Page 32 of Moon Craving

witnesses for the wedding to come.

There were no flowers, no pomp and ceremony for this royally dictated marriage.

That should not have bothered him, but the soft-spoken woman he had met the night

before seemed to deserve more. Even if she was English. She had been so vulnerable,

and yet when he had demanded to know if she planned to marry him, she had taken her

time replying.

She had weighed him. He could feel her doing it, and she hadn't been adding up

the size of his lands in her head. She'd been judging him personally, and something

inside him had refused to be found wanting.

She was nothing like Emily, which was both good and bad. He did not relish the

prospect of being likened to a goat by another Englishwoman, but he had no desire to see

Abigail Hamilton eaten up and spit out by his clan. Emily had come to the Highlands to

protect this very sister from such a fate. He could not help believing her fears had been

justified.

Abigail spoke in whispers, seemed oblivious to her beauty and had a nervous habit

of holding her hand over her throat when she talked. As if she was preventing the wrong

words from coming out. His wolf felt protective toward her like he did no other besides

family. Since the only one left, his younger sister, Caitriona, was now mated to the

Balmoral's second-in-command, it had been a long time since Talorc had felt those

instincts stir so restlessly.

He wanted to believe it was only because the woman was slated to be his wife, but

his wolf had shown no such concern for her sister when King David had originally

instructed Talorc to marry Emily. The wolf had wanted to howl at the evidence of bruising

on Abigail's pale skin.

And then hunt.

Talorc spent his time waiting for his bride's arrival glaring at the woman's mother

and forcing down the wolf's threatening growls.

Lady Hamilton had that same greedy, unreasonable look to her that his

stepmother, Tamara, had had. As if she expected the world to do her bidding, and woe

betide anyone who refused. At first, the bitch had attempted a smile, but Talorc merely