Highland Wolf by Hannah Howell Page A

few dreams. It was no longer safe. Now she knew he desired her. Worse, now she knew how he tasted and how he could make her feel. She was going to have to keep as much distance between them as possible now.
    Annora closed her eyes as a sudden sense of loss swept over her. She told herself that was foolish as she did not really know this man who held her safe against the darkness and she was not free to explore such things as desire. There was Meggie to consider, for Annora knew that any hint of impropriety on her part and Donnell would use that as an excuse to separate her and Meggie. There was also the danger she could put both Rolf and herself in if she allowed this attraction any freedom, for she doubted Egan would like it. And finally there was the fact that she did not want to find herself in the same situation that had destroyed her mother, left unwed and carrying a child who would suffer her whole life for the sins of her parents. No, it was necessary to step away from Rolf Lavengeance and stay away. Far, far away.
    When a little voice in her head said she could wait to do that until they were out of the little dark space they were hiding in, she grimaced and then inwardly shrugged. Therewas no place to retreat to at the moment anyway. And the way he was nuzzling the place where her shoulder curved into her neck and stealing slow caresses of her body wherever his hands rested made it a little difficult to ignore him.
    “This last time a laird’s eldest son was killed, Donnell,” said Egan.
    Those words yanked Annora free of her thoughts about Rolf and she tensed. She had known that Donnell was involved in raids on other clans although she had not known how deeply or how often, but it appeared that he had recently been involved in one and it had caused some blood to be shed. Going on a raid or two was obviously why the Chisholms were lingering at Dunncraig. Since such crimes were usually committed during the night she had never paid all that much attention, but it was evident that they were putting Dunncraig and its people in danger. They were putting Meggie in danger.
    The way the man holding her tensed told her that he was probably thinking the same things. She was not sure why he would be concerned, but perhaps he had decided to make Dunncraig his new home and simply feared that Donnell and his men were threatening the peace of his chosen home. Peace was an elusive thing in Scotland under any circumstances, but it was madness to do things that invited retaliation and stirred up bloody feuds.
    “Ease your mind, Egan,” said Donnell, his footsteps passing by the hiding place she shared with Rolf. “I will soon have that old bastard tied to me in a way that will make him shut his mouth, e’en if he is caught.”
    “I hope ye are right about that,” Egan said, his footsteps following Donnell’s.
    “E’en if I am wrong about Old Ian, I am nay wrong about his sons. They would turn on their own father to protect their own arses or gain the power he denies them. Once I have one of those fools tied to me, he will do his best to ensure that I am nay taken down, not e’en by his own kinsmen.”
    The sound of the men leaving the ledger room, the door closing behind them, almost disappointed Annora. She was glad they were gone as she needed to get out of her place of captivity and out of Rolfs embrace. However, she would have liked to have the men talk long enough to let her know just what weapon Donnell thought he would soon have to hold over the heads of the Chisholms, one or all, to force them to protect him.
    Several tense, silent moments passed and Annora was about to ask if they were getting out of there, when Rolf opened the door and nudged her back out into the ledger room. As she blinked against the sudden light, it was a minute or two before she could see Rolfs face clearly, and what she saw surprised her. The man was furious. Since she always sensed some rage inside him, she had not paid much attention to