Dreamer (Highland Treasure Trilogy) Read Online Free Page B

had evidently carried in with him.
    The earl of Athol, she thought with
a pang of regret, was quite different from what she had hoped he would be.
    The man was supposed to be an
advocate of learning. She had expected him to be a serene, subdued looking
man.  But his actions, his behavior, in bed and out...Catherine felt her heart
start to race anew! Trying to force the memory of his mistaking her for Ellen
Crawford from her mind, she stared at her host. He was certainly not at all
what she had expected.
    Ellen had told Catherine that the
earl was past seven and thirty years of age. So even in her wildest of dreams,
she hadn’t been prepared for the handsome face and the solid wall of muscle
that was just now trying to pull on long, muddy boots. With flowing, partially
braided red hair tumbling over a pair of broad shoulders, he looked more like
an outlaw than he did the cousin of a king.
    Catherine couldn’t help but guess
what silly maneuvers she might have come up with as a young maiden to get the
attention of a man like him. Not that with her unassuming appearance she’d ever
have had even a chance of catching his eye. But all the same, she reminded
herself, it was a blessing to know that her life had taken a different route. A
far more sensible one.  
    She shook her head and started
quietly for the door. As long as she kept her distance, perhaps they could
avoid meeting again for a while. In truth, right now, the incident that had
occurred in that bed embarrassed her dreadfully, and she had no doubt he
must--if he had a shred of respectability in him--be feeling as terrible as
she.
      Reaching the doorway, she started
to breathe again. She had to put what happened behind her and, perhaps, they
could pretend it had never taken place. He would not mention it, Catherine was
quite certain, and she could quietly go about the task of opening her school.
    “Mistress Catherine.”
    His hard voice raised the
gooseflesh on the back of her neck. She turned slowly and faced him.
    “I’ve sent for the damned priest.
We’ll be wed when the cursed old fool arrives.”

CHAPTER 3
     
    “Wed!” The man was obviously out of
his mind. “To me?”
    The Highlander turned his intense
gray eyes on her. “Do you see someone else in this chamber whom I might be
addressing?”
    She looked about innocently. “Nay! But I’m no judge of the soundness of your mind!”
    “Rest assured, mistress, I was
speaking to you and not some apparition.”
    “You don’t know me!” This was
beyond bizarre. It was almost comical. “How could you marry someone whom you
have only just met?”
    “Are you not Catherine Percy?”
    “I am, but...”
    “And have you not been sent up here
to be my ward?”
    “Hardly, m’lord!” she responded. “I
am five-and-twenty. Hardly of an age to be anyone’s ward. Especially to one as
unreasonable and brutish as yourself.”
    He stared at her, first in frigid
silence, and then through slitted eyes as temper flashed across his face. “You
certainly talk like some old crone! If I didn’t have first-hand knowledge--of
a rather intimate nature--I would almost be convinced from listening to you
that you are some ancient creature. But I know, Catherine Percy, exactly what
you are.”
    His words stung her, but she
couldn’t stop the deep blush that crept into her face when his hard eyes began
to study her from the tip of her head to her bare toes. Suddenly horrified that
she was dressed in nothing more than a thin shift, she crossed her arms over
her chest to hide whatever she could.
    He raised one eyebrow at her actions.
“A bit late for coyness, don’t you think, considering all that you have
willingly allowed me?”
    “There was nothing ‘willing’ in my
response to your ignoble behavior, and you know it. You were trying to force
yourself upon me--like some heavy-handed brute.”
    “Did I, now?” His eyes flashed a
challenge. “And is this the way you fight for your honor? By moaning at the most