Seducing a Scottish Bride Read Free Page B

stranger
     with a striking air of familiarity, for even without seeing him clearly, Gelis knew he was watching her with the same intensity
     as the raven.
    An unblinking, penetrating stare that went right through her, lancing all resistance.
    Claiming her soul.
    “You!” she gasped, her voice a hoarse rasp. Someone else’s, not hers. She pressed her hands to her breasts, staring back at
     him, her eyes widening as she sank once more to the ground. “You are the raven.”
    The bright silver edging him flared in affirmation, and he stepped closer, the gap in the darkness opening just enough to
     show her his glory. And he
was
glorious, a man of mythic beauty, looking as if he could stride through any number of the legends of the Gael. Dark, pure
     Celt, and irresistibly seductive, it almost hurt to gaze on him, so great was his effect on her. He was a Highland warrior
     ripped straight from her dreams, and Gelis knew he’d be terrifying in the rage of battle and insatiable in the heat of his
     passion.
    She also knew he wanted her.
    Or, better said,
needed
her.
    And in ways that went far beyond the deep sensual burning she could sense rippling all through his powerful body. His eyes
     made him vulnerable. Dark as the raven’s and just as compelling, they’d locked fast with hers, something inside them beseeching
     her, imploring her to help him.
    Letting her see the shadows blackening his soul.
    Then, just as he drew so near that Gelis thrust out a shaking hand to touch him, he vanished, disappearing as if he’d never
     been.
    Leaving her alone on the surf-washed little strand, the high peaks of Kintail and the shining waters of Loch Duich the only
     witnesses to all that had transpired.
    “ Oh- dear-saints,” Gelis breathed, lowering herself onto a damp-chilled boulder. Scarce aware of what she was doing, she
     dashed her tangled hair from her brow and turned her face into the stinging blast of the wind, letting its chill cool her
     burning cheeks, the hot tears now spilling free.
    Tears she wasn’t about to check, regardless of her proud name.
    The blood-and-iron strength of her indomitable lineage. A heritage that apparently held much more than she’d ever suspected.
    More than she or anyone in her family would ever have guessed.
    Still trembling, she tipped back her head to stare up at the brilliance of the blue autumn sky. To be sure, the raven was
     nowhere to be seen, and the day, nearing noontide now, stretched all around her as lovely as every other late October day
     in the heart of Kintail.
    But this day had turned into a day like no other.
    And she now knew two things she hadn’t known upon rising.
    Her heart full of wonder, she accepted the truth. She was a
taibhsear
like her mother, inheriting more than Linnet MacKenzie’s flame-colored tresses, but also her
taibhsearachd
.
    The gift of second sight.
    A talent that had slumbered until this startling morn, only to swoop down upon her with a vengeance, making itself known and
     revealing the face of her beloved.
    Her future husband and one true love.
    There could be no doubt, she decided, getting slowly to her feet and shaking out her skirts, adjusting her cloak against the
     still-racing wind.
    “I was wrong,” she whispered, thinking of the scrying bowl as she turned back toward Eilean Creag and the postern gate. The
     magic hadn’t disappeared.
    It’d only gone silent.
    Waiting to return in a most wondrous manner.
    A totally unexpected manner, she owned, slipping back into the now-bustling bailey. She possessed her mother’s gift, and knowing
     how accurate such magic was, she need only bide her time until her raven came to claim her.
    Then true bliss would be hers.
    Of that she was certain.
    About the same time, but in one of Eilean Creag Castle’s uppermost tower chambers, Duncan MacKenzie, the redoubtable Black
     Stag of Kintail, stood at an unshuttered window, hands fisted at his sides, the twitch at his left eye threatening to madden