The Highlander's Dark Seduction (Secrets of the Darroch Clan) Read Free Page A

that no proper courtship would allow, yet there was something familiar and exciting about it all at once. Her body seemed to know his after their shared race through the forest, as if the size and breadth of his sinews had imprinted into her skin so that he no longer frightened her. As if she could trust him. Physically.
    The thought made her shiver.
    “Your friend did not explain about us?” Magnus asked, his voice a rumble in his chest against her shoulder as much as a sound in her ear. “Her new kin?”
    She gazed up at his rough-hewn features, seeing a masculine strength there that was less fearsome and more…safe. This was a man who protected women. A man who did not use his position to intimidate or belittle anyone. Awkwardly, she shifted her hand away from his arm, afraid of being caught touching him. Which was utterly ridiculous since they touched in so many other places.
    She could not even think about the way her hip rubbed his with each footfall of the giant beast that bore them through the mountains.
    “I had no idea Lily had wed again. Nor does her family.” Her father would be livid. Perhaps he would even disown her. “I fear she will not inherit if she has wed against her family’s wishes.”
    “She is a stiff, awkward little maid ill-suited to this life, but I know for certain she is in love with my brother. Yer friend cares naught for her father’s riches.” He covered Elizabeth’s head with one hand as they ducked sideways to avoid a low-lying branch.
    Another shiver plagued her and she wished she had her heavy cloak, but it remained packed in her bags strapped to the runaway carriage. The feel of Magnus’s hand in her hair tingled along her scalp even after he resumed his hold on the reins, his arm draped about her waist in the process.
    He spoke of love? The word chipped away at something inside her, even as it reminded her how foolish it would be to think on something so impossible for her. Men loved pretty, dainty girls, not tall, gangly maids like her.
    “Be that as it may, you said yourself that Lily is ill-suited to this life. It seems rife with danger.” The woods were less eerie here, but still dark and forbidding. “What chased us back there?”
    He remained silent for the space of two heartbeats. Then a third.
    “I told you, lass.” He spoke slowly as if to help her understand. “The
sidhe
. Fae. Magical folk. They have cursed the Darrochs for all time. Or at least, they did until your friend helped my brother break his curse with the gift of her love.”
    “You speak of love and magic and curses? That is the stuff of fable, sir,” Elizabeth scoffed, unwilling to believe in things she could never have for herself. Her hand in marriage was an asset to barter for her family’s social standing. She’d known that from the time she was a small child. Love was not an option for her.
    She stared out at the landscape in the darkness as her companion guided the horse up one rocky path after another. When stones fell away from the animal’s hooves she feared they could be next to roll down a mountainside. In the distance, she heard the rush of a brook or river, but other than that the night was still and quiet save the clomp of hooves and the occasional breaking of branches.
    “Aye. My whole life is a cursed fable then,” Magnus grumbled, his words harsh and bitter. “It is better you are a practical lass. ‘Tis safer for you that way.”
    “Safer how?” She had dismissed the idea of love outright. Strange how that seemed even more of a fairy-tale notion than magical fae or whatever else it was he spoke of.
    “A sensible girl will not be lured into a world where you have no place.” The horse stumbled and Magnus gripped her upper thigh, anchoring her to him.
    Her palm landed on his chest, her fingers finding purchase in the fabric of the wool plaid. Her gaze flicked up to his and their gazes met. Held.
    The small hairs on the back of her neck lifted as a pleasurable sensation