The Highlander's Bride by Michele Sinclair

not as a wife. And while she admitted to herself that she definitely wanted him in ways she never had dreamed of, he was not her destiny.
    She just needed a place to recover and some time to figure out a way to warn her grandfather of Laird Douglass’s threat. With Keith Douglass dead and her disappearance, Laird Douglass was no doubt preparing war against her grandfather’s clan—the MacInneses. She didn’t know why God had sent the handsome highlander to aid her, but he was her only hope for survival. Her clan’s future rested on the ability of this highland chieftain to keep her safe.
    But until she could develop a plan to advise her grandfather about Douglass, she would allow herself the unwise joys of being with, talking with, and watching her miraculous dark-haired champion.
    Conor could feel her looking at him, assessing him. He could feel her eyes boring through his skin, peeling away the layers to his soul. What she was thinking? Did she find him unappealing? She said she was not married, but there could still be someone important to her, someone she was intended for. Was he being compared to another man? Someone she preferred, whom she wished she was with? His fears were beginning to take hold when she called out.
    “Conor, slow down!” Conor had suddenly picked up the pace, and Laurel was finding it difficult to keep up. Where were they headed anyhow? They had long since passed many places that might have provided privacy for a discussion.
    “Just a bit farther. I wanted to show you something.” Conor wasn’t exactly sure why he wanted Laurel to see this particular vista. He had found it years ago, when he was a guardsman to his grandfather’s best friend, Laird MacInnes. It was special, and somehow he instinctively knew that Laurel would appreciate it once she was there.
    “Could you…just slow down…a bit?” Her breathing was labored, and the pain in her side was throbbing.
    Conor looked back and felt instant guilt. Her ribs! And all of this climbing—what was he thinking! Since she entered his life two days ago, he had not been acting himself. He had deliberately provoked her anger earlier when in truth, he just wanted to be the one who made her smile. Instead of bringing her to a place of joy and pleasure, he had caused her pain. He wouldn’t blame Laurel for lashing out at him and demanding to go back. He turned around and began to return to the camp.
    “Conor, what in the name of all that is holy are you doing?” She looked at him with a perplexed expression. “Do not tell me that we climbed all this way and are now turning around because I need to slow the pace. I want to see what you were going to show me. You said it wasn’t far,” and then a thought occurred to her, “or are you lost, Conor? Is that it? You don’t know where we are?”
    The combination of her question and her indignation were just too much, and he laughed aloud. She actually thought he could be lost!
    He beamed her a look of delight. “No, love, I am not lost. Nor will I ever be with you.” Conor didn’t realize how telling those words were until he uttered them aloud. She looked at him with such longing, as if she felt as he did.
    “It is just beyond those trees. But I know you are hurting so we will turn around.”
    Laurel straightened her shoulders. “Nonsense. To the trees it is. I just didn’t want to run there, Conor. While you may not be lost, I would be if I lost sight of you.”
    “I would find you,” Conor said in a gentle but reassuring way. “I will always protect you, Laurel.” He completed the thought with a mental promise: You are mine . Conor felt his whole body tighten with desire.
    Just then Laurel walked past him and ducked carefully under a brush to see what was beyond. The beauty that extended before her was stunning. She had thought her lands in Northumberland were beautiful, especially the North Sea coastline, but they could not compare to this.
    From this vantage point, her view of