Taken by the Highlander

by Julianne MacLean

  “Do you think your brother has reached Leathan Castle by now?” she asked, reminding him of his life away from there and the circumstances that were supposed to be at the forefront of his mind.

  “Nay, he won’t arrive until tomorrow at the earliest.”

  “Are you sorry you won’t be at his side?”

  Leaning back on his good arm and opening his eyes to gaze at Mairi in the sparkling morning light, Logan was sorry about nothing at all. At least not in that moment.

  “Surprisingly, no.”

  She stopped what she was doing and lifted the blade away from his chin.

  “Why is that, sir?”

  “Because there is something I’m far more interested in, right here.”

  Mairi sat back on her heels and lowered her thick black lashes as she wiped the soap and stubble from the blade. “After all my threats and warnings on that first night, are you daring to flirt with me, Logan MacDonald? While I am holding a blade that could cut your throat?”

  “Aye,” he replied flatly, lifting his chin higher. “Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do, no matter the cost.”

  The corner of Mairi’s full cherry lips curled up in a small grin, and her liquid brown eyes lifted. She leaned forward on her knees and touched the blade to his cheek, where she scraped it slowly and firmly across his hard stubble. “You’re a brave man.”

  “And you’re a lovely woman. Far too good for the likes of me.”

  Their eyes remained locked on each other’s while the air between them sizzled with heat, and somehow Logan knew that if he touched her then, she would not flinch or pull away.

  But damn, he shouldn’t. That would most definitely be stepping over the line, and what right did he have? He’d be riding off soon and there was no guarantee he’d ever be able to come back….

  Mairi swallowed hard and wet her lips.

  God…what he really wanted to do was tumble her onto her back, crush her body with his, then take her mouth with a scorching, savage kiss that would leave them both breathless and hungry for more.

  At least it would leave him hungry for more. His passion would probably scar her for life.

  Thank God he was a disciplined man. He made no move to touch or kiss her.

  “My heart is racing,” she said rather breathlessly.

  “Mine, too, lass.” She had no idea.

  Then, to his surprise, Mairi lowered the blade from his cheek, leaned closer and touched her lips to his. It was a mere butterfly of a kiss—soft, light and warm—and it left him dangerously ravenous for more. He wanted to plunge into her with all his might.

  That’s why his heart was pounding so fast, because he was fighting an inner battle to keep his out-of-control lust at bay.

  Just then, a movement from farther down the creek caught Logan’s eye.

  Bloody hell. Five English soldiers were approaching on horseback—the same five who had spent the rainy night in Mairi’s stable. He hadn’t heard the hoofbeats on account of the rushing water in the creek.

  “Get up, lass.”

  Logan quickly stood, pushed her behind him, and drew the pistol from his belt. He aimed it at the officer on the lead horse.

  The soldiers trotted closer and stopped in front of them. “Put your weapon away, Highlander. We mean you no harm.”

  “I mean you no harm either,” Logan replied, without lowering the gun.

  The officer studied him for a moment. “What happened to your arm?”

  “I had a disagreement with my brother,” Logan replied in a cool voice.

  “Your brother! Hmph. You Highlanders certainly are a savage bunch.” The officer leaned to the side to get a better look at Mairi. “Are you the woman who gave us shelter the other night?”

  She stepped out from behind Logan. “Aye.”

  “Well then, we owe you a debt of thanks.” His gaze roamed freely down the length of her body from head to foot. “May I ask your name?”

  “It’s Mairi Campbell.” She lifted her chin defiantly.

  “Pretty name. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mairi.”

  Logan’s blood boiled at the openly flirtatious tone in the officer’s voice and the crude leering in the other men’s eyes.

  “I’m her husband,” he added, cocking the hammer of the pistol.

  The officer held out a gloved hand. “No need to get jumpy, Highlander.”

  “I’m not jumpy. If I was, you’d know it.”

  The officer regarded him carefully, as if he were weighing his options and considering what to say or do next.

