Highlander's Ransom Read Online Free PDF Page A

their
attack, and Robert doubted that the man would take it well. He and his men
would have to travel hard back to Sinclair land. They were still within reach
of Warren’s holding, and would be for several hours of hard riding. Hopefully
the relatively mild weather would hold and they would only have to deal with
rain and mud, not snow. The going would probably be tougher with the lass
along, though. Despite the fact that she had put up a hell of a fight, she was
a lady, and wouldn’t be used to such conditions. She appeared rather fragile as
well—or, perhaps that was the wrong word. Robert shifted his eyes to one of the
legs that was plastered against his, down to her small slippered foot bobbing
in front of his booted one in the stirrup. She was lithe, slim. Her bones were
delicate, but she had shown real grit in her attempted flight from him. He
frowned at her foot again. She was dresses all wrong for the travel they would
be doing. Those house slippers were already torn and soggy. He could only
imagine how frozen her toes must be. He glanced at the brown material of her dress,
which poked out from her cloak. It was finely made, but too thin for the
outdoors in winter. It was also not particularly showy. It looked like Hewett’s
daughter was also subject to his tight-fistedness, despite the alliance her
existence allowed him to make with Warren.
    Perhaps the man didn’t think much of her now that the
arrangements had been made. Her cloak, at least, was stout wool with fur
lining, but probably wouldn’t be enough at night, especially if she were
sleeping on the ground. He couldn’t allow himself to think she was too foolish,
though, for she had surely had no idea when she departed (probably this
morning, if his memory of the location of the Hewett holding served) that she
would be kidnapped and spirited off to the Highlands to serve as a bargaining
chip in a war that she likely knew nothing about. Shock probably still
enveloped her for now, but Robert would have to keep an eye on her when it
started to wear off to make sure she didn’t freeze to death.
    He sensed the tension in her as she tried to keep
herself rigid and separate from his body. That was difficult, given their
position. He could feel the curvature of her body from her slim shoulders to
the slight scoop in her lower back, and farther down, the softness of her
bottom against his inner thighs—and groin. He had also noticed the way her
waist curved inward pleasingly. The insides of his forearms brushed her sides
so that he could reach the reins. A vision of her face came to him, her high
cheekbones giving her a regal look, while her large grey eyes revealed both
fear and strength. Before he had clapped a hand over her mouth, he had also
caught a glimpse of full, rosy lips. And now, her long, soft brown hair,
tumbled and loose, was only inches in front of him at nose-level. Giving
himself an inward shake, he tried to analyze her looks from a distance. Aye,
she was a beauty, but that would only help him wield her against Warren and
Hewett.
    He refocused himself on the task at hand. He and his
men would have to travel hard to reach the Highlands and avoid being trailed.
He could only hope that this lass, this Alwin , wouldn’t cause too much
trouble.
     
    Alwin fought against exhaustion, trying to stay
upright. Although she had been too frightened at first to pay much attention to
her surroundings or how much time had passed as they rode, she had slowly begun
to come down from her panicked state. As she did, she began to chew on what was
to become of her in these men’s hands. It seemed unlikely that they would kill
her now; if they had wanted her dead, at least initially, they would have
killed her back at the road. Likely, they wanted to ransom her, but she wasn’t
sure if it was to her father or Lord Warren. She also didn’t trust that they
wouldn’t still harm her. As her captor had said, he made no promises regarding
her safety if she resisted.