Samantha James Read Online Free PDF

sin! Was he a God-fearing man? ’Twould seem not. Aye, she’d expected him to be abhorrent.
    Yet his was a face of supreme masculine beauty. His brows were strongly arched, as dark as his hair, his eyes thickly lashed. She’d already noticed the way his nostrils flared slightly outward, in perfect symmetry to the rest of his features. His mouth was thin, yet the slant of it was harsh…so very harsh. All at once she recalled with vivid intensity the way he’d bent his head last evening when he’d warned her not to scream. His lips had brushed hers…
    The muscles of her belly clenched. Now he’d unwound his plaid from his torso and removed his shirt. Her gaze traveled over the sleek hardness of his arms, the wide breadth of shoulders and chest. For all that he was handsome, she could imagine no gentleness in him. She’d been a fool to fight him, a fool to try to run. He was hard through and through. Even his lips had been hard…
    It was then she spied the wound in the lower part of his back, a long and jagged gash. The skin waspuckered and still pink—the injury was recent. Meredith’s mind raced. Had he suffered this wound in the attack on his family? She shuddered. It was only too easy to imagine a sword rending through his body, through sinew and muscle, grating against bone.
    He turned then.
    Wide blue eyes met those of darkest gray. She was the first to falter. She felt the searing score of his gaze—it slipped all through her, piercing like the keenest of blades. His eyes glittered, sharp as the edge of his sword.
    “Come,” was all he said.
    Unfolding her legs beneath her, Meredith arose. Her muscles stretched, then stiffened. She ached all over, especially her legs and backside. His lips tightened, for apparently she did not move quickly enough to suit him. Taking her arm, he pulled her to her feet.
    The moment she was standing, he released her, as if—as if she were some wretched creature he was loath to touch! For some reason she could not fathom, Meredith was hurt beyond measure.
    In silence they returned to the clearing. Egan was crouched near a small fire that had just begun to burn; Finn was busy skinning two hares he’d caught earlier in the day. Meredith stopped near one of the massive oak trees that ringed the clearing. Easing to the ground, she leaned back against the rough bark.
    Across from her, Cameron was on his haunches near the fire. With his knife he was busy fashioning a small spit from branches. Again and again her gaze came back to him, almost against her will. She stared at him as he worked, unwillingly fascinated. His hands were like the rest of him, long and lean and powerful. A knot gathered deep in the pit of her belly, for they were strong, those hands…hands that couldeasily bend her to his will and force her to yield…A man’s body—aye, especially his hands!—held naught but dread for Meredith. Indeed, her father was the only man who held no fear for her.
    She jerked as he jabbed the pointed end of a branch into the skinned hare. Her mind bolted forward; there was no help for it, for she was hardly ignorant of the ways between men and women. Was that what he would do to her? Plunge his hardness into her, tearing her flesh even as he tore the pale skin of the hare’s? Images flashed before her, images she’d fought hard to keep at bay these many months…the jutting hardness of a man’s member. Her breath quickened. Cameron MacKay was not a small man. No doubt his manhood was like a spear…
    Fool! a voice reminded her. You heard what he said. Were I in need of a woman, of a certainty ’twould not be you. Indeed, I must force myself to suffer your presence .
    She could only hope he did not lie.
    The mantle of darkness began to thicken; night crept across the world. Before long the delicious aroma of roast hare filled the clearing. Juices dripping onto the fire made it spark and sizzle. Shivering a little from the cold air and damp earth beneath her, Meredith drew her