Highlander's Reckoning (The Sinclair Brothers #3) by Emma Prince

an amiable acquaintance, and the
next, she was being evasive and flighty. What was the lass hiding?

Chapter 7
    Rona tried and failed to steady her hand as she
reached for her cup of spiced wine. Luckily, all those gathered in the hall for
their wedding celebration were too deep in their own cups to notice.
    The wedding ceremony had flown by in a blur. Father
Gabriel had conducted the ritual in the castle’s kirk a mere hour before, but
Rona felt so disoriented and overwhelmed that it might have been a week ago.
    She had been so nervous that she had shaken slightly
then too, but Daniel’s warm, firm hands had enclosed around hers, strangely
soothing her and making her more anxious at the same time.
    “Are you well, wife?” Daniel said quietly, leaning
toward her on the dais.
    Apparently she wasn’t going unnoticed after all. Her
stomach fluttered at his low, deep voice next to her ear. No, she wasn’t well.
Not in the least.
    She was a married woman now. She glanced up at
Daniel, who wore a frown on his dark features. She should count herself lucky.
She could have been married off to some old codger, and instead she was bound
for life to the ruggedly handsome, tall, strapping Highlander seated next to
her on the dais.
    “I have my monthly curse,” she blurted out. It was a
bald-faced lie, and she wasn’t sure why she told it, but she had to do
something to delay their wedding night.
    She almost wished that her husband was the kind of
monstrous old codger young brides feared. If he were aged and frail of body,
perhaps he wouldn’t have so much power over her. As it was, the mere sight of
Daniel sent ripples of heated awareness through her. And when they had kissed
in the kirk after speaking their vows—
    It had been barely a brush of the lips, but Daniel
had held the kiss a second longer than necessary. In that moment, his masculine
scent, of leather and mint, had enveloped her, making her feel light-headed and
girlish.
    His lips had been surprisingly soft. How could such
a rugged warrior be so gentle? But as he’d pulled back from the kiss, his
blue-gray eyes had pinned her with a look of hunger that stirred something deep
inside her. Something that was decidedly ungentle.
    She couldn’t let him affect her so much. She feared
her own reaction to him, feared that her mind would become clouded and addled
enough that she might let something slip—something that could cost not only her
life, but also the lives of Ian and Mairi Ferguson.
    As it was, he was giving her one of those piercing
looks that made her fear that he could see right through her lie.
    “How…unfortunate,” he said levelly.
    “We’ll have to wait to consummate our marriage,” she
said with her best attempt at innocence. He only grunted in response, though
his eyes remained on her, searching her face.
    She turned back to watch the merriment of the
castle’s residents, pretending to be engrossed. All told, it was a relatively
muted celebration. Because many months of winter stretched before them, and
because it had been a harder year that most, the feast was more like a large
meal. And though some villagers had braved the choppy, cold waters of the loch
to attend the celebration, the biting wind that promised a wicked storm had
kept most at home.
    Daniel had mentioned at the start of the meal that
there would be a more elaborate celebration in a month or two when the worst of
winter was over. He even mentioned that his family would likely join them to
honor their marriage. After what he had told her of his family, she was
intrigued to meet them.
    But, she reminded herself firmly, she couldn’t get
too close to this man or his family if she hoped to maintain her secret.
    Of course, lying about her monthly curse was only a
temporary solution. She knew she would eventually have to consummate the
marriage with him. Even though she was a maiden and should be afraid of what
that would entail, the thought brought a foreign warmth to her limbs, one