Page 2 of Tempted By a Highland Beast
Rowena vaulted onto her horse’s back and dug her heels in hard. The mare leaped forward, crashing through the undergrowth as shouts erupted behind her. Branches whipped at her face and tore at her dress, but she leaned low over the horse’s neck and urged her faster.
Behind her, she could hear the thunder of pursuit beginning, the crash of bodies through the forest, and Hamish’s voice roaring orders. But for the first time since dawn, when she’d awakened to find her chamber door barred and Alpin’s men standing guard, Rowena felt a fierce spark of hope.
I willnae be dragged tae that altar. Nae today.
The forest opened ahead of her, and she, Rowena MacKenzie would do anything to get away and halt, even for a moment, the vicious plans of the uncle she had come to despise with all her heart.
The wind snatched at her unbound red hair and stung her eyes. The rhythmic pounding of her horse’s hooves against the muddy earth was a relentless drumbeat, echoing the frantic hammer of her heart.
Rowena’s eyes darted through the blurring trees as she searched desperately for any familiar landmark, any sign that she was not utterly lost, but there was none.
There were only endless woods and the loud echo of hooves pounding the forest floor. The chilling certainty that her step-uncle’s men were closing in on her. She’d glimpsed the determined faces of men who enjoyed a hunt.
“Ye can dae this, ye can,” she muttered to herself, trying to keep the panic from clawing at her throat. “Think, Rowena. Ye can always find a way.”
She urged the mare on. The loyal creature was clearly at its limit, and her lungs were raw from the frigid air she gulped in, but she would not stop. She would not yield. Submission meant a fate far worse than the biting cold.
Her heart slammed furiously against her chest.He is nae going tae force me tae marry him.
Shehadto escape, to fight with every fiber of her being until she drew her last breath. A new wave of fear ripped her from her thoughts as a brutal crashing sound drew close.
The hulking brute named Gregor, was gaining on her. “Stop now, lass, or we’ll run ye down!” he yelled. “The laird said tae bring ye back alive, but he didnae say ye need tae be in one piece!” His horse was a dark blur through the trees, and its heavy breathing was almost louder than her ragged gasps.
Laird Alpin. Rowena scoffed mirthlessly.It surely hasn’t taken the fùdar any time tae get comfortable.
The man’s hand lashed out, his fingers grazing the edge of her gown. “Ye cannae run forever!” he barked. “I’ll have ye soon enough, and ye’ll wish I hadnae!”
Rowena’s eyes went wide with terror, but she spun with a snarl. “Ye’ll have tae kill me first!”
There was no time to think. With a surge of adrenaline, she yanked hard on the reins and forced her exhausted horse into a gap barely wide enough to squeeze through.
Gregor’s larger warhorse crashed against the rough, unyielding rock. Its rider cursed loudly as he was thrown off course, buying Rowena a few precious seconds.
The terrain grew rougher still, and the path narrowed to little more than a deer trail, winding through thickets of thorny gorse and tangled roots that threatened to ensnare the mare’s legs. She pushed the horse, exhausting the animal’s last reserves, and they suddenly burst into a clearing that gave way to an open bank.
A vast shimmering expanse appeared before her.A loch!
Its surface was a sheet of steel grey under the shifting clouds. It was wide and still, reflecting the bleak morning sky.
Hope surged in her chest. For one reckless moment, she imagined herself plunging into its depths, losing herself beneath the cold water, and leaving her pursuers to search in vain. But the thought vanished as quickly as it came. She didn’t know how deep the waters would be, or whether the weight of her soaked gown would pull her under. She had come too far to risk losing her life in a desperate bid to vanish.
Her thighs ached from riding, every muscle tight from gripping the saddle too long. The cold bit at her face, but her back was damp with sweat beneath her cloak, her breath misting in shallow, ragged bursts. She had not dared to stop, not even once. Her fingers, stiff around the reins, trembled from more than the chill.
She urged the weary horse towards the pebbled shore, desperate for anything but the suffocating press of the forest. Anything but the gnawing fear that she would hear hoofbeats again behind her.
A part of her longed to stop. Just for a breath. To dismount, to gather herself, to be something more than a hunted thing. But there was no time. No place safe enough for composure.
Just as her horse skidded to a halt on the wet stones, Rowena tumbled from the saddle. Her knees buckled on impact, and she tried to catch herself but her body betrayed her as she tumbled into the water and bumped into something hard.
Her breath caught in her throat when she looked up and found that she had stumbled not intosomethingbut intosomeone. A man. It didn’t help that she was on her backside and the bottom of her dress was wet from the encounter. She moved backwards in a bid to preserve her dignity.
“I’m so sorry!” Rowena said as she walked out of the loch hurriedly. Her eyes settled on the man, and she managed to suppress her gasp.
He was tall, impossibly broad-shouldered, and standing waist-deep in the loch. His body was honed muscle, cords of strength roping around him. His nude form rose from the dark water like some ancient god emerging from the mists of time.
The sight stole the very air from her lungs.God, he’s handsome… and naked!
His hair, black as a raven’s wing, was slicked back from a face made of granite. Sharp cheekbones fell upon a jaw that seemed carved from ice. Water streamed in powerful rivulets down his chest and sculpted arms, and they gleamed in the light.
