Seduced by the Laird (Conquered Brides Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

horse before her. Though he’d only ever been dead in her heart, in life he had in fact been very alive.
    Gregor.
    She ducked her head, hoping the fabric of her hood covered her features and that he’d not yet had a chance to recognize her. Her grip on the dagger tightened, knuckles turning white. The thing she’d feared the most about leaving Skye, was seeing him again. Reliving the broken heart he’d given her, the repercussions of their relationship he didn’t even know about and that she’d sworn never to reveal.
    The secret she’d never been able to share with him because the moment she’d planned to tell him, he’d pushed her away, said hurtful things. How alone she’d felt on her journey back to Skye. No cousin. No love. Oh, how she’d dreamed of introducing him to her aunt, to show her that she’d found happiness at last. That she’d been meant for more than what life had given her so far. She’d reached for the stars, grasped hold of one golden, sparkling nugget and it had been hers. Briefly. Before it was extinguished.
    ’Twas not meant to be.
    And now fate was twisting the knife, carving her heart out one piece at a time, thrusting in her face how naïve and stupid she’d been.
    “We seek no trouble,” John said levelly. “We but need to get to the abbey. Let our man go and let us pass.”
    Gregor inched his horse forward, and Kirstin wished to sink inside her mount. Felt crushed by the emotions pummeling her chest. If he came closer, she would turn and gallop away. She couldn’t face him. Not after how much he had hurt her. More than he would ever know.
    “What is your business with the abbey?” Gregor demanded.
    After nearly ten years passing, his voice was much the same, though perhaps finely aged, and a trace stonier. The sound of it sent a prickle along her limbs as though her body had been waiting all this time to hear him speak again. No matter how much her mind wanted to forget him, the rest of her refused. ’Twas as if she’d suddenly been sucked through some portal of time and landed right back where she was. With him. Barely unchanged.
    But what did she know? The man had tricked her, used her, discarded her.
    She’d fallen in love with someone who didn’t exist, how could she possibly think to know who he was now, or recognize in him any little part of the past? He was a stranger. Always had been.
    “That is none of your affair,” John replied.
    “As a matter of fact, it is my affair.” Gregor drew even closer, his horse’s muzzle only inches from John’s own horse. “I’ve business there that does not include any outsiders.”
    Kirstin stiffened. What was he doing at the abbey? Robbing them?
    He’d been a bit impulsive when she knew him, but nothing nefarious, only the things most young men with power and coin did. Drinking, flirting, gambling.
    Och, there she went again pretending like she knew who he was. Perhaps he’d been a thieving murderer all along. He’d certainly stolen and then shredded her heart and soul.
    “We are Warriors of God and these are two daughters of the Lord. The abbey is more our business than a shameless warrior who thinks he holds the power.”
    John’s words were enough to send any man with an ounce of pride into blows, but Gregor simply chuckled. The sound was menacing, and this time when a shiver raced over her it wasn’t from the memories his voice elicited, but fear at what he would do to them now.
    “I’ll ask ye once more, what brings ye to the abbey?” Gregor’s tone had chilled about thirty degrees, ice edged on every word. “Be careful in your answer, as ye can see your man here has a knife at his throat.”
    Kirstin discreetly glanced at Owen. He didn’t look afraid at all, though a vein popped from his neck. His face had not lost any of its color, though ’twould be hard to tell with the new rusty-colored beard he’d grown over his cheeks and chin.
    “None of your affair,” John replied, deliberate and slow.
    Gregor