Read Online The Highlander's Haunted Kiss by Joanne Rock - Free Book Online

selfless love like Lily’s.
    â€œIt cannot be true!” She laid her head upon his chest, her hair close enough that he could smell the fragrant cinnamon and exotic spices that seemed to cling to her. “I cannot have found you only to lose you this way.”
    Above her, fireflies blinked in the darkness.
    â€œAlexander.” Iain called his brother while he stroked Lily’s silken hair. When his brother’s face appeared above him, he licked his dry lips. “She has not taken my place in the curse, has she? She is not cursed now?”
    Alexander would be able to tell. He had that kind of gift that Iain and Magnus did not.
    â€œNay. She does not have that light within her that we all do.”
    Relief coursed through him and his grip tightened on Lily’s shoulder just beneath her soft hair.
    â€œAnd mine is gone, too?” Iain didn’t have to ask. He could feel the stab of the arrow that would have only slowed him down in the past.
    Alexander’s eyes went to Iain’s chest. Then, his brother frowned.
    â€œWhat is it?” Iain asked.
    Lily lifted her head, her tear-stained cheeks hurting Iain more than any wound.
    â€œHoly hell.” Alexander yanked the arrow out with both hands, igniting a white-hot pain that radiated through Iain’s whole body.
    â€œOh, praise God,” Lily whispered. “Is his wound… What is happening?”
    Iain couldn’t hear anymore. The pain rattled him to his teeth and a white light took him so fast he wanted to pound his fist and curse the Fates. This was not how it was supposed to happen.

Chapter Six
    Lily’s eyes were gritty after six hours straight of staring at Iain’s near-lifeless body. Every second weighed upon her heart and soul as she watched his chest rise and fall, as she feared each breath could be his last on earth, her last moment to be with the one true love of her life.
    How could she have found such joy, with a man she wanted to claim for all time, only to lose him in an instant? Although every ounce of her being howled in pain, she refused to cry again. She would not allow even one more tear to blur whatever time she had left with him.
    It was almost dawn back in her bedchamber at Invergale. Alexander had carried Iain to the chamber through the passage that led to her room.
    When Iain shifted ever so slightly upon the bed linens, Lily’s heart halted. She’d lived in fear for hours. What if this was the end?
    â€œIain?” She tried not to allow a tremor into her voice.
    He moved again. Slightly. Just a shift of his leg on the tick. Still, that small movement stirred hope inside her.
    â€œI’m here,” she assured him, squeezing his hand.
    He opened his green eyes and focused on her, his gaze surprisingly clear.
    â€œI’m alive,” Iain croaked through dry lips.
    Lily nearly fainted from relief. She sank to his bedside and ran her hands over his bare shoulders where they emerged from the bed linens. Hope made her weak and strong all at once.
    â€œI barely dare believe it.” She hugged him so carefully. Actually, she just hugged half of him, wanting to avoid the wound in his chest. “Alexander said you might live when he pulled the arrow out. That the curse broke but in a different way than he thought. Instead of me turning immortal when I said I loved you, it ended up turning you mortal. So you could have died of your wounds except that—and this is the crazy part—he thinks the
Sidhe
might have let you live so that you could know what true love is.”
    â€œThat makes no sense.” Iain shifted to try sitting, but he could not move easily.
    â€œAlexander thinks your sister’s kidnapper loves her, and that the fae who hold her believe your clan will forgive them if you understand the powerful nature of those feelings.” She’d only half understood what Iain’s brother had been telling her while she’d sat vigil, she’d been