When a Laird Loves a Lady (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 1) by Julie Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page A

Marion,
by orders of yer king.”
    Beside him, Marion stiffened, but
he could not chance looking at her to see her face and being distracted.
    “You sniveling, lying swine,”
Froste bellowed. “I’ll see you dead before I let you take Marion anywhere.”
    “And I’ll see ye quiet,” Iain
growled. He rushed forward as Rory Mac came at Froste from the side. Rory Mac
knocked the sword out of the unsuspecting knight’s hands, and Iain shoved his
open palm into the man’s throat. Froste doubled over, gasping. Iain pulled
Marion to him, shifted her behind him, and kicked his foot into Froste’s
stomach to send him sprawling onto his back. Iain placed his boot on the man’s
heaving chest and his sword at the knight’s throat.
    “I’ve a good mind to kill ye,” Iain
said.
    Suddenly, a very soft, warm body
pressed against his back. “You mustn’t kill unless your life is at stake,”
Marion scolded. “He’s no threat presently.”
    Marion’s warm breath tickled the
back of his neck and made him shudder. No woman other than his late wife had
ever made him react so. He frowned, as much at his response to her as to the
fact that she was right about sparing Froste. He could ensure the knight did
not follow them, if Froste was intent upon doing so, without killing him.
    “Put him to sleep,” Iain told Rory
Mac, who grinned in answer.
    Froste jerked, as if to stop
whatever was coming, but Iain simply reminded him of his deadly situation by
pressing his sword against the man’s windpipe. Froste stilled, glaring at Iain,
but when Rory Mac hit him on the side of the head with the hilt of his sword
and Froste’s head lolled sideways, the glare vanished, much to Iain’s
satisfaction. Iain removed his foot from Froste’s chest and looked around him.
Rory Mac had felled two of the man’s knights, and Iain had dispatched the
other.
    Behind Marion, the Scot on the
ground still lay motionless. “Who is that?” Iain demanded, pointing at the man.
    Marion narrowed her eyes, which
were as green as the lush rolling hills of the Highlands in the summer. “Who
are you to make demands of me?”
    “I already told ye, I’m to wed ye
by orders of yer king.”
    “You did not tell me ,” she
bit out. “You bellowed it at Froste. And forgive me if I don’t readily believe
you. I need proof.”
    Iain produced the decree stamped by
King Edward’s ring and signature. Her eyes widened considerably as she read it.
“But why? Does this have to do with the negotiations you mentioned?” She
sounded angry. He supposed he couldn’t blame her, being traded from one man to
another as she had been.
    “Because,” he said gently,
considering how much he should tell her and deciding to be as truthful as he
could. He would tell her the remainder when he knew he could trust her. At the
moment, he didn’t even know how she had arrived here. Had she feigned her
drowning? It seemed likely. “King Edward wants to seal a bargain between
himself, David, and me.”
    Her brows dipped together. “What
sort of bargain involves me?” she asked obstinately.
    He sighed. “I’ll tell ye all when
we are safely on the way to Scotland.”
    “I’m not moving until you tell me,”
she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
    Iain shared a look with Rory Mac,
who gave a nod of understanding. With one swift motion, Iain picked Marion up,
snatched her bloody dagger out of her hands, and slung her over his shoulder.
His future wife bellowed as she beat her fists against his back. Iain took a
long approving look at her perfectly formed bottom. He may not want a wife with
his head or heart, but his body certainly responded to Marion’s. He ground his
teeth and caught Rory Mac studying him. Iain glared at his friend while handing
the dagger to him. “Keep this until the Sassenach does nae want to use it on
me.”
    Rory Mac grunted. “I may have it
forever, then,” the Scot teased as he strode toward the man who’d been lying on
the ground, his face in