Claiming the Highlander Read Online Free PDF

sure, and he knew it.
    She took a moment to savor her victory.
    But a moment was all she had, for in the next minute a scream rent the air.
    “Maggie, come quick!”
    She left the front gate open and rushed through the kirk yard toward the back gate, where the scream had originated. She reached the small courtyard in time to see one of the women, Bridget, being accosted by her bear of a husband. The man fairly dwarfed the petite blonde, who was doing her best to resist being pulled out the gate.
    There were several women standing about, but none moved to help. Maggie couldn’t understand how they could just stand there and do nothing.
    “I’ve had enough of this, woman,” Fergus said as he twisted his grip on Bridget’s arm.
    “Nay, Fergus, I’ll not go home with you.” Bridget tried to loosen his grip, but he held fast.
    “I’ll be taking no more disobedience from you,” he snarled, then backhanded her.
    Bridget fell away, sobbing, but the grip on her arm kept her from hitting the ground. Fergus snatched at her, hauling her once more toward the gate.
    Maggie shrieked in outrage. Without thought to her own safety, she launched herself at the oaf and knocked him away from Bridget.
    Releasing Bridget, who instantly crumpled to the ground, Fergus stumbled back only a few steps. Maggie, on the other hand, collided with his massive chest and fell backward, hitting the ground dazed as if she had just bounced off a wall.
    She quickly pushed herself to her feet and moved to face the man, who stood a full head and shoulders above her. Her own shoulder throbbed and her heart pounded in fear. The man really was tall. Much, much taller than she. And about twice as wide.
    Still, Maggie would never stand by and watch someone be hurt. Not if she stood even a tiny chance of helping. “You leave her be,” Maggie warned.
    Fergus drew back to hit her.
    Maggie tensed in expectation of the blow, butbefore his hand could make contact with her face, his arm was grabbed and he was spun about.
    Braden held Fergus by the front of his saffron shirt, and the fury on Braden’s face would have quelled an ogre’s wrath. “If you want to take issue with the women, Fergus, you’ll have to come through me to do it. I’ll not have you abuse a woman in such a fashion so long as I breathe.”
    Fergus curled his lip as he shoved Braden away from him. “Bridget be my wife. I’ll do with her as I please.” He made a move for Bridget, who was now on the ground crying uncontrollably while Pegeen and two others held on to her.
    Braden and the Englishman stepped between the two of them. Their spines rigid, it was obvious they were ready to fight Fergus if he made another move toward his wife.
    “You should take better care of your wife,” Braden said. “If you treated her more kindly, she probably wouldn’t have locked herself up with the others.”
    Fergus snorted in derision. “What would you know of it?”
    Braden’s gaze hardened and sent a chill of foreboding up Maggie’s spine. “I know enough to take a stick to your arse if you don’t heed my words. Now get yourself home before I yield to that temptation.”
    Fergus’s nostrils flared. He glared heatedly into Braden’s cold, deadly gaze.
    For a moment Maggie feared he would pushBraden into the fight, but he must have come to his senses, for he looked from Braden to the other three men.
    Fergus’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Very well, I’ll return home, but she’d best be getting herself there afore much longer.”
    Fergus took a step away.
    “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Braden asked.
    Fergus turned around with a frown. “Forgetting what?”
    “You owe your wife an apology,” the Englishman said before Braden could.
    His jaw tense, Fergus glared at the men. As his gaze swept over Ewan, Braden, Lochlan and the Englishman, he realized he’d have to fight them all unless he complied. Straightening his shirt with a tug, he looked to Bridget.
    Maggie saw the