Highland Moonlight Read Online Free PDF Page B

bed proved marshy with
    only a narrow trickle of water running down the center. The horses splashed
    through, sending up clots of mud, and then bound up the bank and across
    a field.
    The open spaces allowed her to give her horse full rein. Hazarding a
    glance over her shoulder, she found the black horse trailing by only a
    length. Recognition of the man on his back urged her to panicked
    recklessness. She sawed back on the reins with such force it caused her
    horse to rear and almost fall.
    Alexander prevented the two animals from colliding as he swerved
    past with only inches to spare.
    Turning the gelding into a gully between two rock-strewn hills, she
    rode back toward the trail and the loch. On the road, the larger group
    rounded a bend behind her. She grabbed the bow secured on the saddle
    horn. Turning her mount to face the on-rushing band of horses, she aimed
    the bow above the heads of the men and loosed the bolt. They scattered for
    cover on either side of the road.
    She turned her horse and kicked it forward and nearly rode into
    Alexander, as he turned his mount to face her. Whipping past him, she
    encouraged the horse to stretch out into a full, unfettered run.
    They rushed upon a village of stone huts roofed with thatch. Geese
    and cocks, pups and goats, scattered as they wove with dangerous haste
    through the stone strewn trail curving down the valley.
    Castle Lorne perched atop the center of a narrow strip of land jutting
    out into Loch Awe. The bare limbed trees surrounding it clawed at the sides
    of the gray stone structure. She had only seconds to acknowledge the
    formidable sight before she rode to it. The gates closed against her, she
    turned her horse to the left to follow the wall of the castle seeking entrance
    elsewhere. The rock-strewn bank of the loch hugged the west wall. The
    horses pace slowed, its footing uncertain.
    Alexander’s shout behind her spurred her on. She turned the horse
    toward the loch. The bank grew steep as they approached the water. Her
    mount balked and she grabbed the crossbow and dismounted.
    The bank along the castle was purposely fortified with stones the size
    of fists or bigger. She hugged the wall as she staggered over the uneven
    terrain. Coming to a spot where the loch had eaten away the ground she
    halted and looked over her shoulder. Having dismounted, Alexander
    followed only a short distance behind. What was his intent should he catch
    her? Would he hold her prisoner until the babe came? The unrelenting
    determination she read in his features had her swinging back to study the
    problem at hand. Seeing no other solution, she stepped off the bank and
    immediately plunged hip deep into the icy water. She caught her breath and
    scrambled to reach the other side of the depression.
    The saturated woolen tartan about her hips and thighs seemed too
    heavy a weight as she dragged herself free and stumbled up a knoll of
    ground to the dock at the back of the castle. She found her way blocked on
    the left by two clansmen as Alexander stalked toward her from the right.
    Mary quickly spanned the crossbow and raised the weapon to ward
    them off bracing her back against the steps. “Stay back.”
    He halted only a few paces from her. His wet trews clung to his
    muscular thighs and calves and outlined the bulge of his manhood.
    “I demand to speak to the Laird of this castle!” Her voice, shaking from
    cold, sounded breathless and weak.
    “And what would a lass dressed in such a fashion have to speak of to
    me?” A deep voice demanded from behind her.
    Shifting around the steps to the dock until the stone supports of the
    structure stood at her back, she glanced at man who had spoken. She
    caught her breath at the striking resemblance between father and son.
    Though heavier than Alexander, John Campbell had the same tall,
    muscular build. His deep chestnut hair, sprinkled liberally at his temples
    with white, lay in waves against his head and brushed the collar of his