Read Online Taming the Scotsman by Kinley MacGregor - Free Book Online

don’t make it to England and am forced to marry Ryan, I was just wondering if that would be way to ease the misery of the life I’m sure he’ll give me.”
    With three strikes, he felled the tree.
    He waited until it was down before he spoke again. “Have you ever met this man you are betrothed to?”
    “Aye, many times.”
    “Is he truly insufferable, then?”
    She shivered at the thought of Ryan. They hadnever gotten along, and in truth, she couldn’t believe he wanted to wed her given their mutual distaste.
    “You can’t imagine. He is beastly. He looks at me and sees nothing but my purse. I speak and he turns away.” She shook her head. “How I wish I were a man. If I were, I would never waste my life hiding away.”
    “Judge not lest ye be judged.”
    “I know, but still it makes no sense. You are in complete control of your life and yet you do nothing with it. I, on the other hand, must do as I am told. I can’t just leave whenever I choose.”
    “Is that not what you’ve done?”
    “Aye, and at what cost? My maid and servant will like as not be punished for it, and you would hand me back over to my father in an instant if I told you who he was.”
    Ewan thought about that. He’d never given much thought to what it would be like to be a woman. He’d always taken his freedom for granted.
    She was right; he answered to no one.
    He was his own man with no ties to anyone except his family.
    Ewan paused and looked at her. “If you were free, what would you do?”
    She shrugged prettily. “I know not. Travel perhaps. I’ve always wanted to see Aquitaine. My mother has such marvelous stories about the acresof vineyards there. She says there’s not a more beautiful place on this earth. Or perhaps I would go to Rome. Make a pilgrimage. Have you ever been to the Holy Land?”
    “Nay.”
    Her face fell. “Oh. My aunt went. She had a marvelous time there.”
    She unpinned a brooch from her dress, then moved forward to show it to him. “She gave me this. She said she bought it from a crusader who was selling items so that he could gain enough money to return home.”
    Ewan studied the piece. It was a knight on horseback who bore a cross on his shield, and was indeed a pilgrim’s badge.
    He tightened his grip on it.
    Was it possible that she really could be who and what she claimed?
    Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it couldn’t be. For all her sincerity, it wasn’t possible for the niece of the most powerful woman in Christendom to have shown up in his cave without escort. Eleanor’s niece would be a woman of unquestionable value.
    Under careful guard at all times.
    She would never be allowed to just leave her father’s house on so foolish a quest. Not without every member of the guard being raised.
    He handed it back to her.
    Her fingers brushed his, sending an unexpected jolt through him.
    She was so soft and she smelled so feminine and warm. Closing his eyes, he inhaled her scent.
    She was so tender.
    Truly a morsel worth savoring.
    Nora trembled at the look on his face. She’d been kissed only once before. It had been quick and rather slimy. The event was so distasteful that she had never wanted to repeat it, and yet as she stood there alone with Ewan, sharing her wishes with him, she felt a strange desire to taste his lips.
    He bent his head down.
    Instinctively she rose up on her tiptoes.
    He reached out with one large hand and tipped her chin up toward him. In one heartbeat, he lowered his head and took possession of her mouth.
    Nora moaned at the intimate contact and at the taste of him mixed with ale. His tongue brushed hers, making her entire body quiver.
    Of their own accord her arms rose up and wrapped themselves around his bare shoulders so that she could feel his muscles bunch and flex underneath her hands.
    He was sweaty and hot, and she should be revolted by his smell, but she wasn’t. He truly didn’t stink. It was a pleasant manly scent, and the sensation of his wet skin