Just in Time for a Highlander by Gwyn Cready

Author:Gwyn Cready
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2014-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-six

That had the opposite effect of what I was expecting.

Duncan unraveled Abby’s dark, lustrous locks from his clenched fingers and glanced at the flushed cheeks of the woman whose head had just come to rest on his belly.

Well, not that. That had exactly the effect I was expecting.

From the waist down he was numb, as boneless and unmovable as a spatchcocked chicken. But his heart paced like a caged animal.

He’d severed himself from women before. With the ones who had exerted no claim on his heart, it had been easy—a dinner, a gift, an apology—his fault always. Breaking it off with the ones who’d worked their way into his blood had been harder. Even then, though, he’d scrupulously drawn the line when things had gotten complicated. But with the women who’d turned the tables and ended it with him…

Even when he’d accepted the facts intellectually, his body demanded closure. And the only way to get it had been to swive them within an inch of their lives. Dirty, mindless, nails-down-the-back fornication that left both of them gasping for air. Only then had he been able to shake off the blow.

But the last hour had not cured him of Abby. It had only deepened his addiction. What had he done to himself?

“Did you like it?”

“Yes,” he said, almost afraid to speak.

“No need of lady’s maids?”

“I could no more serve another than I could fly to the moon.” Ever. He would never take another woman to his bed. He knew it as clearly as he knew anything.

“Don’t be so sure.” She smiled. “You haven’t seen my ladies.”

“Abby? I may call you Abby, may I not?”

She smiled. “As you have called me a name or two rather more shocking, I think Abby will be fine.”

He had to ensure she didn’t marry Rosston, and there was only one way to do it. “Abby, I have to go. Right away. As soon as we can manage it.”

She sat up, the playfulness on her face gone. “Why?”

“It’s for you. For us. I told you I have the money. I must get to it.”

“MacHarg, I dinna mean to insult you, but I doubt a man in your situation has the money to—”

“I have the money. Believe me.”

She took his hand. “I’ll delay the wedding as long as I can. You dinna need to persuade me with promises you canna keep—”

“Abby, I have the money. It’s in my home, not here. I’ll collect it and return as soon as I can.” The idea of finally doing something useful with his money thrilled him. He needed to find Undine, and he needed to think about how he’d make the money liquid in eighteenth-century terms. “With my money in your pocket, you need never worry again.”

She gazed at him strangely. “You’ll bring the money and then what will happen? Would we marry?”

“Yes, Abby, yes! Don’t you see? Rosston will have no power over you.”

“No,” she said quietly. “Ye would.”

“No, no,” he protested. “You misunderstand. I don’t want to marry you for your power.

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