Must Love Kilts Read Online Free PDF

in a smile that would’ve shriveled Godred’s gizzard if the bastard could have seen his face.
    But he kept his back turned, his eyes on the sea, for this scene of carnage held the power to scald his innards, even after five long years.
    No ribbons of flame or thick plumes of smoke fouled the air, black, ominous, and reeking. And no dragon ships could be seen beating for the open sea.
    But the crescent-shaped strand was a place of graves, and the wind whistling past its craggy cliffs still echoed with the cries of innocents. Many of the rocks along the shore remained blackened, and within the charred and rotting ruins of cothouses, the dark-stained hearthstones lay cold.
    It was a meet place for purging evil.
    And now that he was here, Godred the betrayer only a sword swipe away, Magnus reached to pull the leather tie from his hair, letting it swing loose about his shoulders. That, too, he’d learned from the Vikings.
    They killed with unbound hair.
    Beside him, Godred seemed unaware of his approaching demise. “You chose an ill site to counsel, MacBride.” He joined Magnus at the surf’s edge. “This place is no better than a corpse hall.” His words made Magnus’s anger surge.
    Taking a tight breath, he glanced down the shore to where Godred’s sister, Donata, walked near the remnants of a burned fisherman’s hovel. A small but shapely woman, she had bold eyes and a mass of dark curling hair that glistened like a raven’s wing. Her cloak was also black and she wore jangling bands of silver and jet around her neck, wrists, and ankles. Her exotic scent drifted on the sea wind and her presence only riled Magnus the more.
    Not because she tempted him.
    No woman had done that since Liana, God rest her soul.
    But no female—even the sister of a foe—should witness what he meant to do to Greer. Though he knew why the man had brought her.
    Donata Greer was rumored a witch.
    Just now, Magnus would swear she was weaving some dark magic over him. Her lips moved in a chant he couldn’t hear and each glance she flashed his way held poison. Whatever she was about, it boded ill.
    Magnus steeled his spine.
    He feared nothing. But he wouldn’t sleep well with such a female beneath his roof.
    Godred Greer didn’t go anywhere without her. She advised his every move. Or so the prattle-mongers claimed. A shame, for Greer, that she hadn’t warned him to ignore Magnus’s summons to Badcall Bay.
    A pity, too, that the gutted fisherman’s cottage where Donata now stood was so close to where Liana had been found, dead on the sand.
    The memory sent white-hot pain spearing through Magnus’s chest. A wave of anger crashed over him, but he fought the red haze. He needed his wits, even if he could hardly wait to fill the air with the stench of Godred’s blood. That glory would come soon enough.
    For now ...
    “You speak true.” He turned back to the miscreant.
    “This strand is a burying ground. It’s tainted, blood drenched, and unholy. But where else could we be sure no Norsemen might observe our tryst?” He swept out an arm, indicating the devastation.
    “There’s nothing here to attract them.” He could scarce keep the outrage from his voice. “They ply waters where they’re assured of rich plunder. And they seek places where they’ll meet little resistance.”
    “We all know that.” Godred looked to the cliff path and then back to Magnus. “I didnae come here to waste breath o’er pagan raiders. Your man said you wished the strength of my swords.” He frowned, glancing again at the cliffs, where several of Magnus’s guards were making their way down to the strand. “I was told you’re offering land and wealth for a score of good fighting men?”
    Magnus smiled openly now. The men on the cliff were a signal, letting him know they’d dispatched Godred’s own guards who’d been waiting above.
    “I will make you a rich man, that’s true.” Magnus just didn’t say he’d do so by sending the craven to