Page 24 of Highlander’s Forbidden Fruit

“How so?” Evanna tried not to show how moved she was by his soft touch, or his intimate tone.

“You speak so vehemently about marriage, yet here you are presenting yourself as a prospect.”

Evanna sighed. “’Tis true. I am here looking for a husband but only because I must. If it were up to me, I’d be a soldier, or a coachman.”

“Not a scholar, or solicitor?” John chuckled again, his blue eyes dancing with delight.

“Never been much for books.” Evanna shrugged. “My governesses tried, but I preferred the lance to the pen, and the bow to sewing needles.”

“Remarkable,” he repeated.

John caressed her jaw, sending a shiver of guilt down her spine. She didn’t love him. Her heart beat only for Aleck, so why was her body betraying her by reacting so to John?

A part of her willed her arms to lift up and push him away, but the other part made her arch her neck, the better to receive his caresses.

She was hung in the balance between the war inside her limbs when the shrubbery shook with such violence a few branches were snapped neatly in half and Aleck emerged in the clearing, fuming like a bull.

Chapter Ten

Where before there had been thrill, there was now mortification. Evanna didn’t see how it was possible to survive such a change in emotion. After all, sudden changes in body temperature could be life threatening, then why not emotion?

“Get away from her!”

“It’s not what you think.” John stepped away from Evanna, his hands falling back to his side.

“I am nae interested in yer excuses,” Aleck snarled. “Ye knew ye should have brought her back when the rest left for the house. Is it pistols at dawn yer after?”

“Aleck!” Evanna warned. “Mr. Winchester’s intentions were honorable. We were collecting treasures.”

“Ye keep treasures on yer face?” Aleck snapped. “Ye’ve been given too much leeway by yer Da, and it shows. But I’m nae yer father, lass. Yer coming back with me.”

“How dare you!” Evanna was besides herself with rage. It was one thing to call her spoiled, but quite another to suggest she had no sense of dignity and moral values.

“He’s right, Evanna.” John tipped his hat. “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. It was not meant. Please forgive me for this grave oversight. I shall take my leave.”

“Yer not the one who should be leaving.” Evanna glared at Aleck.

“I will see you later, Miss MacLeod.” John left, his shoulders square and dignified.

Evanna felt sorry to see him go. Even a blind man could have seen there were no salacious intentions. Why, he had only caressed her cheek. A feathery connection of skin to skin. It was not as if John had kissed her or taken undue advantage like most brutes would. It was only Aleck and his backward thinking that had made a mountain out of a molehill.

“I’ll never forgive ye for this.” She glared at Aleck and stomped towards the path back to the house. “Ye have crossed a line.”

“I’ve crossed a line?” he sneered. “I wasnae the one caught alone in the woods with a man without a chaperone. Ye’ve already stained our honor and my Laird’s reputation by running away, this would have been the last nail in the coffin.”

“Honor and reputation!” She whirled around so fast he stopped in his tracks. They were inches away, but Evanna didn’t care at that point. She poked him in the chest viciously. “Is that all you ever think about?”

“Since ye think naught of it, the rest of us have to.”

Evanna flinched like she had been slapped. Hurt and anger radiated from every pore until she felt like a glowing coal giving off heat. She was breathing rapidly, her breasts heaving, and suddenly she wanted to rip the corset off so she could breathe with ease and let loose all her frustration with Aleck.

“Yer a miserable, cold-hearted bastard, Aleck Bryce. Yer only angry with me because you hate it here and Da forced you to come after me. If it were up to ye, ye’d have left me to die for all ye cared.”

Aleck looked taken aback, but only for a fleeting second. Then the fury came back into his green eyes that shone like emerald fire. He moved closer and took her arm in a painful grip.

“Yer thoughtless. Ye care only for yerself. Ye left a home that loves ye, for what, English snobbery?”

“English snobbery?” Evanna wrenched her arm free and walked away from him. She was so furious she wasn’t aware that she was headed away from the path rather than towards it. “I’ve seen naught but generous people inviting us into their homes. Yer the one to speak of snobs when ye’ve been lifting yer nose up at everything. Naught is good enough for ye. Nae even the nice ball at the house of Lady Fulton.”