Read The MacKinnon's Bride for Free Online Page B

with his intake of
breath, and he sighed audibly, sounding as contented as a child
left to fill his belly with tarts.
    Page’s stomach floated into her ribs.
Something deep inside her woman’s core quickened at his brash male
gesture, and heat trickled into her nether regions.
    “ Och, but if ye dinna mind
Lagan’s wooing...”
    He made to rise, and Page shrieked.
“Nay!”
    He chuckled, and lay back down at once. “I
didna believe ye would relish the thought. G’nite, then, lass.” He
snuggled his head once more, like an innocent boy with his beloved
mother.
    But he was no innocent.
    Nor was she beloved.
    And he was lying within her lap!
    Bare bottomed!
    So was she for that matter.
    “ Overbearing brute!” she
spat, glaring at him fiercely. “’Tis God’s own truth that the only
harm I have to fear is that from you!”
    “ Then ye’ve naught to
fear, at all,” he countered, shifting indolently to his side and
thrusting an oversized arm over her leg, cozying
himself.
    His arm was as big as her thigh!
    “ Anyway, ye’ve only the
one night to endure,” he assured her. “Tomorrow ye’ll be safe again
wi’ your da.”
    She wanted to slap his arrogant face—wanted
to sink her teeth into his flesh! What gall! “Get off!” she cried,
and tried to free her hands. She muttered a fierce oath when they
refused to come free from their bindings.
    “ Och, wench, does your
father know ye’ve such a rude tongue?” he asked her.
    “‘ Tis none of your bloody
concern! Beast! Rest yourself comfortable, why do you not!” She
fought the urge to scream, knowing that the last thing she needed
now was to wake his men.
    “ Dinna mind if I do,” he
murmured.
    He had the nerve to close his eyes,
dismissing her once and for all, and Page wished she could box his
ears. She tried to move her legs, but he held her pinned
irrevocably with his weight. She ceased her struggles only to
summon every blasphemy she’d ever heard uttered. “Oaf!” she hissed.
“Swine! Knave! Scot!”
    His lips curved into a smile.
    Her brows collided. She tried to think of
worse. “Beast! Demon! Blackhearted dev—”
    “ Ye’re to be well
commended on your mastery of the language,” he said
only.
    “ And you shall never get your son
back!” she swore in anger.
    His expression sobered at once, although he
still didn’t open his eyes. “For your sake, lass, ye’d better be
hopin’ I do.”
    Page felt hopelessness seep into her very
soul. She didn’t know what to say. There was nothing left to say!
She hadn’t lied. The MacKinnon wouldn’t get his son back. Her
father wouldn’t deal with him, and she was doomed. Doomed!
    “ If I thought ye would
answer me true,” he said after a long moment, “I would ask ye how
my son fares.” His eyes remained closed, but Page could see that
his jaw remained taut. Worry was etched upon his
features.
    Curse him! For no matter that she might
despise him, she found she couldn’t bring herself to deny him the
answer he sought. This one thing she could never withhold from an
anxious father.
    She sighed irascibly. “And if I were
inclined to answer, I would say he fares well enough. He’s not been
abused, if ‘tis what you fear—not by us! He simply will not speak,
is all.”
    She could see the strain ease somewhat from
his face, and found herself envious of his son, that he would have
a father who fretted for him so. But then... fathers always valued
their sons, did they not?
    Her heart twisted painfully.
    “ Thank you,” he whispered,
and didn’t deign to speak to her again.
    Page averted her face, trying to ignore the
stranger lying so intimately in her lap.
    It was a futile gesture. Never in her life
had she been more aware of another human being.
    Safe again with her father, indeed!
    The image was laughable. Security was
something more than simply being free from harm. She knew that
instinctively... and yet... she’d never truly known the feeling at
all. Security was an alien concept,