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

skipped along her skin. In the moonlight,at close range, she could see now that his eyes were green flecked with gold. A bright spring green like new leaves unfurled.
    Or was it a trick of the light again?
    “Then it’s a good thing I’m very sensible,” she murmured, to herself as much as him. Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling terribly levelheaded at the moment.
    She also wasn’t feeling the least bit plain. Or tall and awkward. Next to Magnus, she felt—
proportional
, at least.
    Amazing how that sensation soothed her heart. She found herself wondering what a protective warrior’s kiss felt like. If she was dreaming this strange journey, she would be quite irritated with herself if she woke up without knowing.
    Her pulse pounded faster. Harder. Her throat went dry as her gaze dipped to Magnus’s well-shaped mouth, the lower lip full and soft, the upper one perfectly sculpted.
    “Dinna look at me thus, fair one,” Magnus growled softly, his voice a hoarse whisper. “I have travelled too far to bring ye safely to Invergale. I will nae risk—”
    Not listening to a word, Elizabeth screwed up her courage. Told her practical side to close her eyes. And kissed Magnus Darroch.

Chapter Two
    Elizabeth was more tempting than a
sidhe
beauty sent to undermine his cause and make him forget his own name with her feminine wiles.
    Magnus had withstood sensual onslaughts by skilled and knowing
fae
females who sought to distract him from his sworn duty to protect the door into the human world at Invergale. Ever since he’d been cursed as a time-walker along with his brothers, Magnus had worked tirelessly to prevent the
sidhe
enemy from working their dark magic on mere mortals.
    Elizabeth’s kiss was no dark magic though. The tentative brush of her lips over his was like an angel’s sigh, soft and sweet. The silk of her skirts grazed his bare calf on one side of the mount, her slight curves all the more apparent now that he cradled her in his arms for the ride to Invergale. With every jostle of the horse, her hip shifted slightly against his abdomen, teasing a response from him that proved wretchedly inconvenient for a man charged with her safety.
    But that angelic kiss…
    She smelled like lavender and roses, her hair sliding loose from the confines of twined plaits. He wanted to bury his nose in the golden silk, but he needed to resist that urge as much as he needed to tamp down the desire to explore her mouth more thoroughly. Or the yearning to rein in the mare and find a soft spot among the pine needles to lay down this tender female and answer all the hesitant sensual interest her kiss revealed.
    And yet, even if he hadn’t been a cursed man, he had no business touching her. Now or ever. She would not remain in his world for long.
    Easing away from her with more regret than she would ever imagine, Magnus broke off the kiss. He forced his features into a bland expression, an effort almost undone when he noticed her eyes were still closed, her dark lashes fanned over creamy cheeks tinged with a rosy blush. His keen, predatory eyes saw all this despite the late hour, his senses as sharp as a hound’s after decades of searching for an enemy who could move like quicksilver.
    But he did not believe in losing his judgment to the wiles of a woman, not after seeing the way his father’s love for a
sidhe
female had cursed the family for an eternity.
    “Elizabeth.” His voice, at least, contained the right amount of brusqueness to startle her eyes open. Little did she know the rasp in it was the result of ruthless restraint on his desire for her.
    “I don’t know what came over me.” A hand flew to her cheek. To cover her blush or to cool it, perhaps, with her fingers? “I keep thinking that I am dreaming and that I will awaken any moment, but that does not excuse…” She shook her head, brow furrowed lightly.
    Although she attempted to shift away from him, their nearness was a matter of safety so he could not afford to