Untamed Hearts (A Highland Hearts Novella) (Entangled Edge) Read Free Page A

of the consequences. And she could only imagine one thing that would worry such a fearsome warrior…the swaying noose of marriage.
    “Is that what Eric needs to do to get ye before the priest, Jonet? Get up there, lad, and give her another kiss!” Donald yelled out, but Jonet kept her attention on the intense gaze of the stranger. It wasn’t a staring contest, but she felt almost tethered to his look, curious as to what shocking thing he might do next. The kiss had been scandalous enough, all hot and wet and slanting. And right there before the crowd. Thank the good Lord he’d kept his proposal close to her ear.
    He opened his sensuous mouth to say something but then closed it again. A laugh bubbled from her lips. Had she punished him enough? Aye, perhaps. She winked at him and turned away to greet the next man in line. Luckily, the blemish-pocked young lad just gave her a peck. But next up was Eric.
    “Aye, give a Druim warrior another chance, lass,” a friend of Eric’s called. The man switched to Gaelic. “No kisses for those who don’t belong here.” The man glanced at the pirate and crossed his arms over his broad chest. Eric grunted and heartily agreed.
    Jonet hid her sigh in what she hoped was a kind smile. Poor Eric had asked her to wed with him just a fortnight ago, and she’d turned him down. She’d been married once when she was a maid of sixteen. Machar had been much older than she and died during a raid the following year. Since then, Jonet had been waiting for her grand knight to sweep her off her feet, and guarded against tying herself to another horrible man. Eric was not that knight.
    “A kiss for a day’s work,” she said and leaned forward. Instead of the expected, sweet kiss on the lips for a count of five, Eric slid his hand through her hair, half dragging her across the table. His rough hold pushed her head to the side as he butted his tongue up against her clenched lips. Jonet grabbed his wrists and tried to wrench away, though she couldn’t move. She would’ve kicked him if she’d been before him instead of lying halfway across the table.
    With an abrupt yank, Eric broke the attack. Jonet cursed and pawed her hair out of her face in time to see Eric hit the ground on his arse so hard he flipped backward to land stomach-down amongst the tall grass. Jonet held her breath and a hand across her mouth. Will stood beside the table, his hands in fists by his sides. The crowd stood quiet for several heartbeats as Eric pushed up onto his knees.
    Will swiveled to look into the hard eyes of the Druim men. “Where I come from, if a woman pulls back, ye let her go.”
    Hugh, captain of the guard, lifted Eric from the ground. “What goes on here?” he asked in Gaelic. Will looked at him but didn’t respond with words, though his hand moved to the curved sword strapped to his side.
    “Eric was given the wrong impression,” Jonet answered in English and glanced at Will, the one responsible for the wrong impression. “That signing up for a day’s worth of work on the orphans’ home gave him permission to ravish my mouth.” She scrunched her face at Eric even though he was busy trying to glare a hole through Will.
    “Ye’ll kiss a stranger like ye’re tupping him,” Eric defended, “but not one of yer clan. And then the rest of ye stand around and let him attack one of yer own.”
    Caden strode briskly forward with Meg waddling behind him. “Looks like ye had it coming, Eric,” he said low. The chief of the Macbains took in the small group that had grown grim. “This is Will Wyatt, second in command of the Queen Siren and now a brother to Ewan.”
    “Ewan?” Jonet asked. She scanned the crowd and saw him walking toward them. “Ewan Brody!” she yelled and circled the side of the table. She and Ann ran up to him and wrapped him in a three-way hug.
    Ewan laughed and hugged back. Thunder rumbled overhead though the sun still shone, but Jonet didn’t care. Ewan was back and whole.