Courting an Angel Read Online Free Page B

Gordon glanced at his friend. Mungo rolled his eyes at his cousin’s curiosity.
    Gordon opened the missive, and keeping its contents hidden from view, began to read. He’d been expecting this particular order, but actually seeing it in writing startled his senses. Ten years seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye.
    Closing his eyes, Gordon tried to conjure the image of his bride as she would now appear, a full-grown woman. All he saw was an eight-year-old angel who feared the monster living under her bed. What did Rob MacArthur look like now? he wondered. Had the promise of beauty been fulfilled?
    “Ye dinna look especially pleased,” Lavinia remarked.
    Gordon stared at her for a long moment and hoped she wouldn’t succumb to one of her tantrums. “My MacArthur bride is ripe,” he said. “Argyll orders me to fetch her.”
    “Ye canna leave me,” Lavinia cried. Then, “Cousin, speak to him.”
    “Livy, the man must do his father’s biddin’,” Mungo replied with a shrug.
    “If ye dinna consummate yer vows,” Lavinia advised, “ye can annul the marriage.”
    “I willna do that,” Gordon told her. “’Twould cause a breach between our families.”
    “Why, ye never loved me at all,” Lavinia said in an accusing voice.
    She has the right of that, Gordon thought. He didn’t love her. Love was for women and fools.
    Gordon reached out and pulled her close, saying, “Livy, love has naught to do with marriage. Ye know that as well as anyone.”
    “Ye promised ye’d escort me to the king’s masque tomorrow evenin’,” she whined.
    “Do ye see me leapin’ on my horse and ridin’ off to the Highlands?” Gordon asked. “The MacArthur brat has kept for ten years. Another couple of days willna matter.”
    Lavinia smiled and entwined her arms around his neck. She pressed herself against his hard, muscular frame and asked, “So, ye’ll leave me heartbroken in a couple of days?”
    Her delicately seductive scent assailed his senses. Steeling himself against her wiles, Gordon set her back a pace.
    “God’s balls, Livy. Dinna wrap yerself around me,” he scolded. “Ye know I detest bein’ smothered.”
    Mungo burst out laughing. Gordon Campbell was the only man he knew who possessed the willpower to resist his beautiful cousin.
    Glorious in her anger, Lavinia rounded on her MacKinnon cousin. “Yer laughin’ at my heartache?”
    The absurd thought of Lavinia being heartbroken over any man made Gordon chuckle. Lavinia whirled around and raised her hand to slap him.
    Gordon was faster. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her against his unyielding body. His lips captured hers in a kiss that left her breathless and yearning for more.
    “Dinna be daft,” Gordon whispered against her lips. “I’m plannin’ to deposit the chit at Inverary Castle and then return to Edinburgh posthaste.”
    Lavinia’s expression cleared, and she smiled with satisfaction.
    “Sneak back to yer own chamber after I leave,” Gordon ordered. “Be dressed for shoppin’ by the time I return.”
    “Shoppin’?” Lavinia echoed, her interest primed.
    Gordon smiled. “Aye, lovey. I’ll buy ye somethin’ wildly extravagant.” At that, he lifted his bag of golf clubs and gestured to the other man.
    “I’ll ride with ye to Argyll,” Mungo said as the two of them walked out the door.
    “I thought ye disliked the MacArthurs,” Gordon replied.
    “My Edinburgh creditors are breathin’ down my neck,” Mungo told him. “At the moment the MacArthurs seem the lesser of two evils.”
    Gordon’s chuckle ended abruptly when something heavy hit the door as it closed behind them. The two men stopped short and turned around to stare at it.
    “Lavinia is ventin’ her anger,” Mungo said. “The MacArthur lass is gettin’ the title to which she aspired.”
    Gordon glanced at him. “She’ll survive. To the best of my knowledge, disappointment never killed anyone.”
    The two men lifted their golf bags to their shoulders and