How to Marry a Highlander Read Online Free PDF Page A

for one of your sisters? Would you kiss me in return for that?”
    “Ma family’s business is none o’ yours to meddle in, miss.”
    “That is no doubt true. But what if in the course of regular social engagements I happened to introduce a suitable gentleman to one of your sisters and she subsequently became betrothed? Then I would not precisely be meddling, would I?”
    He scanned her upturned face. “Yer mad as a hatter.”
    “Not really.” Only desperate and somewhat infatuated. “Would you?”
    A rumble of laughter sounded deep in his chest. “Aye.”
    “You agree to it?”
    “I’ve just said so.”
    She should immediately dash away and begin planning. Diantha and her husband knew plenty of men in town, some of them noblemen. It could not be too difficult to find one who would take an interest in the sister of a Scottish earl, even a poor one. At least three of the Eads ladies were pretty, and one was stunning.
    “All right then.” She turned toward the door then paused. “What if I find husbands for three of them?” An advantage not pressed was an advantage lost forever. “Would you marry me then?”
    “No.”
    “I could do it.” She could? She would.
    “Ye willna.”
    “How do you know that? I have an extensive acquaintance in town, among them any number of marriageable gentlemen your sisters could like.” A slight exaggeration, soon to be remedied.
    But he knew she was speaking with bravado. Skepticism lit his eyes. He crossed his arms loosely. “Do ye, then?”
    “I might very well find husbands for three of your sisters. They are lovely, after all.”
    “They may be.” He nodded. “But I’ll no marry ye.”
    “All right. I understand,” she said evenly, but her cheeks burned. Her hair must look ridiculous. “But what if I do find husbands for three of your sisters? What would you do?”
    “Anither kiss?” His mouth tilted up at one side. It almost seemed like he was enjoying himself.
    “That would not be fair, of course.” The heat spread from her cheeks to her throat and beneath the lace edging of her bodice. “I should expect something else, something . . . more substantial as my prize.”
    He waited.
    “Would you touch me somewhere inappropriate for an unmarried lady to be touched by a man?” she said in a rush.
    He simply stared at her.
    “Without any promise of marriage,” she added quickly. She was mad. She would ruin herself with this. But she had already ruined herself. If anyone in society discovered that she had pursued an interview with a bachelor in his rooms she would be cut from every respectable house in town.
    “This wee wager is getting interesting,” he murmured, and his voice sounded somehow deeper. It sent a delicious little thrill of sensation right up the center of her belly.
    “I’m not planning to set myself up as anybody’s mistress,” she clarified. “It’s only that . . .” She straightened her shoulders. “Well, it’s really none of your business, especially if you won’t marry me.”
    “I’ll agree to it.”
    Her breaths hitched. “You will?”
    He nodded slowly. “Aye.”
    Her throat got caught on several swift swallows. “All right.” Press the advantage. “What about five?”
    “Five touches?” His eyes glimmered with something new, something hot and intentional.
    “Five husbands,” she said thickly. “For your sisters. What if I find husbands for five of your sisters?”
    “Ye willna.”
    “I might.”
    “Unlikely.”
    “But not impossible.”
    “Nearly.”
    “Do you have such a poor opinion of your own siblings?”
    “One or two.”
    She shook her head. “Now you are telling untruths. You care for them all. I can see it in your eyes.”
    “That daena mean I think they’ll find husbands easily.”
    “They won’t have to. I will. So, what about five?”
    “What terms be ye offering, lass?”
    “If I find five husbands, you must make love to me.”
    She’d said it! Just like that. And her pulse was