be gigantic supernatural warriors—especially when the sky flowed red as if from blood." He had read it somewhere.
    "When I was a child, I thought they were angels in heaven," she mused, watching the sinuous dance of colored lights.
    "I have seen them before," he said, "but never so lovely."
    She nodded, smiling. Lambent color suffused her, gave her a graceful glow. Dougal wanted suddenly to glide his fingertips over her creamy skin, through her silken curls. She felt so familiar and dear, yet a stranger, cool, distant.
    "The colors are pale this time," she said. "They are often quite brilliant when the Merry Men go dancing."
    "The sky is not dark. Wait until fall or winter."
    "Will you still be on Caransay then?" she asked.
    "Perhaps. If so, come back—we will walk out to look for the lights then, when it is dark and the colors brilliant."
    She stared up at the magical glow, and Dougal thought, then, of the rainy shadow of a cave and the pink dawn light that had glowed over this girl's face. He remembered, too, how she had felt, drenched and shivering, in his arms. His body pulsed.
    He stepped closer, motion following thought, and she tilted her head to look at him. "Tell me," he said gruffly, "that we have met before."
    "I—" She paused, would not meet his eyes.
    "Tell me," he insisted. "Were you there that night, on the rock? Or did I dream it?"
    He saw the flash of understanding in her eyes. She only watched the sky, but her silence seemed a clear admission.
    "My God," he breathed. "It was you." Taking her shoulder, he leaned down. Sliding his hand along her cheek, he dipped his head, nuzzled close enough to kiss her, overwhelmed by desire.
    She stiffened in his arms, but leaned her head back, closed her eyes. Silent, still, she seemed to wait. Tipping his head, Dougal kissed her mouth gently, felt his soul whirl.
    Her lips softened beneath his, her fingers clutched at his shirt. He felt her sway against him, felt a moment of surrender in her. Sliding his hand to the back of her waist, he deepened the kiss.
    A force poured through him, relief, joy, shaking free the years of need, of searching for something that he could not define. He had found her. She was real. One loss in his life had been restored to him, and it felt like a miracle.
    Her hand came up to his jaw, her breath warmed his mouth. He sensed a hunger in her that matched his own, and he felt her need, as deep and sincere as his. He wanted to hold her, cherish her, heal her reluctance, ease the hurt he had caused years back.
    She moaned a breathy protest and seemed to wake from the same heated fog that held him captive. Pushing at his chest, she stepped back. Then her hand lashed upward to crack across his cheek, whip-sharp.
    "What the devil—"
    She whirled and hurried down the sandy slope, breaking into a run as she headed toward the croft house.
    Dougal watched her, palm nursing