Read Online The Capture of Highland Desire (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) by Kella McKinnon - Free Book Online Page B

dim.  Then Edith and Bridget set about dressing her for dinner, insisting she change her gown and style her hair.  She let them do what they would.
    S he emerged from the chamber in a beautiful new gold colored gown, cut so low across her breasts that she had the urge to keep tugging it up, and her hair had been fixed so that some of it was piled on her head while a few wavy strands tumbled down to frame her face.  The girls had even added a little rouge and some kohl for her eyes.  Despite everything, she did feel pretty.  She found her mind wandering to Eian, wondering if he would think she looked nice…  Would he be at dinner tonight, one of the ‘important guests’?  Last night he had been sitting at a lower table halfway to the door, so perhaps not.  She had managed to find out more about him from the maids, who were only too eager to gush about Eian Mac Coinnach, one of the most eligible yet unobtainable bachelors in all of Scotia, apparently.  Yes, he certainly had that aire about him.
                  She had learned that he was the youngest of three brothers, the oldest of whom was Bren Mac Coinnach, clan chief and Laird of Creagmor.  The whole Mac Coinnach family had some sort of mystique surrounding them, and there was even a rumor that they practiced magic, like her own extended family.  Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but it didn’t change the fact that Eian Mac Coinnach had reportedly slept with more women than even he could count.  A different one every night, the maids had said.  Sometimes even several at once, or so said the rumors, they had tittered in hushed tones.  Well, his libido certainly wasn’t in question, and his dark good looks alone could seduce almost any woman she had ever met. If Eian Mac Coinnach had been born in the 21st century, Allia mused as she made her way down the stairs, he would ride a motorcycle, for certain, and wear faded jeans and a leather jacket.  Quite likely, he'd be a rock star or a sexy Hollywood actor.  He would be the life of every party and live hard and fast, surrounded by throngs of wanna-bes attracted by his remarkable charisma and magnetic aura of devil-may-care danger.  That was just the kind of man he was, no matter what the century.  And then he had a little bit of that whole dark and dangerous warrior thing going on to perfectly complement his hard earned bad-boy reputation.  Top it all off with that body of a Greek God, and he was lethal to any woman’s virtue.  Even she herself was not immune, not by a long shot.  And that kind of man wasn't going to be changed by anything short of a miracle.  Good thing she wasn’t just any woman; she was one that knew better.  But is it terribly wrong to be flattered he’s made me a target? And would that make it even more wrong to fantasize about what it would be like to have a man like that naked in my bed?  Not as long as it stayed a fantasy, she decided, after all, she was only human.
                  Womanly fantasies aside, Allia had to admit that her enlightening conversation with the maids left her feeling… well, vaguely disappointed.  Had she actually been hoping deep down that Eian was different than that?  That he actually liked her ?  Now she was more certain than ever that she was no more to him than another conquest.  Must be her status as the Laird’s niece.  Or maybe she was the only single woman around he hadn’t slept with yet and he wanted to mark her off his list.  At any rate, he was definitely not dating material, and apparently she needed to keep telling herself that. Not that women and men really dated in this time, especially not in the ruling families.  Women, and often even men, had little choice in potential marriage partners; the right alliances were much more important.  Good thing she was dead set on staying out of any and all romantic entanglements anyway.  Nothing could be allowed to stand in her way if she needed to