The Wicked Ways of Alexander Kidd (The MacGregors: Highland Heirs) Read Free

said.”
    Andersen nodded.
    “Very good. Then I’ve one last condition before I allow ya aboard me ship.”
    “What is it?”
    “Pay fer our drinks. Do ya agree to these conditions?”
    “Aye, Captain.”
    Alex grinned at him. “Then welcome to
Poseidon’s Adventure
. We sail at dawn.” He cut his dark gaze across the room, to the woman who had waved at him earlier. She crooked her finger at him now. He sprang to his feet with the grace of a great cat and smoothed back any stray strands of chestnut hair that had fallen over his forehead. Tonight was a good night. He felt redeemed, released from a weight he’d carried for years. He wanted to celebrate. “Andersen,” he said on his way. “Ya’re in charge of me coat and hat. Guard them well, or ’twill cost ya a finger.”
    He grinned, turning fully to address his crew. “I’ll meet ya all in an hour to stock the ship. Until then, enjoy yarselves. Who knows when we’ll be ashore again?”
    He smiled at the woman rising from her chair at his approach. She was eager to be pillaged and he was willing to oblige.

Chapter Two
    C aitrina Grant hurried toward her father’s solar, her blood thrashing like a storm through her veins. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. Her father would never have consented to a marriage between her and Hugh MacDonald, and never without telling her!
    She paused a moment in her tracks. What if her father was tired of her refusing every offer of marriage that came to her? What in blazes would she do if it was true?
    She came to the solar door and heard her parents laughing inside. She knocked and then, without waiting for an invitation, she plunged inside.
    Her parents were locked in each other’s embrace and came apart slowly upon seeing her. Caitrina was used to seeing them showing their affection for each other. She hated to be the one to ruin their evening but they needed to talk.
    “Tell me it isna’ true,” she pleaded, moving like a rushing wind toward them. “Tell me ye havena’ promised me to Hugh MacDonald.”
    When her father looked away, guilt plaguing his vividblue eyes, she knew it was true. “How could ye?” she demanded. “Ye know I dinna’ want to wed anyone!”
    “Cait, sit doun,” her mother offered. “Let us speak of this like—”
    “I dinna’ wish to sit,” she insisted, desperation marring her voice. “Mother, we have spoken of this already. I want more than to be a wife and a mother. I want to know what else is oot there fer me!”
    “Daughter,” her father tried a bit more soothingly. “Ye don’t know what the world is like beyond Skye.”
    “I wish to find oot.”
    “There are dangers at every turn,” he continued over her. “I cannot… I will not take the chance of any calamity befallin’ ye. We love ye and we don’t want to see ye alone. Ye need a good, strong man to see to yer comfort and yer protection. Ye’ve turned down everyone who has asked fer yer hand, but ’tis time—”
    She shook her head and went to her father. “Papa, please,” she begged him, taking hold of his sleeve. “Dinna’ sentence me to a life of such tedium. Ye know I dislike sewin’. I canna’ cook. I dinna’ want to read aboot other peoples’ adventures. I want to live them fer myself.”
    Connor Grant let out a long sigh and turned to her mother. “She’s just like ye, Mairi.” His wife nodded her head, which did little for Caitrina’s cause since, if all the tales she heard were true, Mairi MacGregor had once been an active spy with a group of militia who hunted down those who tried to maintain their doctrine as sole religion in Scotland.
    “We’re proscribed, Caitrina,” her father reminded her. “The instant ye leave Camlochlin yer life would be in danger. I’m sorry, but I cannot allow ye the life ye desire.”
    Her eyes filled up with tears and she looked toward hermother for help. None came. No! She loved her parents but she would not obey them in this. Not this.
    She ran from