To Catch a Highlander by Karen Hawkins Read Free Book Online Page A

worry that you don't realize the sort of man MacLean is."
    "I know enough to be cautious."
    "That's good." Red paced between the rows of dried herbs. "Angus said the man could hardly keep his eyes off you."
    "Aye," Mary said, coming into the storeroom and pulling a sack from the wall. She tugged the cord, removed an onion, and rehung the sack. "I saw the way he looked at you, too. As if he might devour ye whole, like a bread puddin'."
    The power to drive a man like MacLean wild with desire sent a dangerous thrill through Sophia, one she hadn't felt in years.
    That
was why her reaction to MacLean had been so strong. It hadn't been an answering attraction, just the thrill of controlling the passions of such an obviously powerful man.
    Of course, it wouldn't last; such hot passions rarely did. But only it had to last long enough for her to entice him into a card game. Which meant she had to keep him at a deep simmer, at arm's length, but no more…
    A pleasurable shiver raced through her. He was hot enough now to scald her fingers. That would work to her advantage, but she had to keep her wits about her more firmly than she had today. "This will work, Red, We just have to go carefully."
    He placed a hand over hers and said in a bracing voice, "Ye'll beat him, lass, fer ye've the skill. I know we'd planned to stretch the game out over several nights to drive up the stakes, but I think we'd best do the trick and get it over."
    "He may not throw the deed out the first night. He doesn't seem like a man who would let go of anything that's his."
    "Perhaps I can goad him into it. He'll not want to look foolish in front of you; no man with pride would."
    Sophia nodded slowly. "He has pride. A lot of it." She turned to Mary. "Is everything ready for this evening?"
    "Yes, miss. The pork will be salted 'til it's hard, the soup peppered and cold, the lamb burned on one side, raw on't other." Mary sighed. "It near broke my heart to treat such a good piece of meat in such a way."
    "Aye," Red said with feeling. "I watched ye do it, and it near made me cry, too."
    Sophia laughed and hugged her father. "When this is over, Mary will cook you an entire leg of mutton, perfectly roasted and seasoned."
    His eyes brightened. "With mint sauce?"
    "Aye," Mary said, beaming.
    Red sighed happily. "Thank you, Mary." He placed an arm about Sophia and walked into the hallway and up the stairs to the main floor. "Just be cautious, lass. He's a charmer. I saw the way the women looked at him in Stirling . I don't wish to see you moping about the house, going into a decline after he's gone," Red teased.
    "If I have a house when this is over, I shall be far too happy to mope," she returned with asperity.
    Red chuckled, opening the door to the foyer. "That's my lass. I don't know what I was worried about; you'll never lose your heart."
    Something about Red's certainty gave her pause. "Are you suggesting that I'm cold-hearted?"
    "Nay, never think it. I only meant that you're less emotional than most women, and—" He blinked at her expression. "Don't look like that—I didn't mean to upset ye."
    She forced a smile. "Of course not." Still, a niggling worry pressed against her chest. It was true she'd never come close to losing her heart before, yet her contact with eligible suitors had been limited, since MacFarlane House was out in the middle of the Scottish countryside.
    Then again, she probably wouldn't have come into contact with many eligible suitors if she'd been traveling the inns and taverns of Europe , either.
    Red patted her shoulder, worry in his gaze. "Lass, I didn't think o' what I was saying. You've too much of your mother in you to be anything but passionate."
    Reassured, Sophia smiled. "Mama was passionate about many things, wasn't she?"
    "Och, your mother was a woman like no other. Logical and capable on one hand, yet on the other—" He stopped.
    "On the other?"
    "Nothing, lass. Just speaking off the top o' me head again."
    "My," she