Read Online Highland Jewel (Highland Brides) by Lois Greiman - Free Book Online Page A

widow."
    "Aye, me liege," answered Colin dutifully and catching the loose horses, strode merrily toward the trees, stopping only long enough to wink at Devona.
    Her back stiffened as she stared down at him. "And why do you grin like a demented fool?"
    "Na reason, dear lady," he said, then laughed aloud, throwing back his golden head and thinking her temper was a marvelous thing. "Na reason atall."
     
    Leith held Rose gently, watching her lovely face in silence. He'd removed the woolen cloth from her head, baring the winterberry-auburn of her flowing hair.
    "Awaken, lass," he ordered gently.
    Rose heard the heavy burr of Leith's voice as if it came from a great distance.
    "Open yer eyes, lassie," he whispered, so close to her ear she could feel the vibrations of his voice. "Or I will kiss ye awake."
    Her eyes snapped open.
    The rogue was smiling.
    "Ah," Leith breathed softly, caught in the glorious depths of her violet eyes. "So I now ken how to make ye obey." His smile deepened as he touched her cheek. "Threaten ye with kisses."
    She blinked twice. He was so near he made her head spin, or was it the strange weakness that seemed to lay like a soaked coverlet upon her limbs? "What happened?" she whispered groggily.
    "Ye are such a frail thing." He caressed her cheek with the pads of his fingers. "Ye swooned," he murmured. "And after only three days of starvation and many miles on yonder nag's jolting back."
    There was humor in the warm depths of his eyes. She could see it and felt drawn irresistibly to it. "I... " She blinked again, realizing for the first time that he held her in his arms. "I fell?"
    "Like a stone, lassie."
    "Oh." Never in her life had she fainted. What would have caused her to do so now? Oh, yes.
    It wasn't the hard days of riding or the gnawing hunger she remembered, but the kiss. He had kissed the dark-haired widow—damn his worthless hide.
    "Let me up," she ordered now, struggling to rise, but he held her in place with no obvious effort.
    "Ye will stay as ye are," he said casually.
    "I will not." Anger streamed back to her senses. Not long before he'd been kissing the widow. Now he held her as if he had every right to do so. "I will get up!"
    "Ye willna." Their gazes caught and kindled. "Ye are as weak as a newborn cub. Ye will eat before ye move."
    "No!" she argued, incensed by his imperial manner.
    "Then..." He leaned closer, the ends of his loose sable hair falling upon her robe. "... I will kiss ye."
    Breath whistled down her throat as she leaned back into his arms, which were hard and broad, strong with sinew and muscle. "You wouldn't dare!" she said, but her denial was little more than a whisper.
    "Aye, lass." His vow was a husky assurance. "I would."
    "The Lord would surely strike you dead."
    Leith stared at her in wonder before tilting up his lips slightly. Small wrinkles appeared beside that sensual mouth and bracketed the outer corners of his deep-hued eyes. "Ye must think well of yerself indeed, lass, to believe the Lord would take such offense to a simple kiss. When in truth..." He bent lower, until his lips were mere inches from hers. "... I spoke to Him regarding the matter. He said He had no objections."
    Rose could find no words. Her heart thundered like a thousand stampeding horses, and her gaze was caught on his mouth, which was sensuously curved and dangerously near.
    "He said," Leith whispered smokily, "that though ye are marvelously well-meaning, ye were na crafted to be a nun. Ye were made to be a woman—and kissed well and often."
    "Blasphemy." She meant it as a denunciation, but the strange, breathless tone more closely resembled a plea. "You would not dare." She meant to turn her gaze from his—to search for some help, but her eyes would not leave the dark, alluring features before her. Still, she must try to fight.
    "Your... your brother would stop you," she murmured weakly.
    Leith raised his brows at her. It was an odd assessment of his relationship with Colin, he thought.