My Highland Love: Highland Lords Series by Tarah Scott

pulled his horse
to a halt beside her and dismounted.
    He came around to her and helped her from the
saddle. "Go on." She hesitated, and his eyes softened. "I'll be
along after I have seen to the animals."
    She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're a
good man, Michael MacGregor."
    He shook his head, but she could see that he
was pleased. He limped off leading the horses, and Elise headed for
the great hall. At the postern door, she entered and saw Marcus
standing near the hearth. He broke off his conversation with the
two men who stood with him and glanced over his shoulder. The drawn
look on his face snapped into a dark scowl. He started forward.
Elise faltered when she saw he meant to intercept her. His
companions disappeared up the nearest staircase and a hum of
apprehension began deep in her stomach.
    Marcus rounded the table and reached the
midway point when she blurted, "Good afternoon, Marcus. How are
you?"
    "Where have you been?" he demanded.
    "I—" She fell back an unsteady step when it
seemed he would ram into her. He halted three feet from her. "I
have just returned from visiting Michael."
    "So I was told," he replied curtly. "Winnie's
warning did nothing to deter you?"
    "Winnie's warnin—" Elise recalled her
encounter with Winnie that morning. Good Lord, Winnie had told him
she saw her leave.
    Marcus's eyes narrowed. "Aye, you remember.
Fortunately for you, I only just discovered your absence.
Unmanageable wench," he added in a dark voice.
    "You have your answers," she shot back. "Why
bother asking?"
    "Because I couldn't believe you were
traipsing about the countryside."
    "I was not traipsing about the country. Not
that it's your business."
    "It is my business—and I will see to it you
no' do it again."
    She ignored the warning bell the definite
hardening of his brogue set off inside her head. and said, "You're
insane if you think I'll be ordered about."
    "Ye will do as you're told," he said in a
quiet voice that was perversely more unsettling than a shout.
    "I come and go as I please, just as everyone
else at Brahan Seer."
    A keen light shone in his eyes. "If you will
note, the women are staying close to home." His expression
hardened. "At the express command of their men."
    Elise gasped, then glanced past him, gauging
the distance between him and the freedom the kitchen offered. He
stepped closer and her temper flared. She raised her hands to
shield herself from his advance and her palms met the unexpected
warmth of his chest. She gaped at her fingers splayed across tanned
skin where his shirt lay open, and her senses reeled at the raw
power in the heavy rise and fall of his chest.
    "Lord," she whispered, and yanked her hands
away.
    The vague realization that strong fingers had
gripped her wrists was overshadowed by the jolt she felt when
Marcus forced her hands back to his chest. Her mind screamed to
break free, but the sight of her palms gliding over his dark
skin—the need to touch every contour, to know intimately his
powerful body—held her rooted to the spot. She tore her gaze from
his chest and looked into his eyes. The fire blazing there drew
her—commanded her—and she leaned into him.
    "There ye are, lad. I was just look—"
    Elise twisted as Cameron reached the bottom
of the nearest staircase. He lifted a bushy brow. She looked back
at Marcus. His hold loosened and she snatched her hands away. She
retreated, stumbling over her own feet. Marcus reached for her, but
she dodged his hand with another unsure step backward.
    "I-I must go," she stammered, and fled the
room.
    " Elise —bloody hell!"
    Marcus's voice echoed off the stone walls as
she shoved through the postern door.
     
    Elise avoided Marcus that night. Yet his
memory persisted. Alone in bed, her cheeks burned with the
recollection of how he had forced her hands against him in a rough
caress. Though only a moment passed between them, her senses had
taken in every contour as her fingers glided along the unyielding
muscle. The hint of