Read Online The Trouble with Highlanders by Mary Wine - Free Book Online Page B

slapped the crop harder. She jerked in spite of her resolve to remain still. He chuckled softly, sickeningly.
    â€œYes. Yer back. Just think, me lovely Daphne. The priest will nae see any bruises along yer back. But ye’ll feel them with every thrust.”
    He tapped her gently with the end of the riding crop, drawing it down her spine until her bound hands interfered.
    â€œNeither will they gain ye a single bit of silver, for me clan has naught. Ye’ll be saddled with a bride without a dowry.”
    He let out a sharp whistle.
    â€œUnbind her, and hold her steady.”
    Two of his men obeyed quickly. One sliced through the strip of fabric they’d torn from the bottom of her skirt to bind her, and separated her hands. They pulled her arms out to her sides, crushing her wrists in their grips because they didn’t temper their strength.
    â€œSwear to take yer vows.”
    â€œNae.”
    The crop landed on her back and sent her pitching forward as pain burned through her. While the men held her in place, she sucked in a deep breath and held it to maintain her dignity.
    â€œThink of how much pain ye want to endure tonight, when I have ye on yer back beneath me, Daphne. I promise to ride ye half a dozen times before dawn.” The crop sailed through the morning air again.
    She jerked as it landed, and pain tore through her once more. It felt like it lasted longer this time, but she refused to believe it. She could endure.
    She must.
    â€œYe’ll feel every bruise while I fuck ye.”
    The crop sliced through the air and struck a third place, and then a fourth quickly thereafter.
    â€œLaird!”
    Daphne was suddenly free. She stumbled and turned around to see Morrell looking behind them.
    â€œGod damn ye!” he snarled, jerking back to glare at her. “Sutherland is here!”
    And the man was in a rage too. She could hear Norris roaring. His men echoed the battle cry. It mixed with the pounding sound of the approaching horses. Morrell ran to his stallion and swung up onto the back of the beast. With a vicious jerk, he sent the animal charging straight at her. Too late, Daphne turned and ran, but Morrell leaned over and hooked her. Agony twisted through her back, but she refused to yield to it. She kicked and twisted, prying at the hand holding her against the side of the horse. She might well end up trampled beneath the hooves of the beast, but she preferred it to submission to Morrell Comyn.
    â€œIf ’tis a broken neck ye crave, so be it!”
    Morrell Comyn cursed her and released her. She tumbled to the ground, curling into a ball to try and protect herself. As new agony raced through her body from the impact with the ground, all she heard was the thunder of the horses’ hooves. Blackness didn’t offer to take her away this time, maybe because the pain was too intense. But she was aware of every second that she tumbled along the ground, of all the rocks she hit and the sight of horses’ hooves tearing into the earth all around her. Time seemed to slow down, giving her the chance to notice the way a hoof tore a chunk of grass from its roots and flung it up into the air.
    She rolled and rolled, and finally there was nothing but silence, the thunder of the horses in the distance. When she stopped, she was lying on her back, staring up into the sky. It was a beautiful day, the sky blue with only a few clouds lingering from yesterday’s storm. The ground beneath her back was moist from the rain, and the grass smelled fresh and new.
    The thunder stopped, and she sighed, happy to know the sky would remain clear. But a shadow fell across her, and a moment later, Norris was beside her.
    â€œWhere did ye come from?” she wondered aloud, but then recalled the way he’d been roaring. “Ye are a fearsome man when ye want to be, Norris Sutherland.”
    â€œAnd ye are vexing,” his words were too soft for how somber his expression was. He was