Seducing the Highlander Read Free Page A

feel normal again. So had the plate of food he had ravenously devoured. The pint of whiskey, he thought cheerfully, didn’t hurt either. It was no wonder, after such a grueling pace on their journey back, that Lady Leanna had fallen asleep so quickly.
    The knock on his door was brisk and merely a formality.
    He frowned and hurriedly buttoned his breeches before his visitor burst on in, then said with resignation, “Aye?”
    His old nurse, Rossie, was more mother to him than servant. When she flung open the door she fairly charged into his bedroom, fire in her faded blue eyes. She demanded with very little respect for his rank, “What are you going to do with that lovely lassie, Ian? I saw the way you looked at her, like a wolf circling a rabbit.”
    Towering over her by more than a foot, Ian simply lifted a brow.
    Plump, with formidable dignity, Rossie glared up at him. “Men are impossible. Angus told me what is going on, and how you could bed a helpless girl as a part of your wicked scheme—”
    “I have never forced myself on an unwilling female,” he interrupted mildly.
    “No, you handsome devil, I’m sure you never have.” She sniffed disapprovingly. “That wee bairn won’t be a match for you, at a guess.”
    “Lady Leanna is a woman fully grown.” He could vouch for it personally, because there was nothing childlike about her voluptuous body, and he knew from the information he received when he plotted the abduction that the lass was nearly twenty years old.
    Rossie waved a dismissive hand. “She’s an innocent lamb. I saw it in her eyes.”
    “I don’t see how. She was half- asleep,” he argued, crossing his arms over his chest.
    “She’ll be spreading her legs for you before she even realizes what she’s doing. Is this truly necessary?”
    Killing Frankton was necessary. Seducing the woman the Sassenach bastard desired so much, well . . . that would simply be very satisfying. Ian gave his old nurse an innocent grin. “I promise you she’ll enjoy it, if that will make you feel better.”
    “It does not make me feel better,” she replied tartly, and then sighed. “However, ridding this earth of Baron Frankton would be a blessing for us all. Be careful, Ian. He is legendary for his evil treachery, and though I know you are the finest swordsman in Scotland, he knows it too. The cowardly devil won’t face you directly.”
    “He wants the lass, and, from all reports, badly. Having seen her, I understand why. When he comes to demand her release, I intend to make the blackguard agree to tell the truth, free Uncle Thomas, and return his confiscated property. Once that is done, I will challenge him in front of witnesses, so even a crawling English worm like him will have to pick up a weapon.”
    Rossie’s blue eyes were troubled. “I don’t like it.”
    He reached out and touched her plump cheek reassuringly. “I don’t really like it either, mother hen. I’ve killed men before in battle or self-defense, but I have never contemplated killing someone with relish. However, don’t worry; I can take care of myself.” Then he added with a wicked wink, “And the delectable Lady Leanna.”
    “You scamp, she’s too tired to pleasure you tonight. I had to rouse her, and the poor child could barely stay awake long enough to bathe and eat.”
    “I think I can wait until tomorrow,” Ian said serenely.
    “Men,” Rossie muttered.
     
     
    Leanna paced across the room, the hem of the dressing gown she had been given trailing on the floor. Bright sunlight fell in squares from one of the tall windows, warming the thick rug under her bare feet. Restless, unnerved, she paused to stare at a portrait of a young woman with dark windblown hair that hung over the mantel, her observation distracted.
    She knew her captor’s identity.
    McCray.
    The young maid who had brought her hot water and breakfast this morning had willingly answered her tentative questions.
    Good heavens, she was in the hands of Ian