A Beautiful Lie (The Camaraes) Read Online Free Page B

she remembered what he ’ d tried to do to her that morning … what he would do her when they were married, and as often as he wanted … it made her flesh crawl. 
     
    She didn ’ t know a lot about what went on between a man and wife - that, more than anything, had been what had terrified her that morning.  Muira thought, perhaps, if she had just knew what Tavish wanted from her, she could bear giving it to him better.  And then she remembered what he had said, and decided that really hadn ’ t been the problem at all.
     
    She felt dirty when she recalled his hands groping at her body, squeezing at her breasts and fumbling between her legs.  Muira shuddered, and felt like she needed to bathe all over again.
     
    Surely it shouldn ’ t have to feel like that?  Muira found herself asking silently, and then, for reasons she didn ’ t understand, the memory of Lachlan MacRae drifted to the forefront of her mind …
     
    He was so large, but he had been so gentle.  When Muira thought of his hands tending to her ankle, so unlike Tavish ’ s brutal grasp, or if she remembered his arm around her waist, tight without being crushing, then a strange heat burnt beneath her skin, and an even stranger ache settled deep in the pit of her stomach.   She was glad of the distraction when the door opened and Cait returned with her supper.
     
    Only it wasn ’ t Cait.
     
    “ Get up you, little bitch, ” snarled Tavish, and then, without waiting for her to obey, he stormed across the room and dragged Muira to her feet, pulling her after him, out into the corridor and towards his own room.
     
    ..ooOOoo..
     
    It could have been worse.
     
    Lachlan rubbed his jaw, bruised, from where one of the Cameron men had taken a swing at him.  He hadn ’ t expected anything less.  He had been beaten, soundly but not viciously, and only then had he been allowed to walk the rest of the way to Castle Cameron.  Graem was a fool for thinking he ’ d be welcomed as a guest . 
     
    But, it was still true that he had been expecting worse.  He was still alive at least.  Perhaps his kindness to the Cameron lass had not gone un-rewarded? 
     
    In the darkness of very basic, almost prison-like, room Lachlan smiled.  Muira Cameron.  She had certainly made the journey more interesting.  He found himself wondering what it was that she was running away from, quite obviously, regardless of the tale that she ’ d tried to spin him, that was what she had been up to.  Jilted by her lover perhaps?  Abandoned by her family? 
     
    He couldn ’ t find a reason that explained why she had been so ready to be brought back though.  Deciding that he ’ d spent too long letting his thoughts linger on the pretty Cameron woman, Lachlan sat up, and decided to have a quiet snoop around the castle. 
     
    He wasn ’ t a prisoner.  He also hadn ’ t been fed.  He ’ d been told nothing more than Laird Cameron would see him when he was ready. 
     
    No one had been ordered to guard his room, so Lachlan slipped out into the corridor easily enough, walking in the opposite direction to the one he ’ d been brought.  He hadn ’ t been going for more than a couple of minutes when he hear a low sobbing, and the strange sound of someone trying to shout under their breath.
     
    “ Shut up, you little whore!  You ’ ll wake the whole castle! ”
     
    Lachlan ’ s stomach turned over as the sound of flesh striking flesh reached his ears.  He didn ’ t care that he was more or less unarmed and not in his own castle.  He walked quickly towards the commotion, rounded the next corner, and then stopped dead.
     
    Muira was lying in a huddle on the floor.  A man was leaning over her quaking figure, looking ready to haul her roughly to her feet.
     
    “ Touch her again and I ’ ll kill you. ”
     
    Lachlan was just as shocked by the words as they flew out of his mouth as it appeared the couple were, he hadn ’ t thought them, they ’ d just- burst