Desiring the Highlander Read Online Free PDF Page B

audacity. Framed in deep brown lashes, eyes too large for her face were tight with strain and lack of sleep. A sudden gust of wind whipped at her clothing and hair. The few brown tendrils not tied in unwashed knots danced across her face, but she refused to brush them away.
    Whatever game she was playing, she had been playing it for a long time. The woman was many things, but she was not crazy. She was as sane as he and every other person present.
    Cole glanced at Donald, who was staring wide-eyed at the woman’s back. The look in her eyes when she had been dragged between them had been borderline maniacal.
    Believing her act to be true, Donald shifted his gaze to the baron. “What have you done to this woman?”
    The moment Donald spoke, the female hissed and leaped to attack, but before she could inflict injury, Cole reached down and grabbed her hands firmly but not painfully in his grasp. She thrashed only for a moment and then stopped. With his long arm outstretched, she could not reach him or his horse with her kicks. Her jaw tightened, and she flicked him an icy look that he suspected could chill many a man. But her quick acceptance of the situation reinforced Cole’s suspicions.
    “No one did anything to her,” Ainsley answered and threw a bag to Donald, who easily caught the bulky item. “She is my wife’s younger sister. After her father’s death, she became deranged. No one knows why. Those are her things, at least the ones my wife tells me were important to her at one time.” Swallowing, Ainsley wiped his hands on his tunic and said, “Good-bye, Ellenor. Gilda would be here to wish you well, but I thought it would be too hard on her. She does love you.”
    Cole watched the woman’s eyes narrow with fury before she spat on the ground. No, madness did not swirl in those large hazel depths—hatred did.
    For several seconds, Cole observed in hidden amusement as she threw rapier glances at the baron, causing him to shrink under her stare. Then, she turned her eyes toward him, assessing him as if he were a new challenge. “Leave, Scot, while you can. For you don’t want me. No man does.”
    Without breaking his gaze, Cole reached behind him and yanked free the leather strip that had been holding back his hair. He wrapped it around her wrists. “Aye, in that you are right.”
    The woman’s expression turned to one of outrage as he cinched the knot. In one smooth upward movement, she attempted to crack her fists against his jaw, but Cole was far more agile than she had anticipated.
    “Damn you,” she hissed.
    Cole captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger, raising it. “Can’t condemn a man who has already been damned. And know this now, babag , I hit back.”
    Her defiant eyes glittered with anger, and for an instant, Cole felt his pulse race. She wasn’t afraid of him. It was rare to look a woman in the eye and not see the urge to flee reflected back at him. There was a significant amount of fear churning in the dark green depths, but he was not its cause.
    He abruptly released his hold and she lost her footing. With her hands bound, she could not reach out and soften her landing. Donald instinctively grabbed her shoulders and tried to help her stand upright again. The second he touched her, she started screaming and jerking wildly. The more she thrashed, the tighter Donald’s grip became.
    Cole nodded to Donald, who hesitated for a moment and then let go. The instant she was free, she turned and nailed Donald in the groin, and then flew to Cole’s side like a wild creature seeking refuge.
    Donald grabbed his horse’s mane to keep from keeling over in agony. “Insane bitch,” he grunted, “you will pay for that mistake.”
    Stupefied that any woman would attack a man twice her size, Jaime nodded in agreement and then added, “Starting with being tied to the back of my horse.”
    Cole signaled Jaime to remain seated. Couldn’t either of them see she was terrified? And now Cole knew