The Highlander Takes a Bride

“The wound on her back is closer to her arm than ’tis on her front,” he explained.

“I am surprised ye’re willing to show me the passage,” Saidh commented quietly as she followed him. “I thought ye did no’ approve o’ me fer yer laird’s wife.”
“ ’S truth, I did no’,” Alpin admitted in a wry little voice. “But I’ve change me mind.”
“Ha’e ye?” she asked with interest. “Why? I’m still no much o’ a lady. I curse and carry a sword and ha’e a filthy temper.”
“Aye, but so does me laird,” he said on a sigh, and then added, “But I think me laird loves ye

At first, he thought mayhap she’d tumbled from her mare, but then he spotted the arrow sticking out of her side as he dropped to his knees beside her and his heart nearly fell out of his chest. It certainly felt as if it dropped down to somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach.
“Saidh?” he barked, grasping her shoulders and raising her upper body off the ground. Her head lolled backward, hair trailing on the dirt, but she released a small moan too and Greer could have wept at this sign that she still lived

“And Laird MacDonnell?” Saidh asked, trying not to sound too eager.
“Oh, he seemed fine and fit this morn,” Joyce assured her. “Ha’e no’ seen the man smile so wide since he got here

“Nay. That is the end o’ the story. I win,” she insisted as he carried her across the room.
“It may be the end o’ me aunt’s story, but ’tis just the beginning o’ ours,” he assured her as he set her to sit on the end of the bed

own and asked, “Just how old are ye, Alpin?”
“Nine,” he said proudly

“Good,” he murmured, running one hand lazily down her back and wondering what the meaning was behind what he’d just done. Greer was not the sort to find his pleasure and leave a woman with none. He always ensured his lovers enjoyed whatever time they spent with him. But this was the first time he’d sought to give a woman pleasure without seeking his own too. Especially when he wanted her so badly that his whole body ached rather than just his balls. She was a lady, of course, which made that impossible . . . so why had he done what he had instead of leaving her to deal with her frustration in her own way

“Hmmm,” she muttered, easing down another branch. “Ye act ninety.”
“Laird MacDonnell says the same thing,” Alpin announced with disgust.
“Then we are in agreement,” Saidh said cheerfully, easing down another branch.
“I suspect the two o’ ye would agree on a lot o’ things,” Alpin said sounding annoyed.
“I suspect yer right,” Saidh said with a laugh and jumped to the ground. She took a moment to brush her hands together, then released her skirt from where she’d caught it up and stuck it through her belt for the climb, then beamed at the boy and said, “Is that no’ nice?”
“Nay,” Alpin assured her heavily. “I’m thinking ’tis a bad thing.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Why is that?”
“Because ye both just go about doing as ye wish with little regard fer how a laird or lady should behave,” he said firmly. “Someone needs to take the two o’ ye in hand and teach ye

Greer started to back up then to make enough room for her to remove his plaid, but paused as he bumped into her mare and it whickered gently. The sound made him blink in surprise. He’d quite forgotten where they were, and he didn’t recall doing it, but had turned her against the stall door so that his back was to her mare.
Another tug drew his gaze to see that she was working at the pin at his shoulder that held his plaid in place and he quickly covered her eager fingers. “No’ here.”
“What?” She frowned with incomprehension. “But I want—­what are ye doing?”
Greer grinned at her scowl as he pulled her gown back over her shoulders and began to do up her lacings. “The stable master could come back at any moment.”
“What? Oh.” He could tell by her expression that she too had forgotten where they were and the knowledge pleased him greatly. At least he was not alone in the effect they had on each other

Saidh definitely was not like other women, he reminded himself. And he liked that about her. A lot.
Smiling, he slid his hand around her neck to cup her head, then lowered his mouth to cover hers in what he’d intended to be a gentle caress. But when Saidh immediately slid her arms around his waist, pressed closer and let her mouth open to welcome him, he forgot his intentions and went a little mad.