Sword of the Highlander Read Free

supposed to believe that? You barge in here—I don’t even know how—you fight a battle with empty armor like a madman—”
    “Ye think me daft?” he asked incredulously.
    She took a deep breath. “I hope not. But I have no other explanation except maybe I’m crazy—daft—too.” She eyed his claymore lying on the floor a few feet away. “That looks real, though, not like one of our replicas.”
    “’Tis been bloodied enough in battle.” He dropped the cell phone into his sporran and moved to pick up the sword, swinging it over his head to slide into the scabbard on his back. “But ne’er has it struck a woman. Have ye a name, lass?”
    She was eyeing his sporran. A hot jolt shot to his groin and his shaft stirred at her intense scrutiny. But then he realized she wasn’t interested in his assets behind the sporran at all. She wanted that… cell phone.
    Her gaze lifted and she looked into his eyes. “Cassidy Gordan.”
    “Are ye of Clan Gordan then? To the southeast of Moray?”
    “I was born here, but my great-great grandparents came from Scotland.”
    Niall nodded. “Ye are part of us then.” He looked around the room again. “Have ye any other weapons?”
    Cassidy’s face became guarded. “Why?”
    From her expression, he knew there were, but she was still skittish as a kitten in front of a wolfhound and he had no wish to frighten her further. “Do ye have a sword with a gold handle in which sits a ruby?”
    Her eyes widened and shaded to forest green. Niall found himself fascinated. Women’s eyes often darkened like that while he bedded them…and then he chided himself. More like, she was still fearful of him. “If ye have such a sword, my lady, I must see it.”
    She glanced quickly at the open back room and then away. “Why would such a sword interest you? Your own is good.”
    “Aye, it is. But this sword could send me back.” He looked over her head. “Be it in that cabinet there?”
    “I can’t let you have it. The man who owns it would be very angry with me.”
    “Where is this man? I will make verra sure he understands.”
    She shook her head. “He’s out of the country right now. I would have to wait for him to return.”
    Niall raised a brow. “Then I guess ye have me for a guest. Do we sleep here? I see nae bed.”
    Rosy-pink flushed her face and Niall almost smiled. He loved how fair-skinned women so easily blushed. ‘Twas most becoming. And, now that he thought about it, pleasuring the lass in bed might be the way to persuade her to show him the sword. ‘Twas his duty, after all, to return to the MacBheatha.
    He smiled at Cassidy. “'Tis yer choice, lass. Show me the sword or have me spend the night in yer bed. I nae would mind a tumble with ye.”
    The blood drained from her face as she stared at him, her pupils dilated to make her eyes look black. Slowly, color returned as she tilted her head to consider him. And then, she laughed.
    Frowning, he widened his stance and squared his shoulders. “Ye think I jest?”
    “Oh, no,” she managed to say as she slid to the floor amidst uncontrollable bursts of near-hysterical laughter. “It’s just…funny.” And she giggled some more.
    It wasn’t quite the response he had hoped for. Was she addle-brained?
    ~ * ~
    Carlotta. It had to be Carlotta. Somehow, she had hired an actor… Cassidy really did not have a medieval Highlander standing in her store who’d just propositioned her. She glanced up through a curtain of hair. He certainly looked irate…and definitely all alpha male. She hiccupped, her laughter beginning to turn into a sob.
    He reached down, his large hands closing on her arms and lifted her up, setting her against the counter. “Are ye ill?”
    She shook her head and took a deep breath. As normalcy returned, she became aware of the warm tingle spreading through her from his touch as well as the very real fact that he had her backed up against the counter, trapping her with his body.
    “Okay,” she said