Highlander Untamed Read Free Page B

lecherous stares. Her brothers were the only young men she knew who didn’t act witless around her. She was tired of being seen only on the outside. Just once she would like to meet someone willing to look beneath the pretty shell and see inside—virtues as well as faults.
    Yet Isabel was keenly aware that the very thing that annoyed her was the only reason she’d been chosen to help her family. She’d fought for her family’s attention for so long, it hurt to have them finally value her for the thing she valued least.
    She snuffed the pang of disappointment and turned back to Willie, smiling. “Thank you, Willie, I’ll be sure to tread carefully.”
    She continued her climb up the steep stairway leading from the loch to the sea-gate. From a purely defensive position, it made sense that the only entry to the castle was from the sea, where the MacLeod could easily observe friend or foe; but it certainly did not make for easy travel. The landward side of the keep was completely inaccessible, perched high above a steep gully. Thus, for the final portion of their journey from Dunscaith, they were forced to journey by boat.
    The days of travel had definitely taken their toll. Isabel’s body ached in places that she had never before noticed. Her feet were nearly frozen, the ridiculously thin slippers her uncle ordered her to wear providing neither protection from the dampness nor traction on the slick stairs. Sleat had attended to every detail of her appearance, every article chosen not to illustrate court fashion or for practicality, but to entice.
    At last she reached the top of the sea-gate stairs. Looking up, she frowned. She would never be able to escape without being seen. There had to be another way out. And if she wanted to leave here in one piece, she’d better find it.
    The feeling of foreboding only increased when she glimpsed the armed MacLeod clansmen lining the wall, still as the carved pieces of a chessboard, guarding patiently as her party approached. Isabel eyed them warily. Even from a distance she could see that their bodies were poised like lions ready to pounce—almost as if they were hoping for an attack.
    Her nerves were already on edge, but Willie’s next words shook her to her core. “Come, my lady, your betrothed waits to greet you.”
    A massive shadow moved to block the doorway ahead. The blood drained from her face.
    Good God, he was huge.
    She couldn’t see his face, but his herculean shape and proud stance left no doubt that he was a powerful warrior to be feared.
    Warily, Isabel followed her father and uncle through the arched entry and up yet more stairs to where the MacLeod waited. She wanted desperately to fall back in cowardly retreat but willed her feet to keep moving forward. With each footfall, he appeared taller and more broad shouldered. He even towered over her uncle, who was one of the largest men she had ever seen. Never before had she beheld such raw strength. No one at court could compare. His well-muscled physique was beyond intimidating. She was not surprised that her uncle had found it so difficult to vanquish the MacLeod chief.
    Dread consumed her. How could she defend against this? Her skills would be practically useless against such a man.
    But he was only a man, she reminded herself. Just like any other. With the same needs, the same desires, and the same weaknesses. Isabel swallowed hard, thinking about what she might have to do to ply those weaknesses.
    Passing through the sea-gate, they followed the MacLeod through the dark courtyard and into the stone entry of the square keep. Relieved to be out of the icy, all-pervading mist, Isabel took a moment to warm herself, rubbing her hands together until her fingers tingled with sensation.
    She stood half-hidden behind her uncle, father, brothers, Bessie, and the rest of her MacDonald clansmen. Her position afforded her a good vantage point from which to observe the MacLeod, although his face was still obscured in the