Read The Legend Mackinnon for Free Online Page B

toward the cabin.
    “You’re not a fool. I know how important history is to you and I shouldn’t have teased you. I’m sorry.”
    He stilled, then slowly turned to face her. “Wha’ did ye say?”
    “I said that I know family heirlooms aren’t something to be taken—”
    “No’ that. The other, the last part.” He took several steps closer to her. “Repeat that last part to me again.”
    Maggie tried not to scowl. The blackguard. Couldn’t he just take a sincere apology for what it was worth without rubbing her face in it? She almost wished she hadn’t said anything and let him storm off believing the worst of her. Perhaps then she could have had some peace and quiet, some time alone without him looking over her shoulder tolook in Lachlan’s books. But his horrified expression when she’d suggested selling her inheritance was etched in her mind.
    She squared her shoulders and leveled her chin. “I said I was sorry for teasing you.”
    He walked closer, stopping a foot or two away from her. Feet braced apart, he crossed his arms as he regarded her. “Ye were lyin’ then, about sellin’ the trunk and burning the journals.”
    “Not lying,” she said, maintaining her own proud stance in the face of his questioning glare.
    “Then why did you tell me what you did?”
    “Because you stand around looking so distant and sounding so pompous slandering my family all over the place and I was tired of it. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you, that’s all.”
    He seemed to ponder this for a moment. “You say I slander the Clarens’ yet you make no attempt to defend them.”
    “I defended Mairi and it almost got me skewered with a poker. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t like debating with you.”
    He waved away her concern. “I wouldn’t have run you through, lass.”
    Now it was Maggie’s turn to snort and cross her arms. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe that. From where I was standing, I thought my time was up. I already saw my life flash before me once. I don’t like repeats.”
    Duncan stepped closer. Maggie struggled to maintain her stance as he invaded her personal space for the second time that afternoon.
    “What are you doing?” she demanded.
    “You said I was distant. I’m trying to improve on my shortcomings.”
    Maggie swallowed hard. “You took me too literally.”She looked up into his eyes. “You can be physically close to me, but you still come across as distant.”
    “Dinna forget pompous.” There wasn’t a trace of a smile on his face, but she thought she detected the hint of it in his eyes.
    “I call them like I see them.”
    “Am I really so bad as all that, Maggie?”
    “You come from a different time, Duncan. You’re used to commanding people—I’m simply not used to being commanded.”
    The sudden flare in his eyes caught her unawares. It made her temperature spike along with her heart rate. He moved closer, inclining his head toward hers.
    In a voice more gentle than she’d ever heard from him, he said, “Yer no’ so different from yer ancestors as you think, Maggie Claren.”
    She dipped her chin under the intensity of his gaze. “You asked me why I don’t defend my clan. I don’t know anything of my family’s past. I know nothing of who they were, what deeds they did, dastardly or otherwise. I suppose that damns me in your eyes as much as my supposed similarity to them.” She straightened a bit, holding his steady regard, watching him just as closely.
    “Do ye care so much what I think of ye, Maggie Claren?”
    The answer stunned her. “Yes, apparently, I do.”
    “A pompous, distant man like me?” The twinkle returned. Along with it came a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth that was the closest he’d come to a true smile since she’d met him. It did amazing things to her heart rate.
    He’s not real
, she reminded herself. But Lord he sure looked real. “You—” She broke off to clear her throat. “You, um,