Highland Flame (Highland Brides) Read Online Free

nodded, unable to find her voice, but forcing herself to remember her reasons for revenge.
    "Ye must na punish yerself further, lass. I will go in alone and bring her out. Ye need na look upon her wounds until Lady Fiona has mended them."
    Against her will, Flame found his eyes in the darkness. They were shadowed and deep. She caught her breath. Her lips parted. She had not thought to find kindness in this man. She had not wished to. The truth trembled to spill forth from her lips, but the anguish of her people stopped her words. She nodded slowly.
    The warmth of his hand dropped away. In a moment he was gone, swallowed by the darkness and rolling mists.
    Flame sat immobile, every muscle taut. Beneath her, Lochan half reared, pulling at the reins.
    "Roderic," she whispered, but loyalty to her clan held her steady. Whether she wished it or not, her people depended on her, needed her strength. Lochan pulled again and Flame loosened the reins, letting him trot forward.
    The broken structure of wood and stone appeared out of the earthbound clouds. Roderic's horse stood alone, his saddle empty.
    Slipping from Lochan's back, Flame hurried toward the abandoned stable. The doorway was a golden square of light in the darkness. She rushed through and halted, heart hammering against her ribs.
    A fire burned low. Seven of her men occupied the stone enclosure. One leaned against the far wall, holding his arm.
    "Praise the saints!" Troy rumbled. "We heard yer scream and feared fer yer safety."
    Flame tried to speak, but her throat was too tight, her attention too riveted on Roderic Forbes.
    He stood very still. His arms were pressed against his back. Troy loomed over him, his hawk-sharp eyes visible above his captive's head as he bound their prisoner’s wrists.
    Flame watched, finding no words. A narrow rivulet of blood trickled down Forbes' forehead. His sword was held by Gilbert, one of the warriors who surrounded him in a grim half circle.
    "I be wondering..." began Roderic. His tone was smooth, but his gaze was hard and cold in the flickering light thrown from the fire behind him. "…which of these bonny maids be yer sister, lass?"
     

Chapter 2

     
    “I’ll show ye a bonny maid, ye blackhearted devil!" snarled Bullock, stepping forward. His face was red and his body, as stout and squat as the animal for which he was named, was stiff with rage. He held his sword in a deadly grip. "Me claymore will give ye a kiss ye'll na soon forget."
    "Cease!" Flame ordered. Although her knees felt weak, her tone was sharp and steady as she stepped forward. "There'll be no bloodshed here tonight."
    "Na bloodshed?" Bullock scoffed. "Ye should have told the Forbes that afore he cut Shaw."
    "Shaw!" Flame breathed. Realizing finally why that stalwart warrior had been so silent and still near the wall, she turned rapidly. "Are ye bad hurt?"
    "Nay. Nay, me lady." Shaw was a young man, quiet and brave. Clutching a bloody arm and looking pale, he straightened. " 'Tis fine I am."
    "He's sorely wounded!" said Nevin. His back was rigid, but his face looked pale as he turned from the sight of the other's wound.
    "What were ye thinking?" Bullock asked Flame, still holding his claymore at the ready. "Ye were ta take the Lady Forbes. 'Tis what we agreed."
    Control lay in the balance. Flame stood very still, assessing her men's moods, debating her next move. Doubt assailed her, but for eighteen months she had been their leader, winning their trust and loyalty by painful increments. She could not back down now, for the MacGowans had no love for cowards or fools.
    "We agreed!" Flame lifted her chin. If she faltered now, all would be lost. Her clan would be in dissension and the Forbeses would sweep down upon them and wipe her people from the craggy face of Scotland. "Could it be that ye forget who ye be talking to, Burke MacGowan?" she asked, using Bullock's Christian name as a reprimand. "Do ye forget whose father was laird for more years than ye have lived? Do