  “Is there something we can do for you?” Logan asked directly, with more than a little impatience.

  The officer sat up straighter in the saddle and gazed off toward the mountains. “Nothing this morning. We’re just making the rounds. Getting to know the locals. Anyone else live with you in that house?”

  “Our son,” Mairi replied, “and my mother.”

  “How old is your son?” the officer asked.

  “He’s just a wee lad.”

  The officer turned his eyes to Logan. “You mentioned a brother. Does he live there as well?”

  Neither Mairi, nor Logan, offered a response.

  “I’ll take that as a no.” A flash of derision darkened the officer’s eyes. “Very well, then. We will be on our way. Pleasant day to you both.” He thumbed the brim of his tricorne hat, urged his horse into a trot and rode on, leading the others north along the creek.

  Logan waited until they were out of sight before he tucked the pistol into his belt. Then his body alerted to the sensation of Mairi’s small hand sliding into his and squeezing it tightly.

  He turned to face her and was shocked when she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her cheek to his shoulder at the top of the sling.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, holding tight. “I didn’t want to be, but I was afraid.”

  Logan could think of only one thing to say. “He wasn’t one of them, was he? The man who dishonored you five years ago?”

  Mairi shook her head and stepped back. “No. If he was, I probably would have grabbed the pistol from you and shot him in the heart. Not that he ever had one.” She dropped her gaze to the grass. “My legs are shaking. My knees have gone weak.” She touched the heel of her hand to her forehead.

  Logan cupped her elbow to hold her steady. “Sit down, lass.”

  In one smooth motion, they sank together onto the grass where he pulled her onto his lap. Mairi curled up against him with her cheek on his shoulder, her arms locked around his neck. He felt her hot breath against his collarbone as she nuzzled her nose into the opening of his shirt. It was enough to light a hot fire of lust in his blood, though he knew it was not lust that she was feeling. Gratitude was something else entirely.

  A few nights ago, when she’d found him in the field, he had been a potential threat to her safety, but today, he knew he had become her friend and protector. They were now on the same side.

  Heaven help him, he liked it. He liked that she was warming to him and beginning to trust, even though she did not know him at all.

  Mairi let out a sigh and buried her face even closer to his neck. Logan felt himself grow hard and had to fight rigorously to suppress the workings of his body, for she was sitting on his lap and there could be no hiding his arousal.

  To his surprise, she lifted her face, studied his eyes for a few sizzling seconds, then touched her lips to his again—this time more deeply and aggressively.

  That was that. Logan could no longer resist. He rocked her forward in his one good arm, while thrusting his tongue into her mouth and relishing the sweet delectable flavor of her soft, warm lips.

  She pressed her body closer and slid her hand to the side of his face where she stroked his cheek. Raking her fingers through his hair, she dragged her mouth from his. “I never imagined a kiss could feel so good. I had no idea I could ever know this kind of pleasure.”

  “It does feel good, lass,” he ground out, pausing to ad
mire her beauty in the morning light, willing himself to stop. But he couldn’t. He crushed her mouth with his again and cupped the back of her head in his good hand, groaning with need.

  The kiss was hot and wet and he felt a painful ache of desire in his groin that begged for release. His hand slid down over Mairi’s shoulder, along the top of her arm and finally to her breast, which he cupped in his open palm.

  Suddenly, Mairi gasped and pulled her mouth away. She slid off his lap, onto the grass, where she sat back on her heels.

  Logan could do nothing but struggle to shake off the arousal and subsequent frustration. He hadn’t meant to break the spell of their magical first kiss. He certainly hadn’t wanted to frighten her or spoil what should have been a pleasant experience. But as he looked into her startled eyes, he decided the distance now between them was probably for the best. He was glad she had put a stop to it.

  Wise choice, lass.

  Mairi’s lips parted and she blinked a few times, as if she were confused by her response and couldn’t make sense of it.

