How to Abduct a Highland Lord Read Online Free PDF Page A

against the wall and splintered into a dozen pieces.
     
     Jack raised his fists and—
     
     Fiona shoved him back, the edge of the bed catching him behind the knees and sending him thudding to the mattress. The distant rumble of thunder echoed.
     
     “That is enough!” Fiona snapped, her eyes sparkling with anger. “Hamish, leave us! Kincaid and I must speak.”
     
     “I’m not leavin’ ye with the likes of Black Jack Kincaid!”
     
     “If I need you, I will call,” Fiona said firmly.
     
     The Scotsman didn’t look convinced. “I don’t—”
     
     “Hamish,” she said in a quiet tone. “Go.”
     
     Jack raised his brows, distracted from his own irritation by the strength of the rebuke in her voice.
     
     Hamish must have heard it as well, for he flushed a deep red, then turned to the door. “I will be in the hallway.” He paused to lock gazes with Jack. “I can be back in here in a trice.”
     
     Fiona nodded. “That won’t be necessary.”
     
     The Scotsman grunted his disbelief but obediently left, closing the door behind him.
     
     Fiona had changed, after all. There was some steel to her now, a determination he’d never seen before. For some reason, that made him more uneasy than facing Hamish.
     
     Still, Fiona MacLean was responsible for this mess. Jack did not deserve to be punished for the sins of his less-than-loving family. Hell, he didn’t deserve any of this. Jaw tight, he turned to his enemy. “Fiona, I will never accept this marriage.”
     
     Fiona fought to hold on to her tenuous control. She’d known Jack would be angry, but nothing had prepared her for the rage burning in his gaze. Her shoulders still ached where he’d gripped them, and she shivered from the cold fury in his face. “Jack, please. You must accept this.”
     
     “Why?”
     
     Slowly, she placed her hand upon her stomach. “Because I have told everyone I am carrying your child.”
     
     He stepped back. “You didwhat ?”
     
     “I sent word to both of our families that I was with child and that was why we’d married.”
     
     He blinked.
     
     “That’s the only reason Father MacCanney agreed to wed us. He thought I was carrying your child.”
     
     “You bloodybitch. ”
     
     She winced. She deserved that, she supposed. “Kincaid, I would not have involved you if I’d had any other choice. The feud—”
     
     “The feud is nothing more than squabbles over boundary lines and livestock.”
     
     “No, now it’s different. Callum died. If something is not done, and quickly, neither of us will have a moment’s peace for the rest of our lives. We’ll be too busy tending graves to enjoy anything.”
     
     Jack’s expression darkened. He spun on his heel, took a quick step toward the wall, then halted. He turned back to fix a cold blue stare upon her. “You really believe your brothers would do something rash.”
     
     She thought of her brothers’ expressions when she’d last seen them—the hatred and anger. “Yes,” she said, her voice barely audible. “They will seek vengeance. And they will succeed. Then their actions will be answered. If not by your father, then a cousin or an ally. You know how it is done.”
     
     He nodded abruptly. “Aye. I do know.” Jack raked a hand through his hair, wincing when he touched a tender spot over one ear. “And so it will begin.” He crossed to the window. “Does my father know of all this? Of your brothers’ vow for vengeance?”
     
     “I wrote to him and told him everything.”
     
     He turned, his face in the shadows. “You told him that you planned to capture me? To force me to marry?”
     
     She bit her lip. “Not that part, no.”
     
     “Of course not.”
     
     She sighed, her knees a little weak. It had been such a long week, filled with sadness and emotion. “I told my brothers the same thing: that I was with child and you were the father.”
     
     Jack leaned a shoulder against the bedpost