Seduced by the Highlander Read Online Free PDF

has been living in the Hebrides all her life. When she—” Again, he had to stop and correct himself. “When you left your home to follow Angus back to Kinloch, it was the first time you had ever set foot on the Scottish mainland.”
    She frowned. “How do you know this? Is there proof of Raonaid’s childhood on the islands?”
    “Aye. You’ve always been known to the people of the Western Isles because of your strange gifts. Your reputation as an oracle was known throughout the Highlands as well, because you had visions of the future.” He paused, taking note of the discontent in her eyes. “But why am I explaining all this to you, when you already know it? It is your own life, lass, and I don’t believe for a single minute that you don’t remember. You’re a fraud. These people have been tricked. It’s a case of mistaken identity, from which you clearly stand to profit. Aye, I know all about your inheritance. You’re due to collect it soon, are you not? You must be almost five-and-twenty.”
    “You offend me, sir,” she argued. “It is not my intention to mislead anyone, and if I am not Catherine Montgomery, I will not try to take an inheritance that does not belong to me. I only want to know the truth.” She paused. “It’s just that…”
    “Just what ?” he prodded, fighting any urge to feel sympathy or compassion, for he could not let himself fall under any more spells.
    While she circled around the table again, he felt her inexplicable power and tugged fiercely at the bonds. This was all too familiar—to be held hostage by her—and he certainly didn’t want to listen to her tragic story. He just wanted to be rid of the curse, one way or another.
    And to get off this damn table.
    “I find it difficult to believe,” she said, “that I could be the woman you describe. First of all, I cannot see the future, or even the past for that matter. I do not have that gift. Nor can I imagine putting curses on people, and my doctor assures me that a loss of memory does not change a person’s character.” She looked down at him. “And what kind of curse is it? You never explained.”
    Growing impatient with the conversation, he continued to tug at the leather straps. He tried to tear at them with his teeth. When that didn’t work, he regarded her snidely. “You know very well what it is.”
    “If I did, would I be asking the question?”
    He shook his head in utter disbelief. “Who knows why a witch does anything?”
    “Stop calling me that. Tell me about the curse.”
    Lachlan scoffed. “You don’t remember drugging me, and throwing me into a pit? The bones were a nice touch, the curse itself especially twisted. What better way to curb my sexual exploits than to promise that any woman I bedded would die in childbirth and take the innocent bairn with her.”
    Raonaid’s lips parted, and she frowned.
    “What’s wrong, Lady Catherine ? Does the idea offend you? Do you find it cruel?”
    “Of course I do.”
    “But you are the one who concocted it.”
    She spoke with a rising pitch of anger. “How many times must I say it? I remember nothing.”
    “And I believe you are a liar.” He stared up at the ceiling and lay still for a long moment as he contemplated his life since the curse.
    “I once scoffed at such tales of magic,” he quietly said. “But each time I wanted to bed a woman…” He glared at her. “I thought of you, and what you did to me, and I could not take the risk.”
    A flood of loathing moved through him as he suddenly recalled the death of his own wife and unborn child, and all the grief and guilt and inescapable regret that came with it.
    “Where is my horse?” he demanded to know.
    “He’s in the stable. He has been fed and watered.”
    “Untie me. Let me go before the magistrate arrives. It’s the least you can do.”
    “The least I can do?” she snapped back. “You tried to ravish me and make me a victim of that curse.”
    “But I didn’t ravish you, did