Seduced by a Highlander Read Free Page A

definitely a Highlander, mayhap a Gordon or of the Donaldson clan, though he wore no plaid. She thought to ask his name, but decided against it. He might consider her interest in him an acceptance of his offer. She could not afford to allow her senses to be addled by a whole afternoon spent with him when her family’s safety was at stake.
    “Thank ye, m’lord, but I have matters to think on.” She quickened her pace, but he would not be so easily dismissed.
    “Do these matters have to do with the witless brother ye were prayin’ fer?”
    “Why?” Isobel asked, trying to sound unaffected by his boldness in following her. “Are ye worried he might have usurped yer title?”
    She was completely unprepared for his laughter, or for the way it rang through her veins, coarse and carefree. A dozen other men would have scowled at her accusation, though she meant it only to show her lack of interest, butthis charismatic stranger found it humorous. She liked that he had enough confidence to laugh, even at himself.
    “Why must brothers be so difficult?” she conceded with a smile and began to walk with him. “Truly, if there is a title of witless brother, he has already taken it.” She felt a tad bit guilty about speaking so about Alex with a man she didn’t even know, but perhaps not knowing him made it easier. She needed someone to talk to about her dilemma. No, what she truly needed was a moment or two just spent
not
thinking about it. This man made her smile, and she hadn’t done that all morning.
    Beside her, he bent to pick up a rock and threw it into a small pond a few feet ahead of them. “And what has yer brother done that is so terrible?”
    “He refuses to leave Whitehall and go home.”
    “Ah, unfergivable.”
    Isobel cut him a sidelong glance and found him smiling back at her. “Ye do not understand.”
    He raised a dark brow and waited for her to continue.
    “All right then, if ye must know, our most hated enemies have recently arrived to pay homage to the king. My brother is cocky and prideful. If we remain here, he is likely to insult them and bring the barbarians down on our heads once again.”
    He nodded, leading her around the pool. “Now I see yer point more clearly. But why is it yer problem to ponder?” he asked, turning to her. “Where is yer faither that his son should make decisions that put his kin in jeopardy?”
    “He is dead,” Isobel told him, her eyes going hard on the palace doors and the beasts that strolled somewhere within. “Killed by these same enemies. I swear if I could get just one of them alone, I would slice open his throat and sing him back to the devil who spawned him.”
    She was a bit surprised to find both sympathy and amusement softening the man’s features when she looked at him.
    “It sounds to me like yer enemies have more to fear from ye, than ye do from them, lass.”
    Isobel shook her head. “I am not foolhardy like my brother. Our enemies have left us alone, and I wish it to stay that way.”
    “Wise,” he said, and Isobel was glad she had told him. He agreed that she was correct in wanting to leave. “I could speak to him fer ye if ye’d like, mayhap talk some sense into him.”
    Isobel couldn’t help shining her smile on him full force. He seemed to be listening in on her thoughts. She needed help and she was willing at this point to take it from anyone, even a stranger. “That is most kind of ye, but I could not impose—”
    “Ye are no’ imposin’. I wish to help ye if I can.”
    She stopped walking and looked up at him when he paused at her side. “Ye do not even know me. Why do ye want to help me?”
    His dimple deepened, along with the honeyed hue of his eyes. “ ’Tis what I do best.”
    After he stole kisses and whatever else from ladies behind statues in gardens? He was crafty, this one, but immensely likable. “How verra gallant of ye.”
    He bowed slightly and crooked his mouth at her, setting her heart racing. “Ye see? There