HighlandHeat Read Online Free

impossible.
    Frustrated, Hamish took another drink of whisky and decided
ten more minutes was all his hosts were getting from him tonight. It would have
to be enough this year. He noticed a particularly determined social maven
making her way toward him. Walking away from the wall, he started to circle the
room. A moving target was harder to catch.
    On an evening like this one, all sorts of things filled his
mind, but tonight was different. Since he’d started getting ready to go out,
there’d been something he didn’t understand rapidly growing inside him. It
wasn’t a thing, but an intense need for some unknown and it left him feeling
eager, agitated and uneasy. He needed to figure it out, and quickly, before
things spiraled beyond his control.
    Stalking the edges of the party was making it worse, and
yet, now that he’d started delving in to what was bothering him, he couldn’t
find the will to stop. Having defined some of what he felt, it was time to
figure out what was happening to cause this unease in him. With that thought,
an image flashed into his mind and he immediately pushed it away because it
didn’t make sense. The problem was the same picture kept coming back until he
truly looked at it and then put himself into it.
    Not that it made much more sense, but as he turned it around
in his mind, looking at from every different direction, it appeared as if he
literally was chasing something. Just putting a name to what was going on inside
him had his heart beating so fast, like he was running full speed. Except he
wasn’t, he was walking around a ballroom, dressed up in his formal kilt attire
and feeling out of sorts.
    Without thinking about what he was doing, his eyes raced
around the room, assessing the women attending the function. He took note of
this one and that, casting them aside with little thought. While he continued
tracing his gaze over various women, there was a need growing inside him until
he finally settled on what it was he was searching for. He needed to find a
woman.
    No, not just any woman, but his woman. His mate.
    Damn! Where had this focused need to find and mark a mate
suddenly come from? When had he ever thought of a woman in such terms? He’d
like to say it was his cousin’s fault for putting the idea in his head, but it
wasn’t. It was his life, his needs that were making him feel this way and he’d
have to find a way through it.
    One thing he was sure of was that the woman meant for him
would have to be very special, because the particulars that made him who he was
could be seen as horrific. He’d always believed any woman would run when he was
fully exposed, but the one who belonged with him wouldn’t leave. With a fierce
frown marking his face, he picked up the pace as he moved more intently around
the room. Five more minutes and not a second longer, then he’d be free.
    “Grace! You finally made it. What took you so long?” A
nasally high-pitched voice shouted from somewhere behind him right before he
felt a body brush by on his left. Natural reflexes had him following the flash
of gaudy red as it moved past him.
    “I missed my train and the next one was delayed in York.” A
soft brogue laced the words and caught his attention. His cock twitched with
interest. Fascinating, especially considering that he’d just discovered why he
was so on edge. On a whim, Hamish changed his route to follow behind the duo as
they made their way toward the bar.
    “Thoughtful for inviting me…very hectic…glass of wine…”
    The two women kept up a senseless conversation, which he
ignored, instead choosing to look over the new arrival. He had yet to see her
from the front, but what he heard and could see definitely caught and held his
attention.
    Trying not to be obvious about what he was doing, Hamish
looked over the woman walking in front of him in one long, slow sweep. First to
catch his notice was blonde hair that looked as soft as silk and cut rigidly
straight above her shoulders.