In the Warrior’s Bed Read Online Free PDF Page B

understand the way the world works. So choose yer words carefully, or better still keep yer mouth shut, Bronwyn. The McJames owe us and we will get our due any way we can.”
    Sodac left and Bronwyn shivered. She wasn’t cold; no, she was horrified at the pure malevolence she’d just witnessed. Cullen’s face surfaced from her dreams and seemed so vastly different from her brother’s. There had not been malice in his eyes, only enjoyment of the moment.
    Her stomach twisted as she crawled from the bed. Aye, there was a great difference between Cullen and Sodac. But Keir did need the goodwill of his family. With his sense of honor, her brother would hold his head high as he was cast aside. That left only her to protect him. She would not lie but there was nothing wrong with remaining silent. Her father had been at court for eight months, banished to the outer receiving area, not even allowed into the royal hall because he’d angered the king with his accusations against the McJames. Maybe she’d be fortunate and James Stuart would refuse to see her father.
    She would hope for the best, anyway. There was no point in dwelling on the darker things that her father might shackle onto her. Red Stone promised to be a colder place now that he’d called her a slut openly. Even if no one believed that she was a lightskirt, they could not miss the lack of affection from her sire. The fact remained that he was laird and Liam set to follow him by tradition. It was even supported by the scriptures.
    Nay, she would not think about the life that was awaiting her after she went to court. Nor would she banish the memory of her meeting with Cullen McJames from her thoughts. It was for certain that she would not be riding again soon, if at all. She would enjoy what she could. Besides, she had felt more in those moments than she had in a year. Cullen had stirred something in her that she had never felt before. There had been so much excitement jumping about inside her that just thinking about it made her heart pump faster.
    Perhaps that was wickedness. But it felt too good to cast aside in favor of a father that called her slut.
    The road to court was long, but it passed quickly as she tumbled her thoughts over and over in her mind. The cold glances of her father’s retainers didn’t even make her shudder. She was far too absorbed with thinking of a way to satisfy her father without damning Cullen McJames.
    To be sure, she would never ride in that valley again.
    A twinge of pain startled her, stunning her as it ripped at her heart. Surely it was impossible to lament never seeing the man again. She had to prevent another meeting because her father would use any contact to damn the younger brother of the McJames family. Besides, Cullen might set to strike at her father through her once he knew whom he’d met. He was a warrior as devoted to his clan as her brothers were to her father.
    And still she felt it. A small rent in the fabric of her heart. It softly throbbed as she pictured his face once again.
    Well, her memories would have to be enough. His family had even more reason to dislike her than her father had to hate him. Her father raided the McJames. Oh yes, she knew it. Cullen McJames would never believe that her father detested her almost as much as he hated the McJames.
    A soft chuckle made it past her frozen lips. It truly was a comedy of errors that she found the man so fetching. Once Cullen McJames knew her name, he would curse her unto hell.
    She should have let him steal that kiss.
     
    The court of Scotland was filled with men who waited. Bronwyn looked at their pensive faces as she was led through the mass of richly attired men toward the main entrance to the great hall where the king sat. Armed guards kept the velvet-clad hordes from entering the hall without a summons from their monarch. Every set of eyes seemed to be judging her, calculating what she might do to further their cause. To be king suddenly looked like a burden