Highland Promise Read Online Free Page B

for her to let it all go when the time comes.”
    “Aye, I know.  I never meant any of this.”  Malcom felt defeated.  “I’ll not have her in my bed again Allen and I’ll see to finding her a suitable match when I return home.  Will that settle this between us then?  I can’t have hard feelin’s between us.  I need to trust that you’ll protect Anne.”
    “Aye, that will settle it.  Take my horse, clear your head and don’t fret over Anne.  She is a kind lass and no trouble to keep watch over.  How long are ye stayin’?”
    “Two days.  I need to get back.”  Malcom shook his head.  “I shouldn’t have come in the first place.”
    “And why did you feel the need to come up today?”  Allen grinned as if the answer was written on Malcom’s face.  “I think it will all work out just fine.”
    Malcom shut him out and saddled the horse.  He needed to breathe in the clean air and feel the coolness on his face.  He needed to think and he always did his best thinkin out in the open in the mountains of his homeland.  He would sort it all out and go home with a clear head.  The Highlands would cleans his soul of whatever Anne had done to him. 
     

THREE
     
    Anne couldn’t breathe. 
    She blinked to try to wake up from this strange dream, but she still stood in the fading light on the doorstep of the cottage she now called home.
    She had lived here for nearly three months now and while he had haunted her nights she hadn’t seen her benefactor since the day of her arrival.  Now he was back and he had turned her world on its ear.
    Malcom had barely said ten words to her and yet he had just kissed her more thoroughly than any man in her life, well admittedly she hadn’t been kissed, not really, but she had imagined.  She had imagined the way a man would kiss her and nothing came close to the hunger she had felt in Malcom’s arms. 
    His ardent kiss proved one thing to her once and for all.  Malcom was certainly not a gentleman and another, she should avoid him at all costs.  He could destroy her too easily and leave her without a single thought.
    She turned in time to see Fiona, the young woman who helped with the cleaning and who was Allen’s sister, run away in tears.  Anne’s heart sank as a horrible suspicion surfaced in her mind.
    Malcom and Fiona were lovers. 
    Of course they were.  A man like him probably had women all over Scotland.  Good, strong Scotts women who knew how to work and how to live out in this land of wilderness.  Women who could stand beside a man like Malcom MacTaggart instead of cower behind him.  Anne was not that sort of woman.
    What a mess. 
    She took a deep breath and tried to think about what had just happened and how it might change the situation she found herself in.  It didn’t mean anything.  He was angry and taking it out on her, he sought to shame her perhaps.  He thought she was nothing but an English burden.  Perhaps he sought to be rid of her by proving she was unworthy of his support.
    Her heart pounded in her chest.
    Would he do such a vile thing?  Would he trifle with her only to be done with her? 
    She shook her head at her own ignorance.  How could she know nothing of this sort of thing?  Men here were so different from those she was used to.  Men were a mystery to her anyway, but this one was frighteningly different.
    She looked around her.  She had grown to love her new home, but she was still afraid of her surroundings.  She rarely ventured out of the yard for fear of what lay further away from the cottage.  She longed to walk along the rocky path that led into the hills, but she couldn’t bring herself to take the steps.
    She longed for London where she was safe and knew the rules, but no, London was no longer safe for her.  Moira had received a letter from Margret saying her father had been arrested and questioned.  Anne was being sought after for reasons no one would explain to her.  Margret insisted that she was in