She scoffed. “Now, there’s a bit of irony.” She gave him an incredulous look as if she couldn’t believe what he had said. “Would you really be able to confine yourself to one single woman?”
“Aye. Do you not think I wouldn’t love to have a home with children? I’d give most anything for it, but I’ll not be made a fool of by a bonny lass. My brother Kieran killed himself over a fickle woman who wasn’t content with him but had to have Ewan as well. And the woman they loved, after tearing our family apart and causing Kieran’s death, abandoned Ewan the first chance she got to go off with a richer man. Women, in case you’ve been asleep during Sunday mass, are the root of all evil.”
He could tell by the look on her face that she would love to strangle him, but to her credit she merely glared at him. “Women would never be evil if it weren’t for men such as yourself leading them down the fiery path to hell.”
Now, that made him see red. How dare she blame it all on his gender. “You can’t be blaming men alone for it.”
“Can’t I?” she asked, her voice high-pitched and angry. “As you said yourself, it takes two to form a tryst. More often than not, ’tis the man doing the leading.”
Braden couldn’t believe that came out of her mouth when she, of all women, ought to know better.
“That so?” he asked. “Do you not remember the time when I was but ten-and-six and your friends laid an ambush for me? Why, I barely escaped with my life.”
It truly had been unnerving. He had come down a path near a copse of trees when ten girls had launched themselves at him. They had tackled him to the ground and started screaming in his ears how much they loved him and how they wanted him to marry them. They had ripped his plaid and tugged his hair until he was bloody from it.
Somehow, he’d managed to find his way out of their groping hands, and Maggie had hidden him inside the hollow of an oak tree, then sent the girls off in the wrong direction.
It was the last time he had ventured to her house without an escort.
He saw the recollection on Maggie’s face as her eyes turned a bit sheepish.
“And,” Braden continued, “what about that time at your house when you pretended to fall down, and when I tried to help you up, you latched on to me so tight that you almost strangled me?”
Her face turned bright red and he knew in that instant that she had been as guilty of laying a trap for him as the other lasses.
“That was different,” she said defensively.
“How so?”
“It just was.”
Braden narrowed his eyes on her, certain now of his victory. “You may not like the truth, Maggie, but the truth is that most women are up to no good.”
Her face was a mirror of disbelief. “You arrogant, apish, underhonest lewdster!”
Braden laughed at her insults. He had to give her credit, she could rival his brothers for creativity.
Her body rigid with rage, she whirled around and stomped ahead of him.
Braden hurried his step until he stood directly behind her and Sin.
Sin cast a curious glance at him over his shoulder before looking at Maggie.
Her eyes snapped amber fire. “Your brother is a beslubbering, churlish, hell-governed princox, and I hope one day he gets the beating he deserves for it.”
Sin threw his head back and laughed.
“You find that funny?” she asked incredulously.
“Indeed,” Sin said, smiling. “You’re the only woman I have ever known who insulted him. And you do it so well.”
Braden joined Sin’s laughter.
Now she was furious at them both. If only she weren’t so beautiful when she was angry, Braden mused ruefully. Aye, bright red looked good in her cheeks.
“Men,” she fumed as she stomped on ahead of them. “Who needs them?”
Chapter 10
“Braden,” Maggie called. “I need you. Help!”
Braden paused at the plea, amazed by it.
It had been nearly an hour since they had lost sight of Maggie in the dark forest. Yet they had known the entire time she wasn’t too far ahead of them because her angry, often derogatory tirade against men in general, and Braden in particular, had kept them highly amused.
“Braden, please!”
It must have cost her dearly to utter those words after the large amount of condemnation she had heaped upon him, his hide, his soul and every human being who had ever met him.
Normally such a plea from a woman would have him rushing to her side. However, Maggie’s tone was too rational for her to be in any real danger. It sounded more as if she were merely annoyed.
Resuming his walk over the peat-covered path, Braden looked at Sin. “Did we not hear her say, several hundred times in the last hour, ‘Men, who needs them?’”
“That we did.”
“Think we should ignore her cry, then?” Braden asked.
The baffled frown on Sin’s face was priceless.
Braden chucked Sin on the arm. “I’m jesting. You know I would never leave a woman in distress.”
“’Tis what I thought, but you looked a little too sincere just now.”
And for a fraction of an instant, Braden had considered ignoring her. Especially given the severity of some of her curses. God help him if any of them ever came true. Why, he’d be a two-headed, three-toed, monkey-nosed, blind son of a cesspit-licking lackey if she had her way.
But, in spite of her uncharitable remarks, he couldn’t leave her in whatever condition she was currently in.
All in all, as much as he hated to admit it, he actually liked the hellion.
“Braden!”
“I’m coming,” he assured her, stepping around a large shrub to see her.…
Braden froze. Not even in his wildest imaginings had he thought to see her like that!
Her posterior wiggling and thrusting about rather provocatively, she lay bent over. And heaven help him, but it looked as if she were battling the very forest, or at least the hapless shrub in front of her.
