The Highlander's Stolen Bride by Madeline Martin

Author:Madeline Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-12-09T16:37:38+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Unease settled in Elspeth’s chest despite her bravado. She wanted the Campbells to have their land back and certainly she wished for it to happen without a clan war that would only lead to more death.

But she did not relish the way in which it all happened.

In her heart, she could not believe that Ross would disown her. Not when the three siblings had become so close after first their mother’s death and then their father’s.

But she knew without a doubt her eldest brother would insist on her marriage to Leith. Ross was a chieftain and his job was to secure alliances. It was a sacrifice Fergus had made and one Ross himself had made. It would be Elspeth’s turn and she had no right to refuse.

Leith’s anger would no doubt show itself in their marriage. She should never have told him she did not wish to wed him. Except that in that moment, when she’d felt forced to watch the two men fight, it was all she could think to do to still their blades. In that instant, she had chosen one over the other and could not stop herself from siding with Calum.

‘Don’t go to Castle Barron either,’ Calum said abruptly. ‘There has to be another way.’

Elspeth studied him in the firelight. His hazel eyes appeared golden, and shadows played over his high cheekbones. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. One whose intentions were selfless and good, a man she would choose for herself should she have the opportunity to select her own husband.

But she did not.

She was, as Leith has so starkly pointed out, a woman. Her future was not hers to plan. She would be sold to the highest bidder, the greatest alliance, like chattel to be bartered with in an agreement.

That would be her fate. If she’d had the opportunity to think thoroughly earlier, she would have understood that. There was no escape.

But her mind had been so muddled, whipped into a frenzy with fear.

For Calum.

‘There is no other way,’ she said in a soft voice.

Her pulse quickened as a realisation came to her. She was no longer promised to Leith. She had broken whatever agreement had been made between her brother and Leith’s father. There would not be another until Ross had her back at Castle Sween. Or until there was peace between the Campbells and the MacMillans.

Right now, she had no obligations to Leith. She could at least make love to the man she did want.

It had been difficult to turn away from him earlier when they’d first entered the cave. But it had become such a habit to fight her desires when it came to Calum that she had resisted his allure. The more she had to put him off, the more she yearned for him.

Now she did not need to fight her attraction to him any longer. At least, not for this one night while she was free.

She leaned closer to Calum, so her knees brushed his.

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