The Firebrand Read Online Free PDF Page B

her hand and clattered loudly across the wooden floor of the cabin as the chair he was sitting on toppled on its side. Adrianne hadn’t even time to let out a gasp before the Highlander’s rock-hard forearm was around her, pinning her against him.
    Kicking, twisting, punching at him wildly, Adrianne felt the hand she’d held the dagger in going numb from his sudden blow. Her strength seemed to drain from her completely as she realized her attempts were having no effect whatsoever on the blackguard. The brute simply twisted one of her arms behind her back, applying pressure and pulling her tighter to him.
    She winced from the pain, but refused to cry out as he pinned the second behind her, as well.
    “Now, you listen to me, hellcat,” he said, snarling into her face.
    She butted him with her head and this time had the satisfaction of seeing surprise and annoyance register in his arrogant features.
    “What the hell...?” he growled. Holding both her hands behind her in one viselike fist, he grabbed her wild tangle of hair with the other and held her solidly anchored in place.
    “They were not jesting on Barra,” he said, frowning at her. “You are truly dangerous.”
    Her head pounded with the impact of the blow she’d given him, but she ignored it, glaring at him fiercely.
    “You should have listened with greater care, knight, as I will be cutting your throat as soon as I free myself of your loathsome grasp.” Her gaze fell on his rigidly set jaw. She glanced up past the stern line of full lips—so close to her face—to his eyes. Wyntoun MacLean’s eyes were assuredly the greenest she’d ever seen in her entire life. Far greener than the abbess’s...and far more dangerous.
    She swallowed the rest of her words and looked in the direction of the door. Escape suddenly seemed out of the question.
    The warrior tugged again on a fistful of her hair and Adrianne’s head snapped back. She watched as his eyes moved over her face, her mouth. He forced her body backward, his bold gaze taking in even more.
    “You are much more...much older than I thought you would be.”
    The meaning of his words was unmistakable, as was the object of his attention. Adrianne felt a strange tingling in her breasts beneath the wet wool of her blouse. She struggled, but he again pinned her tightly against him.
    “Let go of me,” she squirmed, finding her face too close to his own. Strange feelings were racing through her. Part panic, part...something else. So close to him, she could smell his masculine scent—that unexpected smell of sea and storm. The saltiness of the west wind. His scent was too paralyzing, too...exciting. She tried to push away from him again.
    “You will stop your squirming if you know what is best for you.”
    She paid no attention to his words and again tried to wriggle free of his hold. “If you don’t release me this instant, by the Virg...”
    The words once again withered on her lips as his strong arm pulled her tightly against his groin. This time she couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her as she felt the ridge of hardness against her hip. She knew what it was. It was that peculiar condition she knew men suffered when they were enticed in a certain way. Adrianne froze, looking up in shock at his face.
    “I warned you to stop your squirming.”
    “I’m no scullery maid, villain. And I did not summon you.”
    One dark brow arched questioningly. “What are you talking about?”
    “You have no reason for...for getting like this.”
    There was a small twitch at the corner of his mouth, and she gave him her fiercest and most contemptuous scowl.
    “You think I need to be summoned, hellcat?” He pulled her tighter. “You think a man waits to be summoned?”
    “Of course!” she challenged.
    “A better man than I, perhaps.” His eyes narrowed as he stared into her own. “But how do you know so much about this business of...summoning?”
    Adrianne felt his manhood throb against her and tried again to