The Eternal Highlander by Lynsay Sands, Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online Page B

her.
    Inwardly cursing, Bridget turned to face Cathal. “I have decided ’tis time for me to continue on my journey.”
    “And ye decided ye had to do it now? Right now? Without most of your belongings?”
    “Aye. I got to thinking—”
    “A dangerous thing for a lass to do. Ow!” Jankyn rubbed his stomach where Bridget had just hit him with her sack of belongings, and grinned at her.
    “Why are ye nay out with the others, howling at the moon?”
    “At least I am nay dancing beneath it.” He laughed when she blushed.
    “Ye were watching me?”
    “I heard ye singing.”
    “That was so rude.” If he had been drawn by her singing then he could not have seen her naked, Bridget mused, and relaxed. “I had left the camp to seek a few moments of privacy.”
    Cathal grasped Bridget by the arm, turning her attention back to him. “Why were ye leaving?”
    Bridget could feel the blunt truth on the tip of her tongue, but could not bring herself to speak it. It was as if she feared that, in speaking the words, the truth could no longer be ignored. That was absurd. She knew the truth. By the way the three men looked at her, they knew she had guessed all their secrets. It made no difference. She simply could not utter the dark, terrifying name aloud. In some odd, twisted way, she was actually concerned about offending them.
    “I decided I wasnae going to play your game any longer,” she replied. “I was going to my cousin’s.”
    “Alone? At night?”
    “Tis the best time for an escape.” But not here, she realized, and inwardly cursed her own stupidity. At Cambrun high noon on a sunny day would have been a better choice. “I have prepared for a visit with Barbara for months. I want to go to court, to see all the fine clothes, and to watch all the courtiers and their ladies. I want to sit down to a feast and listen to all the whispers about who is sinning with whom. I want to hear the minstrels sing and I want to dance with some fine, courtly gentlemon who will tell me all manner of sweet lies about how bonnie I am. I want—”
    A squeak of surpise and outrage escaped her when Cathal suddenly picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. The soft laughter of Jankyn and Raibeart only added to her anger over being so roughly handled. Bridget dropped her belongings and proceeded to pound her fists against his broad back. Cathal did not even flinch as he continued to take her back to her bedchamber and that, too, increased her fury. Under her breath she cursed him and his stubborness.
    “Tis nay just me who is blindly stubborn,” muttered Cathal as he entered the bedchamber and kicked the door shut behind him. “Tis ye who refuses to give up this plan to go to court. And for what? To hear empty flatteries and malicious tales?” He paused by the bed. “Undo your cloak.”
    Even as she blindly obeyed that terse command, Bridget wondered why she did so. Such quick obedience was not in her nature. She growled softly when her cloak was pulled from her and tossed to the floor. Before she could say anything, she was tossed down onto the bed. Her body was still bouncing slightly when Cathal sprawled on top of her, gently but firmly pinning her down. Bridget scowled at him, more angry than afraid, and tried not to let the beauty of his face distract her. She had a right to be angry and she would hold fast to that feeling no matter how warm and itchy he made her feel.
    “Ye are staying here,” Cathal said. “I am going to woo ye and then we will be married.”
    “Oh! What arrogance! Ye may woo me, but that doesnae necessarily mean ye will win me.”
    Bridget suspected he had some right to that arrogance for she had been softening toward him, but now she knew the truth. He was a man whose looks made her heart skip and her breath quicken. Feeling his big, lean body pressed against hers was beginning to make her feverish. To her ears, the sound of his voice was like a caress. Unfortunately, he was also a dangerous