The Viper Read Online Free PDF Page B

big man in jest. It wasn't because of his piety. Unlike the other men, MacKay never seemed to talk about the lasses. Whereas on missions, in battle, away from home and sitting by a campfire at night, most warriors talked about nothing else. Lachlan intended to find out why.
    "The countess is right," MacKay said, putting down the strange implement he'd been working on. He was always trying to come up with ways to make weapons more efficient--in other words, deadly. "We were supposed to bring her and the lass."
    "He explained what happened," Gordon interjected before Lachlan could tell him to bugger off. "There wouldn't have been time."
    William Gordon possessed a unique skill--and it wasn't just that he was one of the few men who seemed to like Lachlan. He knew how to make thunder and flying fire with the secret recipe of black powder brought back from the holy lands by his grandfather.
    "Maybe not," the stubborn Highlander conceded. "But if he'd told us his plan, we might have been able to help."
    "How?" Lachlan challenged. "Nothing you could have done would have changed anything. My job was to sneak us in the castle and find the lass. You and Gordon provided the distraction. I don't need you or anyone else looking over my shoulder." They would have only gotten in the way. They knew that as well as he did. "I got her out, didn't I?"
    MacKay stared back at him. "Aye, you got her. But if I were you I'd watch my back for a while."
    On that, at least, they could agree.
    Gordon had taken off the plaid that he wore around his shoulders to blend into the night and twisted it into a thick rope between his hands, squeezing the water from the rain onto the dirt floor at his feet. "You were right about something else," he said to Lachlan in a low voice. "This is no place for a child." He shivered. "Damn, I wish we could light a fire."
    They couldn't risk it. Though Lachlan hoped they'd put distance between them and Buchan, they couldn't be sure how long it would take for him to discover his wife had fled.
    Realizing he no longer felt two holes burning in his back, Lachlan stole a glance toward the back of the cave and saw that the countess had taken his advice to rest while she could. They wouldn't be staying for long.
    Gordon followed his eyes. "She's got a lot of courage," he said with obvious admiration. "I wonder why she's doing it?" Lachlan had wondered the same thing. "A remarkable woman."
    Lachlan scoffed sharply. "I think her husband might disagree with you."
    "Buchan's a belligerent arse. Almost as much of a spiteful tyrant as Edward. He's old enough to be her father, and she's ..." His voice drifted off and Lachlan felt an irrational twinge of annoyance, knowing exactly where Gordon's mind was headed. The same place it did every time Lachlan looked at her: to his cock. Which was why he avoided looking at her. "There's something about her that's hard to put into words."
    Sensual. Seductive. Cock-hardening.
    Gordon shrugged, giving up. "Seems a waste on an old man. Buchan doesn't deserve such a boon."
    Lachlan quirked his brow. "So youth and beauty are an excuse for betrayal?" Time to test his theory. "I hope you are as forgiving of your wife." Though he was speaking to Gordon, he was watching MacKay and saw the big Highlander still. "It's not too late to reconsider those vows, you know. You won't be married for ..."
    "No date has been set," Gordon filled in. "We were betrothed just before I left for training on Skye."
    MacKay hadn't moved. Usually when the subject of Gordon's impending nuptials arose, he immediately got up and walked away.
    Maybe Lachlan had guessed wrong.
    "Then you have plenty of time to get out of it," Lachlan said. "Take my word for it, marriage is a black plague on the soul; a wife will only make you miserable."
    Gordon was impossible to rile. He only smiled. "One bad grape doesn't sour the whole barrel of wine. Not all women are like your wife."
    "Thank God," Lachlan said with a shudder. Gordon was right.