Some Like it Scot (Scandalous Highlanders Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

you,” Elizabeth stated, squaring her shoulders.
    All of her plans depended, of course, on whether the big man in the white, black, and red kilt went and tattled on her to the local laird or clan chieftain. Perhaps she should have shot him instead of the buck. That would certainly have simplified matters. If she began murdering people for inconveniencing her, though, well, she would have begun with her uncle and the Duke of Visford and her own stepmother—and then she would deserve whatever misery came her way.
    Oh, they should just leave. The building was awful and rotted, after all, with just enough remains of old paintings and bed sheets and broken knickknacks to be unsettling. The next valley over might well hold a hunter’s cottage abandoned for the winter—a place with a window or two, a solid ceiling, and even some nuts or grains she could snatch before the vermin got to them. They wouldn’t have to shift their blankets every time it rained, and no muscular giant of a man would know where they slept.
    Why was she even thinking of him? Yes, he’d been reasonably pleasant featured—or at least that had been her impression. She’d only seen him from the back until that last moment when he’d turned around to say he would likely return. “Stupid giant,” she muttered, shoving her cleaned knife back into her boot.
    â€œWhat was that?”
    â€œJust cursing the weather. It’s a Highlands tradition.”
    Elizabeth chuckled. “I think I remember that.”
    Perhaps she’d dealt the big man a blow to his pride, but he was the one who’d followed her and refused to lose her trail. And she’d only told him to leave her be, for heaven’s sake. Men never listened to reason when their manliness was called into question, but what choice had she had? She couldn’t very well hide in the shadows while he discovered Elizabeth or looted their things for what little they possessed. Or worse, allow him to assault one of them simply because they happened to be females on their own.
    It would likely make more sense to sleep in the cave along with their things, but that would be the point where she began to wonder if she was actually helping Elizabeth out of her troubles or creating a whole new set of them. “I’m going to shift some of our things, just in case,” she said, rising and slinging a satchel over her shoulder. “I’ll be back within the hour. I’m leaving ye the musket, but dunnae try to use it unless ye have no other choice.”
    â€œIt’s getting dark.”
    â€œI ken where I’m going. Dunnae worry. With this rain no one’ll be out and about.”
    â€œExcept you.”
    â€œWell, I’m a bit of a madwoman, if I recall yer mother’s greeting correctly.” And that of countless other people she’d met over the years. Flashing a grin at her forlorn-looking sister, she dug into one pack and pulled out the single book she’d kept with her. “Occupy yerself with this.”
    â€œOh, Byron’s poetry! You never said!”
    â€œI was saving it for a rainy day.” She grinned again. “Which is today, I reckon.”
    By the time she returned, Elizabeth was asleep in her pile of blankets, the fire was down to glowing embers, and the rain had begun to taper off. Catriona threw another branch onto the fire, stripped off her clothes to lay them on the hearth, and carefully slipped her book from beneath her sister’s fingers. Settling in with her own blanket, she tried to read. In the quiet, though, her mind kept drifting to a very annoying giant with very fit-looking thigh muscles beneath that kilt and a head of shaggy black hair almost down to his shoulders.
    Grumbling, she shifted again, sitting as close to the fire as she could, the heat making her skin feel dry and tight. She read until her eyes refused to stay open. If the big man reappeared, this would likely be the last