When Highland Lightning Strikes by Willa Blair Read Free Book Online Page B

conflagration in moments. He couldn’t stop caressing her lips with his. When a soft moan escaped her, her lips parting on a breath and giving him access to her mouth, he tilted his head and answered, wanting more, needing to possess this woman. At first, he fought his urge to plunder, going slowly, giving her a chance to naysay his tongue’s sensual assault. Then she clutched his shirt and Angus lost all reserve. He nipped, he tasted every sweet morsel of her mouth, he inhaled her breath and gave back his own. Shona matched him, touch for heady touch, taste for succulent taste. When her fingers traced fire along his neck and threaded into his hair, Angus came to his senses. Fully aware of her allure and its undeniable effect on him, he broke the kiss. As she softly cried out her dissent, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his side and tucking her head under his chin. He inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. In that moment, a longing awoke in him to take a bride and make a new family for himself. With Shona? He ruffled her hair with his chin. She, or her uncle and Colin, were planting ideas in his head.
    Her hair hid her expression, but her body stayed pressed tightly to his as she toyed with the flower. One of them would have to end this, and as much as he did not wish to set her from him, he had to. They did not know each other well enough for him to take any further advantage, and he had no doubt she only sought the comfort he offered, nothing more.
    “I willna agree to leave MacAnalen,” he finally said, causing her to lift her face, her wide eyes hinting at the effect his words had on her. Too much hope shone there. “Though Colin can force such a thing, I’ll do my best to talk him out of it if he tries. But I wonder, why are ye so set against becoming the clan’s Lady?” Shona stiffened in his arms. “Colin is no’ that much older than me,” he continued. “He can be argumentative, I’ll grant ye, but ye dinna…”
    Shona pulled away from him and crushed the primrose in her fist. She stared off into the distance, her expression suddenly closed off, her narrowed eyes reflecting the pain behind her next words. “The chief and his family were the first ones the invaders killed,” she told him in a voice gone monotone. “We were a village of farmers, no’ fighters. They killed most of the men, raped the women, burned everything—our homes, the fields. A few escaped into the woods and stayed hidden until the invaders moved on. I was in the woods, searching for herbs, when they came. I heard the screams, so I hid, too.”
    “Ach, lass.”
    “I wish I couldha’ done something to stop it.”
    MacAnalen had suffered similar treatment, though with more survivors. The clan could defend itself, and had strong allies to call upon. But thinking about those days, about his brother’s death, still saddened Angus. He took a deep breath, reluctant to tell their story, but knowing she needed to hear it.
    “After the lowlander army defeated us, a Lathan patrol wounded their leader, which is the only reason so many of us are still alive,” he told her. “He had no chance to order us killed. His men feared him so greatly, they would do naught without his order. The Lathans came looking for their laird, who’d been captured with us, and they set us all free. We hid. We harried the invaders when we could while they lay siege to the Lathan stronghold.”
    “How did ye defeat them?”
    “In a trial by combat between the Lathan and their chief. Toran killed him.”
    “Where was the MacAnalen laird?”
    He took her fist and stroked his thumb over the back, soothing himself as much as the lass. Her fingers uncurled, dislodging the crumpled flower into her lap.
    “A few days before it all ended, we’d found my brother, our chief, on the shore of the loch, half drowned, nearly dead. Craig, our healer, tried, but couldna rouse him. A healer came with the invaders who had…special…talents, or so