Her brows drew together across her nose. “I’ve heard nothing of Alex MacLeod in years.”
“Neither have I,” Elizabeth said. “It’s strange, isn’t it?”
“Very,” Meg agreed, always intrigued by a mystery.
Jamie saw her and smiled. He pointed in her direction and started heading toward her. The man turned, and anticipation prickled at the back of her neck as a strong, rugged profile and, moments later, a breathtakingly handsome face came into view. She gasped. Piercing blue eyes pinned her to the ground.
Her heart dropped to her feet.
She would know those ice blue eyes anywhere.
It was him.
Her warrior.
She should have recognized the battle-hardened physique. Admittedly, he looked different. But a shave and a haircut could not disguise the man who’d haunted her dreams.
Without the beard, the true masculine beauty of his face was revealed to startling perfection. His features combined the refined edge of the MacLeod’s Norse ancestors with the raw masculinity of the Celt. Tanned to a dark bronze, his skin gave proof of time spent outdoors beneath the hot summer sun. The hard angles of his cheeks and square jaw were exactly as she remembered. Now, bereft of whiskers, she could see the slight cleft in his chin and smattering of small scars across his nose and cheekbones. Another thin scar cut through his left brow, lending a wicked edge to an otherwise almost too perfect face.
She was surprised to discover that his hair was more blond than brown, much lighter than she’d expected. It reflected the light like a golden halo.
Though there was nothing angelic about this man.
The dark expression on his face took her aback. His gaze swept over her without a flicker of recognition. A shadow of uncertainty stole through her consciousness.
Itwasthe same man…wasn’t it?
Bloody hell,Alex thought.It’s her.
The woman Jamie Campbell couldn’t stop talking about, his “Meg,” was the one Alex couldn’t seem to forget. He should be furious to find her here. If she recognized him, with one careless word—especially to Jamie—she could shatter a carefully constructed plan, making his task much more difficult. But anger wasn’t what he felt.
Hell.If Alex weren’t so disciplined and focused on the task at hand, he might have even thought it was a flicker of pleasure.
Apparently his body had no discipline, because it responded right away. The same intense attraction he’d felt that day in the forest hit him hard. It was odd. She was not the typical sort of woman to inspire instant lust. But damned if that wasn’t what he felt. Raw, unbridled desire. Desire that coiled like a fist inside him and would not let go.
She looked different, which wasn’t surprising since the last time he’d seen her she was soaking wet. Now, instead of a simple Highlandarisaidh,she was gowned resplendently in her court finery, though the pale yellow color of her dress did not flatter her incredible ivory skin. He looked a little closer. Nor did the gown seem to fit too well; it hung shapelessly on her dainty figure.
Her hair was lighter brown than he’d realized. Rather than tumbling loose around her shoulders in enticing damp tendrils, she had it arranged in a tight, severe knot at the back of her head. But it was more than just the change of clothes and hair. Her expression was different. The serious-looking woman staring at him looked nothing like his vulnerable wood nymph.
Still, he had no doubt it was the same lass. The tiny, heart-shaped face and enormous soft green eyes were unmistakable.
As was the heat that surged through him the moment their eyes met.
He quickly turned his gaze, but not before he saw the look of shock on her face, followed quickly by recognition.Which was definitely a problem.Knowledge of his presence so near Skye only a few weeks ago could lead to questions with which he’d rather not have to contend.
He would not let anything, or anyone, interfere with his mission. Certainly not one wee lass, no matter how hot she fired his blood.
Alex had been sent to court on behalf of his brother, Rory, and the other Island chiefs, to discover what he could about the rumor of a second attempt by the king to colonize the Isle of Lewis with Lowlanders. The Lowland colonists, the so-called Fife Adventurers, had been repulsed from Lewis once before. It was Alex’s sole purpose to ensure that if they tried again, they would fail again.
“Colonize” was the king’s euphemism for displacing Highlanders and stealing their land. Convinced that the Highlands were an unmined source of riches with which to fill the ever insatiable royal coffers, the king had enacted a series of laws intended to divest the clans of land they’d held for hundreds of years.
In many ways, the fate of Lewis was a bellwether for the rest of the Isles. Rory and the other Island chiefs realized that if the king was successful in colonizing the Isle of Lewis by supplanting Highlanders with Lowlanders, their lands would be next.
Alex’s reasons were more personal.
Knowing that the Lowlanders at court would be suspicious of any Highlander in their midst, the plan had been to distance Alex from Rory, including circulating rumors of a falling-out between the brothers. Alex’s absence for the last few years had worked in their favor. It also had provided an explanation for his being at court. Posing as a mercenary looking for hire, recently returned from fighting with the Irish gallowglass, the elite mercenary warriors, under the famed Irish Chief of O’Neill, Alex hoped to learn information from the type of men who might be hired to protect the colonists of Lewis.
This mission was Alex’s chance to strike hard at the king’s injustice and to redress an old wrong in one fell blow.
