Highlander's Reckoning (The Sinclair Brothers #3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

sure if he was the type of
man to use force against a woman.
    “I’ll not harm you, lass. But as your future husband
and the keeper of this castle, I demand respect for my authority.”
    “Isn’t that the difficulty with respect, though? You
cannot demand it. It can only be earned,” she retorted.
    He felt his teeth clench at her sharp words. “So you
refuse to tell me where you have been for the last several hours and why you
have arrived looking like a bedraggled servant rather than the daughter of a
Laird and the future wife of the keeper of Loch Doon?”
    Her head jerked down, seeming to only now realize
that her gown was coarse and simple, and that mud spattered her boots and her
wool hem. But perhaps he shouldn’t have taken aim at her appearance, for
instead of a cold fire in her eyes, she looked up at him with horror and
embarrassment.
    “I’m sorry my appearance displeases you, my lord ,”
she said, but her sharpness was gone, to be replaced with a brittleness that
belied her fragility.
    Bloody hell, what a start they were making.
    To try to get things on the right track, he made a
show of looking down at his own muddied, disheveled clothes.
    “Perhaps we could both use a bath and a night of
sleep before we discuss this further.”
    A look of surprise, swiftly followed by panic,
transformed her face. She thought he was proposing they bathe and sleep
together.
    “Separately, of course,” he said quickly.
    His words seemed to both soothe her alarm and cool
her temper.
    “Very well, my lord,” she said with a conciliatory
nod. She turned toward the stairs leading to the chambers above, but before she
took a step, he extended his arm to her.
    He wasn’t sure why he did it. Partly it seemed like
a husbandly thing to do and would help to further smooth things between them.
But he also couldn’t deny that he was curious to feel her slim, white hand
resting on his.
    She hesitated for a moment, looking between his
outstretched arm and his face warily. Finally, she slipped her arm through his,
placing her fingers on top of his hand lightly. She allowed him to guide her
toward the spiraling stairs and begin their ascent.
    They arrived at his chamber first, and before he
could take her hand in his, she had pulled away.
    “Good night, my lord,” she said, averting her eyes.
She didn’t wait for him to respond. Instead, she dashed farther up the stairs
toward her own chamber.
    Once he had closed the chamber door behind him, he
let his mind puzzle out the strange events of the day—and Rona Kennedy, most
strange of all.
    The maid Agnes had sent a bathing tub and water
before the evening meal. The water had long since grown cold, but Daniel disrobed
and bathed anyway. He hoped the cold water would help clear his mind, but
instead the memory of Rona’s eyes, bright as a cloudless summer day, kept
creeping back to him.
    At least she was fair of face and form, he thought,
but instead of the sour dissatisfaction he tried to muster, his body felt
heated at the images of her floating in his mind.
    As he dried himself off and stepped toward the large
bed, he forced his thoughts from the lass’s looks. Although he was grateful to
the Bruce for bestowing upon him the honor of running Loch Doon and for
ordering him to wed a woman who stirred his lust, he silently cursed his King
for sending him into such a tangled mess.
    Laird Kennedy would likely have to be sent away,
lest the castle and the village become divided in their loyalties. Speaking of
loyalty, he would have to make it clear to both the Scottish residents and the
English who so often lurked in the Lowlands that Loch Doon was firmly in the
service of the Bruce and the cause for independence.
    And something must be done about Rona, though he
didn’t know what. He simply couldn’t have his soon-to-be wife disappearing and
refusing to explain herself. Normally he wouldn’t have permitted anyone to
speak to him so sharply and with such abandon, but Rona’s