Highland Knight Read Online Free

slowly changed to one of amusement.
    “Do ye now?” she drawled. “And ye being such a braw, handsome laddie, ye expect me to just swoon at your big feet?”
    He resisted the urge to glance down at his maligned feet. “Nay at my feet, lass, and I would prefer ye to be sensible.”
    “And I would prefer ye dead, but we cannae all get what we wish for, can we?”
    “Such violence. A wee lass like yourself shouldnae be so quick to promise mayhem and murder.”
    “Add mutilation, for I am a wee bit inclined to that too.”
    “’Tis clear ye need to be tamed. Someone has let ye run too wild. Ye snarl and hiss at me now, but I will soon have ye purring.”
    “Such arrogance.”
    Avery squeaked with surprise when he suddenly yanked on her chain. She struggled valiantly, but he still managed to drag her up onto the bed. When she found herself at his side, she tried to punch him in the face again, but he easily pinned her to the bed.
    “Truth, my wee cat,” he said, almost smiling as she glared at him.
    “I am nay such a weakling or such a slut that I will bend to your wants with but a kiss and a stroke. Nay, especially not when ’tis meant only to shame my brother.” Avery decided the man was far too beguiling when he smiled, despite the fact that it was an annoyingly arrogant expression.
    “Your brother shamed me and he wasnae gentle when he did it.”
    “E’en if Payton did as ye claim, which he did not, could not, and would not, it isnae your shame. It isnae a shame at all, except that of the bastard who committed the horror.”
    “My sister is nay longer chaste,” he snapped.
    “Are you?” Avery was not sure how it was possible, but she felt like laughing at his astonished expression. She knew instinctively that few ever saw that expression on his face.
    “’Tis nay the same,” he said, beginning to think her thoughts were as odd as her looks.
    Avery released a soft snort of pure contempt. “So speaks one of a breed who works so hard to steal a lass’s chastity only to then condemn her for giving it up. And to speak of shame when a poor lass has had it ripped from her through nay fault of her own is the height of injustice.”
    There was a lot of truth in what she said, but what interested Cameron more was the anger behind her words. “This subject stirs a heat in you. I wonder why?”
    “My cousin was brutally beaten and raped. Gillyanne’s older sister Sorcha. Some of her father’s enemies caught her and another cousin of mine. They beat and raped poor Sorcha and intended to do the same to my cousin Elspeth ere my Uncle Eric, Uncle Balfour, and Fither stopped them. Sorcha is soon to be a nun. Aye, and kenning the horror of such a crime, do ye really believe my brother would then inflict it upon another?”
    Cameron had to wonder, but he did not say so. “Simply kenning someone who suffered such an insult doesnae mean the mon would e’erafter be unable to commit it himself. And, mayhap my sister miscalls it. Mayhap it was more seduction than rape, orshe simply waited too long to cry nay. It matters not. He stole my sister’s innocence and refuses to restore her lost honor by wedding her. So I shall have your innocence in penalty.”
    “How romantic,” she said, the sneer clear to hear in her husky voice. “I feel near to swooning from the power of your sweet flatteries and gentle wooing.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him.
    It surprised him, but Cameron came very close to laughing. Not only should he not find anything Sir Payton’s sister had to say amusing, but he was not a man given to a lightness of humor. Lady Avery was so small and lithe, he did not dare rest his full weight upon her, but kept himself raised slightly on his forearms, yet she tried to flay him with words, threatened him, and physically assaulted him every chance she got.
    Glancing down at her mouth, he decided he also wanted to kiss her. Her full lips were tightened a little in annoyance, but they still strongly