Sin burst out laughing.
Braden probably would have laughed too, had a breeze not ruffled up the hem of her plaid, gifting him with a bountiful sight of her creamy buttocks. As well as a glimpse of other things that stirred a man’s interest and loins.
Desire flooded through him, sending a painful throb straight to his groin.
The lass truly had a beguiling bottom. One of tempting proportions that would contour just perfectly to his body. And in that instant, he swore he could feel the softness of her thighs in his palm, hear her moaning as he buried himself deep inside her over and over again until they both cried out in blissful release.
Braden ground his teeth as his need for her flamed so hot that for a moment it rendered him immobile.
“It’s not funny!” Maggie snapped, trying to pull herself out of the tangle of brush and limbs. All she succeeded in doing was baring more of her backside to him.
At this rate, the plaid would be gathered up at her waist in another move or two and her entire bottom would be bared for his hungry view.
His eyes feasting on her, Braden held his breath in expectation. And for the first time in his life, he realized he was actually salivating over the sight before him.
“Braden!” she shouted again. “Please, help. I can’t move. Every time I try to pull out, it just gets worse.”
Nay, love, he thought wolfishly, it only gets better.
Much better, point of fact.
“Braden?”
Braden briefly closed his eyes as an image of her writhing in his arms flitted through his mind. Too easily, he could picture her surrender, imagine the sound of his name on her passion-drunk lips.
And when he opened his eyes, he was again greeted by the plaid just barely concealing her natural charms.
It was all Braden could do to force his gaze away from her wiggling hips and move around her to where he could see her flushed face.
He would definitely like a few more leisurel
y minutes to explore her—
“What is taking you so long? Would you please help me?” she asked again.
Aye, he’d help her all right, but what he really wanted to help her do, she’d slap him into eternity for.
Focus, man, it’s not like you’ve never seen a woman’s backside before.
True enough, but he couldn’t ever remember a woman’s body tempting him this much.
Dropping his pack on the ground, Braden eyed the contraption on top of her with a frown. Maggie lay on what appeared to be a leaflike table while more branches and leaves had fallen on top of her and held her pinned face down.
“How did you get in there?”
She arched her back to where she could glare at him. “Oh, I don’t know. It just looked like a good place to stop for a bit of a rest.”
Sin laughed again as Braden rolled his eyes at her sarcasm.
“Well, Lady Venom Tongue, perhaps I should leave you in there.”
Panic flitted across her brow, then she quickly added, “I was walking, then I tripped over something and all of a sudden this giant mass of leaves fell on top of me. Now would you please help me get up?”
Braden ran his gaze over her body. She was in quite the perfect position for—
“Braden!” she snapped, as if she could read his thoughts.
He couldn’t resist teasing her. “Think you, we should leave her here?” he asked Sin.
“Well, she did say, ‘Men, who needs them?’ Perhaps we should, just to prove a lesson.”
“You wouldn’t dare leave me here like this,” she said. Then she added less forcibly, “Would you?”
Braden gave her a devilish, dimpled grin. “Why don’t you catch up to us after you get yourself free?”
Maggie groaned, cursed him yet again beneath her breath, then fell prone on the bed of leaves. “If you were a gentleman, you wouldn’t even consider leaving me here like this.”
“Well,” he teased, “according to you, I’m not a gentleman, but a lust-ridden, warted sow’s ear fit for naught save eating, belching and chasing after other men’s wives.”
Her face flushed even redder. “You heard that?”
“Aye, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the king of England sitting on his throne in London heard it as well.”
Maggie wanted to bury her head in shame. She hadn’t meant for him to hear her words, and she didn’t really mean any of them. She used those words to stiffen her resolve and try to keep herself focused on his flaws. Her only real problem with him was that she loved the scoundrel entirely too much.
Well, except for this moment. Right now, she would like nothing more than to choke his arrogant hide as he stared at her with humor dancing in his greenish brown eyes.
Sighing, she tried again. “Very well, I’m sorry for what I said. Men are good for some things. Now please help me.”
Braden looked skeptically at Sin. “I just don’t feel she meant that apology. What say you?”
Maggie huffed and squirmed. “Please,” she said, stressing the word.
Pressing his lips into a grim line, Braden shook his head. “Still it lacks sincerity.”
She froze and glared at him.
Braden bit back a laugh as he regarded her anger. If her amber gaze could kill, he would definitely be shredded by the malice she directed at him.
“If you don’t get me out of this, Braden MacAllister, I swear I’ll haunt you for an eternity.”
“Now, that could be frightening,” Sin said.
Or it could be a whole lot of fun.
Braden’s gaze drifted back toward her bottom. A whole lot of fun, indeed.
Stifling the thought, Braden used his foot to move his pack out of his way, then leaned over to try and move the leaves from her back.
It didn’t work.
Braden frowned as he looked more carefully at the limbs. “This was a trap of some sort,” he said, noting the way the branch had been rigged to fall from behind Maggie.
