Read The Highlander's Temptation for Free Online Page B

taking her eyes off him. “Many happy returns to ye, Laird Montgomery,” she called, her voice carrying on the wind and fairly knocking Jamie off of Charger.
    He was most certain, it was she.
    And he’d not been aware until that moment, but he’d thought of her nearly every day since that time fifteen years before. Wondered what had become of her. Wondered if she ever thought of him.
    Obviously, since she’d not recognized him, he’d not left a memorable impression on her. Jamie grinned. Nay, matter. He had at least a couple of days to remind her of who he was, because damn it all, he wanted to be remembered.

Chapter Four
     

     
    Lorna approached the open gates of Dunrobin , surrounded by her brother’s men, without slowing her mount.
    The castle guards had met her upon the moor, none of them uttering a word after she told them there was nothing to worry about and to put their swords away before they poked their eyes out.
    Calls sounded from within the courtyard as the guards atop the battlements issued orders. She dared not look up at the gatekeeper who glowered down at her. No doubt he, too, would go and find her brother to complain about her having escaped once again and that it had caused him a near apoplexy to get the gate opened fast enough to send the warriors out after her.
    But she needn’t worry about that, because as soon as she was through the gate a wall of warriors stood in place of the double wooden doors and p ortcullis as Laird Montgomery and his two men pulled their mounts to a quick stop. She’d not told the guards who they were, wanting simply to be home and away from the man who made her feel things she didn’t understand.
    Lorna glanced over her shoulder at Montgomery and gave him a triumphant smile. If she were not safe behind her brother’s men, the man might still be attacking her mind. She’d not let him grab hold of her reins again.
    Pointing her nose in the air , she turned away from him, but before she could dismount on her own, rough hands grabbed her around the middle and yanked her off.
    “Magnus! Put me down!” she shouted as a drop of rain plopped onto her nose.
    “Not bloody likely.”
    Lorna’s face flamed with humiliation and anger sliced through her as her eldest brother tossed her over his shoulder and marched, none too softly, up the stairs of the keep, each jar taking the breath from her. No amount of pummeling his back could coerce him to put her down. Once inside, he transferred her to Ronan’s shoulder before disappearing out the door, most likely to see to the new warrior. Who was Laird Montgomery? The name was familiar, but not familiar enough she could place him. He’d seemed awfully confident about escorting her home. Was it possible he knew Magnus?
    Oh, g ood God, what if he was a man Magnus hoped to marry her off to?
    A shiver stole over her, and to cover it up she hit her bro ther on the back. “Put me down! Ye both are nothing but a couple of heathens.”
    Ronan ignored her, taking the stairs two at a time. As soon as he put her down she was going to punch him in the gut so he knew what it felt like to be carried over a brute’s shoulder.
    “How could ye do it again, Lorna?” he said, berating her like a bairn as he carried her up to her chamber. “Especially with Aunt Sourpuss here?”
    “Aunt Sourpuss?” Lorna laughed, but the mov ement of her constricted ribs just hurt.
    “Ye know the arrangements. When the Puss is in residence, the mice stay hidden.”
    Lorna rolled her eyes. “So ye won’t yell at me for having escaped our laird’s supervision or his men, but ye’ll yell at me for having done it while Frigid Fiona’s under foot?”
    “Frigid Fiona, huh? I dinna think ye know what ye’re talking about.”
    Lorna shrugged , though he couldn’t see the movement. “She’s as tight as a tree trunk. One wrong move and her spine will snap.”
    “And ye’re as disobedient as an imp.”
    “And apparently I’m a frigid