  “You don’t feel safe with me,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “But I do,” she replied, still staring at him intently. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that…” She bowed her head and shook it at herself. “I think I’m broken inside.”

  “Nay, lass you’re not broken. You’re perfect. I’m the one who’s broken, and you should be with a man who is worthy of you. A man who will go slow with you, a man who will take the time to show you how to love him…a man who will never leave you. I cannot promise you that, for I’m in a hurry to leave here as soon as I am able.”

  “To satisfy your hunger for revenge, you mean,” she said. “To avenge your father’s death.”

  “Aye.”

  She glanced at his arm in the sling, then back up at his weary eyes. “You could choose to let all of that go, and remain here.”

  He shook his head. “But I do not wish to let it go.”

  “Why not? Doesn’t that constant hatred make you feel angry and unhappy?”

  “It does, which is why I must snuff out the thing at which my anger is directed.”

  She thought about that for a moment. “I do not believe you will be any happier if you do whatever it is you intend to do at Leathan Castle. Isn’t that your goal? To take revenge on the man who killed your father? That’s what you told me the other night, but it will not bring your father back. It won’t change the past.”

  Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and wanted only to change the subject, for this was far more complicated than she knew.

  “I shouldn’t have touched you like that,” he said. “It won’t happen again, lass.” He made a move to rise.

  “No, please…” Mairi stopped him with the touch of her hand on his knee. “You did nothing wrong, Logan, and I don’t want you to go. Please stay one more night. Just one. And I liked it when you held me. Truly I did.”

  Logan spoke gently. “I liked it, too, lass, but holding you like that will most certainly lead to something else.” He got to his feet and held out his hand. “We should be getting back. Hamish will be wondering what became of you.”

  Mairi gazed up at Logan, hesitating to take his hand.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I just felt as if I’d lived this moment before. In a dream or something. Do you ever have that feeling?” She placed her hand in his and rose to her feet just as Hamish came running from the house with an empty bucket.

  “Ma! Did you see the soldiers?” he shouted.

  Mairi stepped back, and Logan again had to suppress his desires, for he’d wanted to kiss her again just then.

  “Aye,” she replied. “They’re just scouting the area. That is all. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  “I wasn’t afraid!” Hamish said as he reached them. “I liked their uniforms. They’re bright red.”

  Mairi glanced at Logan with concern. “Yes, they are, but I prefer the Campbell tartan. Don’t you?”

  Hamish looked up at Logan with a tilt of his small head. “Do you prefer tartan?”

  “Aye,” Logan replied.

  “Then I prefer tartan, too.” Hamish ran to the creek, filled his bucket, and started back to the house.

  “I should finish shaving,” Logan said brusquely, needing some time to be alone.

  “And I should go back with him.” Mairi turned to go, but stopped and faced him. “Will you stay at least one more night? Please?”

  Logan’s gaze roamed the features of her face and the attractive curve of her hips. He felt another stirring of desire, and for once, he told the truth.

  “I cannot imagine leaving here today.”

  Her smile was radiant as the sun, and it left him feeling shaken and uncertain about everything he’d felt so sure about just a few short days ago.

  Chapter Seven

  That night after supper, Logan thanked Isla and Mairi for the delicious meal, said goodnight to Hamish, and announced that he would be retiring to his own cot in the stable, for he was still unsettled by what had occurred between him and Mairi on the bank of the creek.

  He knew he couldn’t be around her—not without wanting to entice her into his bed. And that simply could not be. First of all, he wasn’t sure he could trust himself to go slow with her, which was what she needed—a man who would not be rough or aggressive.

  Besides, she was not some happy-go-lucky tavern wench or a lonely widow looking to satisfy a sensual urge. Mairi was a young mother raising a son on her own—a woman who had been treated appallingly five years ago by a despicable wretch of a man.

  Logan was also a wretch of a man, but in a different way, and she deserved better. She needed more than what he could give. So he had to put a stop to this flirtation before he was tempted to go beyond the point of no return.