“Probably some child wanting to trap another. You can tell it wasn’t meant to hurt anyone, just pin them down for a bit,” Sin said as he examined it as well. “Sort of like the ones we used on Kieran and Lochlan.”
Braden laughed at the memory.
“While you two admire the handiwork, would one of you please find a way to free me?”
“I’m working on it,” Braden said.
He moved to stand behind her so that he could pull the limb back in the direction from which it had swung.
It suddenly dawned on him what he’d have to do to free her. And in his gut, he knew she wasn’t going to like it.
He, on the other hand…
Braden licked his lips in anticipation.
“Maggie, my love, I’m going to have to get really close to you to free you.”
“I don’t care what you have to do,” she said sharply. “Just please do it and let me go.”
Braden dropped his gaze down to her hips as his hunger for her grew even more, as well as another part of him that stiffened and strained, begging for her softness.
Well, if that’s the way she wants it…
He stood directly behind her, then had to lean forward, over her back, to pull the limb off her. As he did so, his painfully aroused groin made full contact with her bottom.
She gasped, then jerked her hips to where they collided fully with his swollen shaft. The action wrung a deep moan from him.
“This is a priceless sight,” Sin said from behind them. “Should I leave you two alone?”
“Shut up, Sin,” they shouted in unison.
Braden struggled to breathe against the agonizing pain of his need for her. He had never wanted anything as badly as he wanted to take her right then and there.
Forcing himself to move, Braden pulled the limb away from her spine. Maggie scooted out from between him and the leaf-table lightning quick. Her face was the same color as her hair as she looked about at anything other than him.
“Thank you,” she said.
“My pleasure,” Braden said before he thought better of it.
Her eyes flashing, she met his gaze with fury smoldering in the amber depths. “Only you would take advantage of a woman in that position.”
There, she was wrong, and if he were the demon she thought him to be, he’d have done a whole lot more to her than just free her.
“I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. I was simply trying to get you out as quickly as possible.”
“Oh, I’m certain of that.” Her sarcasm made a mockery of Braden’s even tone as she tugged her plaid back down to her knees.
“Well,” Sin interjected, “while the two of you catch up on insults, I’m going to scout us a place to sleep.”
Sin quickly vanished into the trees.
Maggie glared while Braden fought down the smile he knew would only anger her more.
The air between them was rife with awkwardness. An awkwardness Braden didn’t like.
As far back as he could remember, there had always been the easiness of friendship between them, and he didn’t like the sudden change in her demeanor.
“Did you get hurt?” he asked.
The anger dimmed a bit as she shook her head. “I’m uncertain how I fell. I’m usually very surefooted.”
“Well, even the best of us occasionally falls into the wrong trap.”
She looked down as if his words triggered something in her memory; then, unexpectedly, she smiled.
He delighted in the change it made in her. Her eyes glowed warmly as her entire face lit up. The lass was beautiful when she smiled.
“What?” Braden asked, wondering what had brought about this sudden change.
“I was just remembering another trap.”
“The one where I goosed you at the cave?” Braden asked.
She frowned for a second, until she recalled the event, then she gave a short laugh. “Nay, I was thinking of the trap you mentioned earlier when Nera, Mairi, and the others ambushed you on the way to my
house.”
Braden squirmed at the memory. “You know, I still have scars on my body from it.”
To this day, he had a thin spot on his crown where one of the girls had pulled a handful of hair from his scalp. “When I first ran into you that day, I thought you were in with them.”
“I know,” she said, smiling. “I’ll never forget the terrified look on your face when you ran me over. ’Tis the only time I’ve ever seen you panicked.”
“And I was too. I had no idea how to get away without hurting one of them.”
Then Braden recalled how he had escaped the lust-crazed lasses.
Looking at Maggie, he smiled. “And I’ll never forget how you shoved me into the hollow of that oak tree, then sent them off in the opposite direction.”
“I was shaking,” she confessed, “terrified they would learn I’d lied to them and set upon me with a vengeance.”
That wasn’t the way he recalled it. Barely ten-and-three, she had appeared out of nowhere to save him. He didn’t remember her looking afraid. “You looked poised and calm to me.”
Braden stared in awe of her as memories played through his mind. Memories of Maggie sneaking him out of the tree, then the two of them literally crawling through the bushes to reach her house undetected by the girls.
And later, Maggie bandaging the cuts and bruises the lasses had inflicted upon him. She had even hummed a gentle tune as she smoothed the salve across his skin. Her touch had been so light and soothing. Her voice pleasant.
He couldn’t remember whether or not he had thanked her that day. But right now, with the sunlight on her face and the fire in her eyes, he wanted nothing more than to kiss her until eternity came and went.
Impulsively, Braden reached out and ran his fingertip over the freckles covering her cheekbone. “I’ve always wondered why you saved me that day.”
She didn’t pull away. Instead, she looked up at him with a strange emotion in her eyes. “I was but returning the favor.”
“What favor?”
She drew her brows together. “Don’t you recall it?”
“I don’t think so.”
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