Read Online Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn - Free Book Online Page A

She might take rest against the broad, fit chest behind her and bask in the wind in her hair
     and the sun on her face. But her whole life was built around warnings and danger. She could not so carelessly cast her lessons
     away. Not even nestled in the embrace of a man whose body would haunt her dreams for years to come. By all that was holy,
     she understood now why Eve had given in to temptation in the Garden. Davina knew Rob MacGregor was hard and lean from touching
     him last eve, but seeing all that male striding toward her in the light of morn sparked a longing of wanting to belong to
     him. It was what the Abbess called “a base desire,” primitive, unholy. Rob MacGregor was unholy for certain, with a sinewy,
     broad chest feathered with dark hair and a belly carved in small, tight squares. The most sinful of all though was the sensual
     V curve of muscles below his abdomen, as if they sprang from someplace beneath his low-hanging plaid. It was that image that
     had invaded her thoughts when he lifted her into his newly padded saddle this morn and then leaped up behind her. His scent
     had rushed to her head, intensifying the warmth of his muscles, the intimacy of his arms closing around her.
    A base desire it might be, but what warm-blooded female would not want a man like that to stand beside her when the world
     she knew fell apart? And it wasn’t simply his strength that tempted her, but his complete command over the situation. The
     way he’d made certain nothing appeared unnatural at the camp, the careful path he set them on that would leave the least tracks.
     He was deliberate in his thinking, never second-guessing himself or what the others around him thought of his decisions. It
     stirred her hope that this Highlander was indeed able to protect her. That he might truly mean to—at least for now. But she
     didn’t trust hope. Not anymore.
    “Tell me, lass.” The naturally deep baritone of Rob’s voice behind her sent unfamiliar, unwanted heat down her spine. “Why
     does an English lady bear a Scottish name?”
    Her back stiffened with the return of caution. “Why do you assume I am English?” she asked, keeping her eyes steady ahead.
    “Ye speak like them, and ye’re well mannered.”
    The heavy lilt in his voice played like a melody against her ear, soothing her nerves, but not enough to completely relax
     her guard. He was clever. He’d already proven that at the camp and the way he’d tricked her with his query about loving Edward.
    “I was raised by English nuns. Do you expect me to be troublesome?”
    “I didna’ know they were English,” he said pensively, giving her a moment of true dread that she might have, once again, said
     too much. “But ye were raised with more men than women and ye still possess all the propriety of a well-bred lady.”
    Now she did turn to look him in his eyes, misgivings about him clearly showing in hers. “And who informed you that I was raised
     with men? Those soldiers might have been visiting St. Christopher’s, as you claim to have been doing.”
    “Yer arrow piercin’ me from within the Abbey informed me.” His voice dipped with the hint of what could have been humor. She
     wasn’t certain, since he hadn’t offered her even the barest trace of a smile since he awoke this morning. “A lass doesna’
     master that kind of skill unless she’s been taught fer many years.”
    Yes, he was clever… and without a doubt, the finest-looking man she’d ever set her eyes on. For a shameful instant, she wondered
     how he would look with those obsidian curls falling loose around his face instead of being tied back neatly from it. Was he
     always so serious, so in control? God forgive her, why was she curious about the savage side of his character? She knew that
     part of him existed somewhere beyond his rigid composure. She’d seen a spark of something purely feral in his eyes when she
     attacked him last eve. It frightened her and heightened her