Read Online Highlander Unchained by Monica McCarty - Free Book Online Page B

protect her.”
    “I don’t need—” She stopped, realizing that her very presence in his keep was proof to the contrary. She lifted her chin. “My mother protected me.”
    “But your mother is gone.” He stated it simply, as a fact, but she flinched as if he’d struck her.
    She turned to him with such a look of despair in her eyes, it cut him to the quick. “I’m well aware of that,” she said softly.
    He felt a strong urge to comfort her but held it back. Feeling sorry for her would only complicate matters. He couldn’t allow compassion to interfere. But he didn’t miss the flash of loneliness.
    “And yet for all your protesting to the contrary, you’ve implicitly acknowledged that there is some benefit to marriage.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Do you forget your betrothed already?”
    Her cheeks fired. “Of course not.”
    But it was clear she had. “So was it protection or love, Flora?” he asked quietly. The answer was somehow important. He wouldn’t consider the other possibility—passion.
    She looked away. “Lord Murray was my choice.”
    She’d said as much before. He was beginning to understand what might have caused her to elope. “Rory would not force you to wed.” Which was the very reason he was in this predicament. He needed her agreement.
    A wry smile turned her lips. “You know him so well?”
    “Well enough. He’s spoken of you.”
    It surprised her. “He has?”
    She tried to hide her eagerness by shifting her gaze to her plate, but not before Lachlan had glimpsed the yearning. Did she think her family had forgotten her?
    “Of course. You are his sister.” He saw the disappointment in her face, and before he could stop himself he added, “He cares about you.”
    Her eyes brightened, and he felt a sharp tug in his chest. This urge to please her was dangerous, and one that he would need to keep a tight rein on.
    “Even so,” she countered, “my cousin might.”
    The Earl of Argyll. Lachlan masked his reaction, understanding too well why she would fear her cousin’s interference. Her fear was warranted. Although Rory controlled her marriage, he—like Lachlan—had entered into a bond of manrent with Argyll. That alone gave Argyll plenty of influence in the decision.
    “Your cousin has a habit of interfering where he does not belong.”
    “And I’ve seen too often the misery that type of interference can bring. When I marry, if I marry, it will be my decision and no one else’s. Not my brothers’, not my cousin’s, but mine.”
    She spoke with such passion, he knew that this was the crux of understanding her. Her elopement was not simply the actions of a spoiled, headstrong girl, as he’d first thought. There was a far deeper reason. A real fear behind her actions. It wasn’t marriage itself she feared, but being forced into it.
    He tested his theory. “But it isn’t a woman’s right to make such decisions. Like it or not, the choice of your husband doesn’t belong to you.”
    She looked at him as if he’d struck her. The irony, of course, was that she had more power than she realized. But perhaps it was better for his purposes if she remained unsure.
    “So it’s a woman’s lot to be bartered to the highest bidder?”
    It was rather crude when put that way, but accurate nonetheless. “It is.”
    “Well, it’s a lot I do not accept.” A glint of steel appeared in her eyes. “Headstrong” was putting it mildly. He would need to tread carefully, but time was a constant weapon.
    He suspected the source of her discontent. He knew something of Janet Campbell. Like her daughter, Janet had been one of the most sought-after heiresses of her day. Married to four powerful Highland chiefs. Unhappily, it was said. “Your mother was wrong to put such ideas in your head.”
    “You presume too much. You don’t know anything about my mother.” Her hand went to a large pendant she wore around her neck.
    Suddenly, his entire body froze. He nearly ripped it out of her