One Hot Scot Read Online Free Page A

actually attempting to woo her would prefer the easier way.”
    “Precisely.” He liked that she had a logical bent to her thinking; most other lasses would either be in a fair way to panicking all over again or would have given up when they lost the horse. If they’d had the courage to run at all.
    “What if he does come?”
    Duncan drew a breath. What he wished to do wasn’t even close to being the wiser course of action, but he needed to use his brain rather than his fists. “Honestly, I’d prefer if I didnae have to fight him,” he said aloud. “When two men from … unfriendly clans get into a brawl here, it can have ramifications.”
    “So you’ll simply hand me back to him?” She stood, her chair falling over backward behind her and the knife he’d given her in her right hand. “I won’t allow that!”
    “Perhaps ye’ll let me finish what I was saying before ye stick me, Julia. If ye dunnae mind.”
    “I wouldn’t stick you. I would stab him .”
    He couldn’t help grinning at that. “I’m all reassured, then.” Moving slowly on the chance that she would forget what she’d just said and stab him anyway, he stood up and walked toward the bed. Taking the short footboard in his hands, he shoved the thing sideways.
    Straw covered the floor there, as it did everywhere else. Brushing a bit of it aside, he found the indentation in the floor, dug his fingers into it, and lifted. “If he does come calling, ye’ll hide in here. I’ll nae suggest ye spend the night in here, though, because it’s a wee bit cramped. And dark.”
    She walked up to where he crouched and bent forward to peer into the dark, wood-lined hole about the size of the bed that hid it. “Why do you have a priesthole in your floor?”
    “My great-grandfather and most of his cotters were Jacobites. So I suppose it’s a Jacobite hole. If any Sasannach soldiers came ’round, most cotters had a place to hide bonny Prince Charlie’s followers, if need be.”
    She nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder as she leaned closer. “Would Bellamy know about it?”
    “I doubt it. The hole’s been there a hundred years, nearly. I’ve kept it repaired because … Well, because I’m a cautious lad, and I have sisters.” He could feel her chuckle through her hand. It sent an interesting warmth running beneath his skin. Sternly he pushed the sensation away. She was likely to be enough trouble without adding lust into the mix.
    “Is the hole to hide you, or them?”
    He dropped the wood cover back over, scattered the loose straw to show her how well hidden it lay, and pulled the bed back in place over it. “They know aboot it, so it wouldnae do me much good. I have been tempted though, on occasion.”
    “How old are they? Your sisters, I mean,” she asked, following him back to the table.
    “Sorcha’s sixteen, Bethia’s thirteen, and Keavy’s just nine. Sorcha turned into a banshee aboot a year ago, so I reckon I’ve got a year or two of sense left from Bethia, and hopefully half a decade from Keavy.”
    When he finished setting up the chess pieces and looked up at his guest, the lass was smiling at him. “You’re very fond of them, aren’t you?” she said.
    “They’re my sisters. I love them. They’ll have me mad as a hatter and white-haired as a winter rabbit, but they and Grandmama Maevis are my only family.”
    “I think I was luckier today than I ever realized,” she said after a moment, her smile fading. “I am quite aware that I might just as easily have stumbled across another Hugh Fersen or his ilk. Thank you, Duncan Lenox.”
    “Dunnae thank me til ye’re safe with yer family.” He realized he was staring at her mouth, and cleared his throat, shoving the board in her direction. “White or black?”
    “Black,” she answered, turning the chessboard so the white-painted wood pieces were aligned in front of him and the black ones toward her.
    He shifted a pawn out and sat back to watch her. What was he going to