Page 7 of The Highlander's Temporary Bride
Another snap and her heart lurched. Turning, she made to flee and crashed into a solid line of muscle. Big hands caught her wrists, keeping her from falling, and she gasped as she was steadied.
Eyes wide, Emma Wells stared up at her captor, who gave her a lazy, slow, and familiar smile.
A smile that said,Ye kenned I would catch ye in the end.
“No.” Emma tried to pull free, and his grip tightened. “Not you.”
Anyone but you.
CHAPTER 3
Emma knew it was futile,knew she had finally been caught—and by the man she’d barely escaped from before, who now was poised to ruin all her and Helena’s plans—and yet she shouted and kicked at him.
She twisted and flailed, kicking at him. “Let me go.” Emma got one hand free. “I order you?—”
Emma squeaked as a strong arm pinned her against a hard, muscular chest, and her feet kicked helplessly in the air. He caught the hand that swung toward his face. Her eyes darted up, expecting the same snarl she’d seen on the Highlander’s face when she’d left him fighting that horrible big brute, but instead?—
“You dare laugh at me?”
Emma wanted to yell at him,I had to get my stockings wet because of you,but somehow, she resisted. Meanwhile, the Scotshook with amusement, soft chuckles escaping him. Then his hand squeezed her wrist and sent a pleasurable shiver through her.
However, when he set her down, she tried to hit him with her fists. With actual laughable ease, he caught her hands, and gave her a stern look. But his smile betrayed him.
Emma’s mind raced as she stopped fighting, trying to think. What would Helena do? Helena was the reason she and Emma had made it this far. She pictured Helena pacing, her glasses flashing as she looked out the window, and drumming ink-stained fingers on the pane.
Once folks realized that Emma had run a few days before her wedding, word got out that the Queen would reward whoever found her. And so, Emma had spent the past week evading hunters as she tried to get to Helena.
Emma also could not be sure that Matthew Wells had not orchestrated the whole thing—for how else could sketches of her suddenly appear in every town a week ago?
Trying to calm down, Emma made to speak, but the Scot suddenly let her go.
“I can reward you more than the Queen, Sir,” Emma blurted out. She held up her wrist and showed him a fine, diamond-studded bracelet. “This could buy you an entire castle.”
The man stilled and cocked his head, some of the amusement leaving his face. She shivered, waiting. Then, he slowly shook his head, his smile dimming.
And Emma knew she had taken the wrong gamble.
“What—what do you want, then?” she asked through numb lips, even though she suspected she knew the answer.
In response, the Highlander tapped a finger on her nose, and she flinched.
I wanted to catch ye, lass—and I have,she read in his eyes.
“No—no, you don’t,” Emma protested as he took hold of her upper arm and pulled out a length of rope. A strangled squeak escaped her. “Please, the Queen’s Edict is unreasonable, and I would make a poor wife…”
She faltered. Her words tasted like a lie. His green eyes gleamed at her, and she felt a strange flutter in her breast. What had she been saying? Why did he make it so hard to think? Heat rose in her face, and she shook her head.
“I…”
A treacherous little voice whispered in her head, Have you not wondered what would’ve happened if he caught you?
The Scot’s shoulders relaxed, and his hand with the rope fell. Emma found herself wishing he would speak and tell her what he was thinking in that too-handsome head of his. She had never imagined that—he truly was the comeliest man she’d ever seen.
Would it be so terrible to be hiswife?
He took a step toward her, as though he’d heard that thought, and she stumbled backward. She nearly fell, and he caught her, but she wrenched herself free.
“I’m—I’m not sorry I ran.”Liar, liar, liar,whispered that voice in her head. “I can—I’ll do anything. So,please.” Her voice broke. “Don’t do this.”