  As a result, before he walked out their door, her turned to Isla and Mairi, thanked them for their hospitality and told them he would be leaving at first light.

  * * *

  Mairi paced about her room, chewing on a thumbnail and wondering frantically if she could throw caution to the wind, sneak out of the house like a wanton woman, and visit Logan in the stable.

  It was past midnight, and he intended to leave in the morning, even after he’d assured her that morning that he wished to stay. What changed his mind? She almost couldn’t bear the thought of saying good-bye and never knowing any further intimacies with him. It was like a kick to the stomach, for she had felt herself opening up physically for the first time in many years, like a flower blooming in the early spring, even while snow still covered parts of the ground.

  She wanted to continue that exploration…to see what might be possible. If she were honest with herself, she would admit that she was wildly attracted to Logan, she couldn’t take her eyes off him, and she simply wanted him, in the physical sense. She was hungry for his touch and for the promise of more pleasures than she had known when he’d kissed her that morning.

  Moving to the window, Mairi gazed out at the darkness but saw only her own reflection in the glass. Her dark hair spilled loosely over her shoulders. She had spent far too much time brushing it out earlier, yanking roughly at her locks while trying to talk herself out of caring that Logan had decided to leave.

  It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t want to be here and you don’t know what you’re asking for. Remember how you panicked and pulled away when he touched you? Why would anything be different if you went to the stable tonight?

  Turning away from the window, she slipped into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Go to sleep, Mairi. No good can come of this. He’s leaving in the morning. Just let him go.

  But when she tried to close her eyes, her body remembered the sensations by the creek that morning. Logan’s soft, warm lips touching hers…the lush pressure of his tongue as it entered her mouth, and how she had delighted in it. A pleasurable ache began between her thighs and she wondered if perhaps this might be her o
ne and only opportunity to learn how to enjoy a man’s touch—with someone who actually aroused her passions. It was something she’d believed, just a few days ago, to be an impossibility.

  Mairi felt strangely empowered suddenly, for she knew that Logan was wounded—both physically and in other ways. Perhaps this was what she needed, to be with a man who was also broken, inside and out. Perhaps they could be broken together—maybe even help each other to heal.

  * * *

  Logan stood in the dim lantern light, inside the front stall, running his good hand over the length of Tracker’s back after refreshing his bucket of water.

  Logan assured himself that he had done the right thing by announcing it was time for him to leave. He couldn’t continue to waste precious hours and days convalescing while Darach was making his way to Leathan Castle to deliver the pardon that would save the life of their mortal enemy, Fitzroy Campbell.

  At the very least, Logan wanted to stop Darach from reaching the castle in time to stop the execution. Let the villain hang. But what he wanted even more was to look the miserable rotter straight in the eye as he gasped his last breath, and tell him that he was dying at the hands of Ronald James Campbell’s son—son of the chief he’d murdered in cold blood for the sake of his own ambitions. Logan wanted Fitzroy to understand exactly who was sending him to hell. Logan would follow him there himself, if that’s what was required.

  Just then, a noise outside caused him to turn his attention to the door. It swung open slowly, creaking like the ghostly howl of an old cat. In the moonlight, Mairi tiptoed inside.

  His heart leapt.

  Wearing nothing but her shift and a blood-red shawl—and with her hair falling in shiny black waves over her shoulders—she closed the door behind her and continued past the stall, evidently unaware of Logan’s presence there.

  He moved quietly to the wooden rail and watched her creep to the back of the stable and peer down at his empty cot in the shadows.

  “Logan?” she whispered, moving closer.

  His entire body and soul thrilled at the sight of her, especially when she had no idea he was watching her. There was a playfulness in him suddenly, for he was reminded of a child’s game of hide and seek—even though he had prayed earlier that she would not come to him. That she would know better than to sneak in here and take chances with a man who wanted desperately to bed her. Thoroughly and passionately. Just once…