Read Online Highland Scandal by Mageela Troche - Free Book Online Page A

overtook her, freeing her so she caressed him, holding him to her. She raised her bent legs up, bringing him deeper.
    “Lachlan,” she cried out.
    “Not yet, my love.”
    Her scorching walls coiled. “Not yet, my love,” he panted, repeating himself in prayer and gratefulness. He pumped into her, shallow strokes.
    Then she fell apart, sucking him in her waves. He spilled his seed and crumpled in boneless mess atop her. He buried his head in her neck. He luxuriated in the scent of sex that clung to her and seeped into her pores.
    His bones solidified and he rolled off her. He tucked her tight to him. Drying sweat stuck their skin together. He should have snuck away before being discovered. He found he couldn’t leave.
    When he got breath back in his chest, he whispered sweet Gaelic words. Ones that he always yearned to say, but could not risk it. This night, he planned to say all that was in his heart. He had broken his vow never to lay with her and risked everything he had earned to be with her.
    “Stay with me.”
    “We could be discovered, and I do not want to ruin your life.”
    “Just for the night. Stay.”
    “That is the problem I want more than a night…but if that is all I can have, then I shall.”
    She tossed a leg over him and rested her head on his chest. Her hair brushed against his nose and lips and he loved it. Her feminine, supple weight lulled him into slumber. He fought it. Tonight, he refused to miss a moment of holding her. He listened as she fell asleep.
    With Rowen in his arms, he’d risk all. The land he rented out. The standing he held with MacLean and Caelen even the war that might rage if the events of this night were unearthed.
    This was their night. The night when two worlds lost the boundaries between love and duty. He curled the other arm around her and held her.
    Perhaps, he’d steal her away. He could hire out his sword.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Rowen bunched her leine’s hem about her knees and ran. Her life was in danger. She peeked over her shoulder. They were catching up to her. Connor led his band of warriors that included his little brother, a couple of the castle’s children, and the castle hounds.
    Between the barks and cries of excitement, she heard the thump of Connor’s bare feet. His leine reached his knees and revealed his legs pumping to match her long stride.
    “You shall not get me.”
    She darted in the opposite direction and added her screams with the children’s one bouncing off the hall’s walls.
    That she was running about when she felt sore only proved how wonderful she felt. She couldn’t stop grinning, and playing with the children gave her an excuse for it. She couldn’t tell anyone that Lachlan had slept at her side and when sun broke over the mountains, she rose with him, stealing another kiss. As much as it stung her after he left her chamber, she sighed with pleasure. Lachlan loved her. She had given him her virginity and part of her that she wished to share only with him. Eacharn would learn of her deception on her wedding night and she couldn’t care.
    She wrapped her arms around her middle and hugged herself tightly. Lachlan’s manly scent seemed to have seeped into her pores. She still smelled him on her.
    She stopped short, flaying her arms about as one of the hounds jumped up on her. Connor grabbed handfuls of her skirts. She plopped down on the floor.
    Connor aimed his wooden sword at her. “You’re my prisoner.”
    Rowen held up her arms. “I surrender, my good sir.”
    The children jumped up and down, cheering.
    “What will you ransom her for?” Ailsa bounced Sioda on her hip.
    “A thousand rubies,” Connor held his sword aloft.
    “What do you say to some treats? Mrs. MacBheath has some apple tarts. After you have eaten your ransom, perhaps the rain has stopped and you can run about the courtyard.”
    Connor and his bloodthirsty band sprinted toward the kitchen.
    Rowen rose. As she dusted off her clothing, she