Parris Afton Bonds Read Online Free PDF Page A

” She paused to draw another breath. The pillow was stifling her. "The ship flies the colors of the British Union.”
    "A mere ruse.”
    With the ease of a Highland warrior wielding a claymore, he flopped her over onto her back. She saw only light-colored eyes in a dark face framed by darker hair. "But my Lord Lieutenant’s guards?"
    “ Neither the vessel nor the mounted guard who escorted you belong to your Lord Lieutenant. They belong to me, your laird. Let me introduce meself." Sarcasm crept into his Gaelic-inflected voice. "I am Chief Ranald Kincairn of the Clan Cameron. Now it is time for ye to pay homage to your laird, me lady."
    Her breath stilled. Her heart pounded. She could smell him now. The scent of smoke, leather, blood, and unwashed male. "What do you mean?”
    "Ach, me lady, have ye nae heard of the droit du seigneur ?”
    She gasped. The right of a lord to have sexual relations with a vassal ’s bride on her wedding night was only practiced in isolated areas still adhering to feudal customs. “You have no right—”
    “ Tis me perogative, as unalienable as me pride and me poverty."
    Highland chiefs, for the most part, had been well-traveled, well-educated men. She appealed to this. “ You speak like a man of at least some education. You cannot act like a barbarian."
    "Canna I?" In the dark, his teeth glowed an unearthly white. As the spirits of the Druid witches were said to do. "The Lord Lieutenant is an educated man, I am told. He also carries out Westminster’s interest in sterilizing Highland women when it is his wish."
    She had heard of this horrendous policy of the British government, but had not known General Cumberland had instructed it to be implemented.   In addition to sterilizing Highland women, the policy included the banishment of the wearing of the kilt, the playing of the bagpipes, and the carrying of weapons. Along with that banishment had been the outlawing of the very language itself, Gaelic. General Cumberland meant to stamp out everything relating to the rebellious Highlanders, including the people themselves.
    With angry misery, she cried out, “ You canna hold me responsible for the British parliament’s policies."
    "Ach, but I can for the Lord Lieutenant ’s. He is Cumberland’s agent and takes the devil’s delight in tormenting Highland women."
    "I don ’t understand! Please, release me!” She tried to twist free, but his hand held her wrists fast above her head against the bunk. A beast of a man, he was.
    “ It would be fitting, mo kinruadh , for the wife of Simon Murdock, an English cur, to give birth to a Highland bairn.”
    She trembled. "Ye cannot mean what ye say! I am innocent of any misdeed against your clansmen."
    His laughter was low, his breath hot against her cheek. “At first, me thought merely to ruin your bridegroom’s pleasure in bedding his virginal wife. But now that I have given it further consideration . . . aye, what I have in mind would be quite fitting retribution.”
    "Retribution? For what? I have done nothing." She was babbling, she k new. Anything to stall until rescue. Or was she being utterly foolish to hope? "Surely something can be worked out to recompense you for—’’
    "Recompense?" His laughter was silky, but to her it roared against her ears. "Not all the gold in King George ’s treasury would recompense me for the Highland clans’ death, dishonor, and degradation.”
    Obviously, his thoughts, like his language, were short, strong, and conclusive.
    He paused, then added, “Aye, degradation would be a fitting recompense, I wager.” He pressed his lower torso against her. She could feel his massive thighs crushing hers. The bulge of his genitals thrust insistently against the apex of her legs.
    There was to be no escape, she saw. Abandon hope she might; yet, cower she would not. “ Go ahead with your raping then. Prove yourself the savage your ancestors have always been! Aye, have they not raped and pillaged the Lowlands for