Seumas pulled back the canvas covering and stopped short."There's a woman in here."
Cormac urged his horse closer and looked inside.
He was not prepared for what he saw.A woman, bound and gagged, glared up at him with eyes blazing with fury.Her dark hair was tangled with straw, her sage green gown filthy and torn.But it was her eyes that arrested him – brown, intelligent, and incandescent with rage.
Even trussed up as a prisoner, she was striking.
Una could not believe it.Were her kidnappers being robbed now by the notorious Shadow?Why could she not have simply stayed in bed?
Their leader was a large man wearing a distinctive half-mask.He gave her a swift assessment, and his gaze settled on the bruise forming on her cheek.She felt his eyes burn against her marred skin as though he were furious on her behalf, which made no sense at all.But the expression vanished so quickly, replaced by something almost jovial, that she would have missed it had she not been watching him closely.
"Well, well," he said, his gaze shifting back to the two terrified men."What have we here?A lass ye've been sporting with?"
"My wife," Bearnas blurted out desperately."That's my beloved wife."
"'Tis a strange manner to treat a beloved wife," Cormac replied, his jaw clenching beneath the mask.
"Aye, she loves riding in the back with the cover over her to keep the dust from her clothes."
Cormac noticed the woman's eyes practically bug out of her head as she made a low growling sound at the driver.If the situation were not so dire, he might have found her response rather adorable.He gave himself a sharp mental shake.Adorable?What in heaven's name was the matter with him.
"Does yer wife enjoy having her hands bound and her mouth gagged when she's riding in yer cart?"Seumas asked.
"Well, man to man, if truth be told she was becoming a wee bit too mouthy and amorous, if ye ken what I mean.She flirts too much for my liking."
The woman in question began kicking the side of the cart and shouting something that sounded like a muffled "liar" through the gag.
"I'll tell ye what," Cormac said, amusement gleaming in his eyes."I'm in a generous mood today.So I'll give ye a choice."He paused."Yer money or yer wife."
He knew any rational kidnapper awaiting a payday would choose the money and try to ride off, leaving the lass.What he was not prepared for was what came next.
"Take her!"they shouted in unison.
Before Cormac could react, the two men grabbed the bound woman by the arms and hurled her bodily out of the cart straight at him.
Time seemed to slow.
Cormac saw her flying through the air toward him, eyes wide with shock, and his arms moved on pure instinct.He caught her – barely – the impact sending him lurching backward in his saddle.
And then something extraordinary happened.
The moment his arms closed around her, the moment her body pressed against his chest and her eyes stared directly into his, Cormac felt it – a jolt so profound it nearly knocked the breath from his lungs.
He felt her gasp against the gag.Then the most inexplicable thing happened.
Cormac became instantly, helplessly aroused.
Her eyes flared with the knowledge.She scowled at him with indignation, then flushed scarlet and tried to squirm away, which only made his predicament considerably worse.
Cormac had never had such an immediate, ungovernable reaction to a woman.Not like this.It made no sense.He did not know her.Had never laid eyes on her before.But holding her felt, inexplicably, like something he had been waiting for.
"Stop moving, lass – ye're only making it worse," he growled low against her ear.She stilled instantly.
Cormac tightened his grip, pulling her closer as his horse danced sideways from the sudden added weight.Her warmth seeped through his clothing.
His heart was hammering against his ribs.
What in heaven's name was happening to him?
