Page 25 of Moon Awakening

For some reason, the action brought tears to Emily's eyes.

"You will apologize now," Lachlan said, drawing her attention bade to him.

"For what?" she asked, making a valiant effort to meet his wolflike gaze.

Those eyes were so uncanny, she knew she would see them in her dreams.

As usual, when the stubborn warrior did not want to answer, he didn't. He merely stared at her. Well, she could be stubborn, too. She pressed her lips together, determined not to speak. She had nothing to apologize for. Just because Cait appeared to enjoy Drustan's kisses didn't mean Lachlan had been right in the form of revenge he had chosen.

The silence between them stretched on and on, broken only by the sound of the oars slashing through the water and the waves breaking around them.

"I will win," Lachlan promised quietly, then dismissed her as surely as if he'd turned away.

Inexplicably hurt by his rejection, she focused on the view out the side of the boat. It was no more comforting than it had been the first time she'd looked. The island they were obviously headed toward didn't seem to be getting any closer and the water stretched in an expanse of dark swells around them.

Drustan untied Cait and helped her back to her seat beside Emily before taking up his oars again.

Without the anger to bolster her courage, it deserted her and horrible images of the boat tipping to one side or huge crashing waves washing over it and taking her and Cait overboard tormented Emily's brain.

"Are you going to tolerate the insult of the English wench?" Ulf demanded in a furious tone, interrupting her waking nightmare.

"She will apologize," Lachlan drawled with utter certainty.

"No, I won't." She muttered the defiance without thought and was surprised she could force the words out of her tight throat afterward.

Lachlan growled low in his chest, the sound so far from human, it made her shiver and added to the sense of doom taking over her senses. Her gaze flew to his and she wished it hadn't. His eyes were even less human than usual with the gold almost overtaking the brown of his irises. She just knew that meant he was well and truly annoyed with her.

If she wasn't past the age of believing in monsters like dragons and werewolves, she'd think he was one. An atavistic chill skittered down her spine and it was all she could do not to whimper in fright.

"Are you admitting she is right then? That you are weak and a coward to take your revenge on women instead of men?"

Lachlan stood and faced the angry soldier, his own body vibrating with deadly tension. "You dare to challenge me?"

"I am not the one challenging you. She did and you do nothing to punish the insolence."

The boat swayed and a scream locked in Emily's throat, making her jaw ache with the effort it took to hold it back. She shut her eyes tight, trying to block out the reality of her surroundings, but the sounds of wind on the water would not let her.

"Perhaps he thinks forcing her to endure your company is punishment enough," Cait taunted.

There was a scuffle above Emily and the boat swayed in alarming dips first to one side and then to the other. She sank further and further into the fear swirling through her. Her eyes flew open, her despairing gaze searching out the strongest person on the boat… Lachlan.

He stood above her, holding Ulf, as if stopping him from going for Emily's throat.

Her hand flew to protect it in a totally futile gesture.

Ulf's eyes spit angry recriminations at his leader. "I won't tolerate such insults, even if you will."

"You will tolerate whatever I tell you to tolerate." The tone of Lachlan's voice was the meanest she'd heard it yet.

"You would choose your enemy over your brother?"

Ulf was Lachlan's brother? Emily supposed there was a slight family resemblance, but they seemed so different.

"Balmoral warriors do not prey on women."

"She insulted us all!" he yelled, jerking his head toward Emily.

"She is English, and therefore ignorant of our ways. She will learn."