Highland Vow Read Free Page B

that Cormac could almost feel it, and he cursed. It was hard to recall much after so many years, but the name Payton seemed familiar. The name and that voice—a voice that brought forth a very clear memory of a tiny, well-scrubbed hand thrust out for a kiss—finally made Cormac move. He was not sure what he could do, but he needed to know what was going on. This was clearly not a friendly visit, and that could mean that the tiny Murray girl was in danger.
    In the week since he had brought his young cousin Mary to Duncaillie for her marriage to Sir Colin’s nephew John, Cormac had made an effort to learn every shadowed corner of the keep. He did not like Sir Colin, did not trust the man at all. When his cousin’s betrothal had been announced, he had been almost the only one to speak out against it. He had not wanted his family connected by marriage to a man he had learned little good about.
    After assuring himself that no one could see him, he slipped into the chamber next to Sir Colin’s. No guard had been placed at the connecting door between the two rooms. Sir Colin was either too arrogant to think anyone would dare to spy on him or the man simply did not care. Cormac pressed himself against the wall next to the door and cautiously eased it open. He glanced quickly around the room he was in, carefully noting several places he could hide in the event that someone noticed the door was cracked open. One thing he had learned, and learned well, in two long years of running from the wrath of the Douglas clan was how to hide, how to use the shadows and the most meager cover to disappear from view. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he peered into the room.
    “That untried lad is of no consequence now,” snapped Sir Colin.
    “Untried?” The scorn in that husky voice made Cormac flinch. “Even the beardlessamongst my brothers and cousins has had more women than ye e’er will.”
    When Sir Colin bounded out of his heavy oak chair and strode toward his tormentor, Cormac had to tightly clench his fists to stop himself from doing anything rash. To his relief the man halted his advance directly in front of the woman, raising his hand but not delivering the blow he so obviously ached to inflict. Cormac knew he would have lost all restraint if Sir Colin had struck the tiny, slender woman facing him so calmly.
    There was no denying what his eyes told him, although Cormac tried to do just that for several minutes. It was hard to believe that Elspeth Murray was standing in Sir Colin’s chambers, alone and far from the loving safety of Donncoill. Cormac was not sure he was pleased to see that he had been right all those years ago: Elspeth had definitely grown into a disarmingly beautiful woman.
    Thick, wildly tousled hair tumbled down her slim back in heavy waves to stop teasingly at the top of her slim legs. Her hands were tied behind her back and Cormac had to smile. Those hands did not look all that much bigger than they had on the day she had soothed his brow as he had lain bleeding in her father’s dirt. Her figure was almost too slender, too delicate, yet just womanly enough to stir an interest in his loins. The way her arms were pulled back clearly revealed the perfect shape of her small breasts. Her waist was temptingly small and her slim hips gracefully rounded. Elspeth’s face still seemed to be swamped by her thick hair and wide, brilliant green eyes. There was a childish innocence to her gentle, heart-shaped face, from the small, straight nose to the faintly pointed chin. The long, thick lashes rimming her big eyes and the soft fullness of her mouth bespoke womanhood, however. She was a blood-stirring bundle of contradictions. She was so close to the door he felt he could easily reach out and touch her. Cormac was a little surprised by how hard he had to fight to resist that urge.
    Then she spoke in her rich, deep, husky voice, and all hints of the child, all signs of innocence, were torn away. She became a sultry