Taming the Scotsman Read Free Page A

and cursed again.
    Nora gasped and spun about to give him her back, even though a tiny, wicked part of her wanted to stare at all that lush strength and tawny skin.
    He was truly a fierce man.
    One of brawny, unrefined power and handsomeness.
    She could hear him cursing even more and grabbing his clothes, then pulling them on, and all the while she felt Ewan’s glower. It was hot, powerful and terrifying, and it set her to trembling.
    “How could you have done such an lack-witted, cursed thing?” he snarled. “Whatever got into your mind that made you pick me to say you ran off with?”
    “Please,” she said, her voice soft and pleading. “I can’t marry Ryan MacAren. He is egotistical and arrogant. He smells of bad hygiene and eggs—” She shuddered at the memory of that one. “He likes to eat raw eggs, which is a disgusting habit to say the least, and now that I think on it, it is probably his most endearing one. I would sooner die than wed him.”
    Ewan growled again. “The last time a womansaid those words to me, I believed her, and it caused a feud for my clan that resulted in the deaths of untold men and women on both sides of it. It cost my brother his life and his soul, and it sent my father to his grave as well. Now I ask you, why should I give a witch’s damn about what happens to you when I don’t even know you at all?”
    Nora was baffled by his words. “Someone else ran from Ryan MacAren and caused a feud for the MacAllisters?”
    He came around her to glare. A vein throbbed in his temple as he narrowed his eyes ominously. “Are you trying to anger me more?”
    “Nay. I’m not trying to anger you at all. I am only trying to gain your help. I can pay you, if that’s your concern.”
    “I have no need of your money.”
    Ewan had never in his life met a woman like her. How dare she come in here and ask him such a thing?
    Surely she had no more sense than a leek pea. What kind of woman would traipse alone into a man’s home and ask him, a total stranger, to lead her astray of her parents?
    And as he stared at her, he wondered just how much like Isobail she really was.
    Just how far would she go to gain his help…
    He gave her a hot, lustful once-over and let his gaze linger meaningfully on her breasts. “Is there anything else you would offer me?”
    She blinked at him once as if not understanding, but as he watched, her amber eyes sparked.
    She gasped, then raked a repugnant stare over him that duplicated his own. There was no guile or artifice about her. She was truly offended by his question.
    “Och now,” she said, curling her lip, “you are foul to even make such a suggestion to a well-bred lady. How dare you! Well, never you mind. I’ll be finding my own way to England and not be in your presence another moment.”
    He was surprised by her words and her indignant reaction.
    Huffily she gathered her skirts into her hands and gave him one more sneer for good measure. “You are a crude, ale-smelling beastie, and I have no use for such a man. Better I should go alone to my aunt’s than have to deal with the likes of you. I should have never come here.”
    Now she had that thought?
    Ewan caught her arm as she started past him. “How did you get here?”
    She glared at his hand on her arm. “I rode a horse until I reached your mountain and then I walked.”
    “Is that how you intend to get to England?”
    “Aye. I’ll crawl there on my hands and knees if needs be.”
    “You’ll never make it alone.”
    She gave him a hard, determined stare. “Then I shall die trying.”
    He saw red again. “The bloody hell you will. I’m taking you home to your clan.”
    “Never.”
    His jaw twitched. In all his life he had never had a woman infuriate him so. Women were either too terrified or too lust-filled in his presence to do much more than nod or giggle. But this one…this one made his blood boil.
    “You think I won’t?” he asked her.
    She snatched her arm free of his grasp. “I