To Tame a Highland Warrior Read Online Free PDF Page A

bullied andbamboozled out of her maidenhead—it simply won’t do! We’ll have to go home.” She gazed expectantly at her husband, awaiting his nod of agreement.
    “Elizabeth.” Gibraltar said her name very quietly.
    “Gibraltar?” Her tone was wary.
    “We are not turning back. We are going to visit our son to attend our grandson’s christening and spend a few months, as planned.”
    “Does Jillian know what you’ve done?” Elizabeth asked icily.
    Gibraltar shook his head. “She hasn’t a suspicion in her pretty head.”
    “What about the men? Don’t you think they will tell her?”
    Gibraltar grinned wickedly. “I didn’t tell them. I simply commanded their attendance. But Hatchard knows and is prepared to inform them at a suitable time.”
    Elizabeth was shocked. “You told no one but our chief man-at-arms?”
    “Hatchard is a wise man. And she needs this, Elizabeth. She needs to find her own way. Besides,” he provoked, “what man would dare bamboozle a lass’s maidenhead with her mother hovering at her elbow?”
    “Och! My mother, my da, my seven brothers, and my grandparents being in attendance didn’t stop you from bamboozling mine. Or abducting me.”
    Gibraltar chuckled. “Are you sorry I did?”
    Elizabeth gave him a steamy look from beneath her lashes that assured him to the contrary.
    “So you see, sometimes a man knows best, don’t you think, my dear?”
    She didn’t reply for a moment, but Gibraltar didn’t mind. He knew Elizabeth trusted him with her life. She justneeded some time to get used to his plan and to accept the fact that their daughter needed a loving push over the edge of the nest.
    When Elizabeth finally spoke, resignation buffered her words. “Just which three men did you choose without my discerning insight and consent?”
    “Well, there’s Quinn de Moncreiffe.” Gibraltar’s gaze never strayed from her face.
    Quinn was blond, handsome and daring. He’d sailed black-flag for the King before he’d inherited his titles and now commanded a fleet of merchant ships, from which he’d trebled his clan’s already considerable fortune. Gibraltar had fostered Quinn when he’d been a young lad, and Elizabeth had always favored him.
    “Good man.” A lift of a perfect golden brow betrayed grudging admiration for her husband’s wisdom. “And?”
    “Ramsay Logan.”
    “Oh!” Elizabeth’s eyes grew round. “When I saw him at court he was clad in black from head to toe. He looked as dangerously attractive as a man could be. How is it that some woman hasn’t snatched him up? Do go on, Gibraltar. This is becoming quite promising. Who’s the third?”
    “We’re lagging too far behind the guards, Elizabeth,” Gibraltar evaded glibly. “The Highlands have been peaceful lately, but we can’t be too careful. We must catch up.” He shifted in his saddle, grasped her reins, and urged her to follow.
    Elizabeth scowled as she plucked the reins from his hand. “We’ll catch them later. Who’s the third?”
    Gibraltar frowned and gazed at the guards, who were fading out of sight around a bend. “Elizabeth, we mustn’t tarry. You have no idea—”
    “The third, Gibraltar,” his wife repeated.
    “You look especially lovely today, Elizabeth,” Gibraltar said huskily. “Have I told you that?” When his words evoked no response but a cool, level stare, he wrinkled his brow.
    “Did I say three?”
    Elizabeth’s expression grew cooler.
    Gibraltar expelled a breath of frustration. He mumbled a name and spurred his mount forward.
    “What did you just say?” she called after him, urging her mare to keep up.
    “Oh hell, Elizabeth! Give over! Let’s just ride.”
    “Repeat yourself, please, Gibraltar.”
    There was another unintelligible answer.
    “I can’t understand a word when you mumble,” Elizabeth said sweetly.
    Sweet as siren song
, he thought,
and every bit as lethal
. “I said Gavrael McIllioch. All right? Leave it, will you?” He rounded his stallion