Enraptured Read Free

broad, long-fingered hands held the other man up as if he weighed no more than a child. Seemingly impervious to the elements, he wore no muffler or cap, and his jacket hung open down the front. His thick, tousled hair glowed golden in the light of the lantern.
    He shoved the man he called Will to the other side of the road, saying disgustedly, “Is this what you’ve come to?” He moved his scornful gaze over the row of men. “Preying on travelers like a band of reivers! Robbing innocent women! I’m ashamed to call you Highlanders. Look at her.” He swung his hand toward Violet. “She’s just a wee lassie! Hardly bigger than a child.”
    â€œWee!” Violet bristled at his description of her.
    He swung around and glared. “Aye, wee. And apparently mad as a hatter as well. Canna you see I’m trying to help you? What the devil is your husband thinking, letting you jaunt about the countryside alone at night? The man should have better sense.”
    â€œLet me? Let me?” Violet stiffened. “Fortunately, I am not married, so I need no man’s permission to go where I please and do what I want. I make my own decisions about my life. And I may be ‘wee,’ but I am no child. Just because I’m not . . . a . . . a giant doesn’t mean I’m not capable of taking care of myself.”
    He swept his eyes down her in one swift, encompassing glance. At some other time, Violet might have found hisstrong features handsome, but at the moment, she saw nothing except the scorn in his eyes. His mouth quirked up on one side. “Oh, aye, I can see that you are doing splendidly. No doubt your broken umbrella would hold off any number of men.”
    â€œI don’t need you.” Violet knew her words were untrue, even silly, but she was too angry to be reasonable. Primed as she was for battle and with a lifetime of male belittling to fuel her wrath, this huge, supremely confident man’s dismissal of her sparked her fury. Her hands clenched. She had a strong desire to hit him.
    â€œDo you not?” His eyes widened, something between heat and challenge flashing in them before he drew his brows together in a scowl. “I dinna ken whether you’re blind or silly, but there is only one of you—one small one—and you wouldna have won this fight.”
    â€œI did not ask for your help.”
    One of the men chuckled, spurring her aggravation.
    â€œNae, you dinna,” her rescuer shot back. “And I am beginning to regret offering it. Now would you cease this jabbering and get back in your carriage and let me handle this?” He swung around, effectively dismissing her, and addressed the other men again. “Give up this idiocy before the lot of you wind up with your necks in a noose.” He gestured toward the men blocking the carriage’s way, and they dropped their gazes, shuffling over to the side of the road. “Rob Grant, what would your gran say if she knew you were out frightening young lassies like this?” One of the robbers turned his head away, easing back behind the others. “And Dennis MacLeod. You should be ashamed of yourself. You’ve a wife and bairns at home.”
    The man lifted his chin. “Aye, and I hae to provide for them.”
    â€œThen you best be tending to your croft, hadn’t you? Stealing from travelers won’t mend the thatch on your roof. And May and the bairn will be hard-pressed to raise the crops alone next spring while you’re sitting in gaol.”
    â€œThat’s all easy for you to say, Coll, now that you’re one of them, ” Will said.
    One of whom , Violet wondered—and was Coll her rescuer’s name? It seemed odd, but then, there was nothing about this situation that was not odd.
    â€œSitting all snug and bonny, aren’t you?” Will went on bitterly. “Carrying out his lordship’s orders. You used to be one of