Embrace the Highland Warrior Read Online Free

to the house. “We could haul her out on the four-wheeler,” Lachlan offered.
    Great , she thought. Like a deer carcass .
    “Battery’s dead,” Marcas said. “We can carry her back to our house. It’s closer.”
    “Thanks, but it’s really not that bad.” Shay pasted a blank look on her face as she slid her throbbing foot inside her shoe. “See?” She moved around a few steps, gritting her teeth so she wouldn’t wince. “You go on. I want to sit here awhile and enjoy the night.” She needed to be alone so she could think. Her homecoming was turning into a nightmare.
    “I’d rather you came back with us,” Cody said. “You don’t have a flashlight, and your ankle—”
    “I’ll be fine,” Shay insisted.
    He glanced at the sky. “Don’t be long; a storm’s blowing in.”
    “You want to tell us what that was about?” Lachlan’s voice carried on the rising breeze.
    Shay sat down on the pier and shook her head. What was she doing here, besides leaping from the frying pan into the fire? She couldn’t trust her emotions where Cody was concerned. Had she not learned this lesson before?
    She sat for several minutes, trying to decide if she had the guts to stick with her plan and make peace with her past—especially given the fact that her past wasn’t what she had believed—or just cut and run. She stood up, turned to go back, and found herself face-to-face with a tall, white-haired man.
    ***
     
    “It was nothing,” Cody said.
    Lach snorted. “Didn’t look like nothing to me, both of you stark naked in the lake.”
    “She fell.” Cody gave them the nonchalant look he’d practiced while dressing, but his face felt like dried cement.
    “I guess the water dissolved her clothes,” Lach said.
    Cody thumped Lach on the shoulder. “I was taking a swim and didn’t know she was there. Mind your own business. I don’t ask about every girl I see you with. That’d take the rest of my life.”
    “They’re not Shay,” Lach said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You two looked pretty cozy.”
    “He’s got you there,” Marcas agreed. “This isn’t just any girl. Shay’s family.”
    Family. If only they knew, but they didn’t, and he wasn’t about to explain it now. “It was nothing,” he said again, though it felt like a whole lot more than nothing. “But just for the record, hands off, Romeo.” He gave Lach a hard glare.
    “Hey.” Lach threw his hands up. “I wasn’t the one plastered all over her at the lake.”
    ***
     
    A moment’s panic turned to recognition, though Shay hadn’t seen him in years. Old Elmer was tall, with the kind of face that looked ancient but never seemed to age. When Shay was a toddler, she thought Old Elmer was Santa Claus, and when she got older, she decided he was Merlin. He’d lived in these woods for as long as she could remember, though he was rarely seen. What was he doing here now?
    “Elmer, you startled me.”
    “Haven’t seen you around for years,” he said.
    “I live in Scotland now. I just came for a visit.”
    “Scotland.” His green eyes were steady, penetrating. “Your home’s here.”
    Shay glanced in the direction Cody, Marcas, and Lachlan had gone. She wasn’t feeling good about either place at the moment.
    “You ought not come in these woods alone. Bring one of them boys with you. There’s dangerous creatures out here.” He stared at the woods in front of her, as if he could see through the curtain of darkness. “There’s a storm coming. You best hurry home.”
    She followed his gaze, and when she turned back, he was gone. Shivering, she wished she’d gone with the boys. Her ankle was throbbing. She limped along the path, occasionally reaching out to caress a clump of pine needles or the bark of a favorite tree. She loved the rugged landscape of Scotland, but she’d spent most of her life in these Virginia woods. The memories here were part of her soul. She heard a whisper. Old Elmer? Cody? Had he come back for