The Dream Catcher Read Online Free

while.’

Chapter Two
    â€˜What do you mean, I’m not going anywhere?’
    Her eyes glittered in anger. He’d noticed their unusual colour straight away, of course. It would have been hard not to, since they were the exact shade of the wild irises growing in June near Loch Meadie.
    A gust of wind blew her hood off and her hair tumbled onto her shoulders in a mass of shiny, honey-blonde curls which reached down to her waist. His breath caught in his throat. It was like seeing the sun after a long, bleak winter, or being pulled out of a deep, dark pit into the light. The edges of the cold, grey world around him faded and blurred, and all he could see was the woman in front of him, radiant like a bright summer’s day.
    â€˜I want to go back to the ship right now.’ She stomped her booted foot on the cobbles.
    He let out a breath and the world came back into focus. Forget sunshine and summer heat, the new Lady McRae – if that’s indeed who she was – looked about to throw a temper tantrum.
    Well, she could scream and rant all she wanted, he was reverting back to the old ways – seize, hold and barter. It had worked well enough for his people in the past, it would work for him now. Fate had blown the ship and the woman into his Kyle, and into his hands, he would be stupid not to grab the opportunity. If McRae wanted his bride and his clipper back, then he’d call off the bankers.
    â€˜I said wanted to return to the Sea Eagle .’
    Her voice shook and tears now shone in her eyes. For some absurd reason, the idea that he’d made her cry annoyed the hell out of him. He raked his fingers through his hair, smelling the sweet, exotic orange-blossom fragrance she had left on his hand, on his coat and pretty much all over him as he held her close. He pressed his lips together, and a dark pulse started beating inside him.
    â€˜And I said you couldn’t,’ he growled. ‘The clipper suffered some serious damage already. It won’t be fit to sail for a while, a week or two, maybe.’
    There was no need to tell her any more for now. He had neither the time nor the patience to deal with a hysterical female.
    â€˜A week or two? That’s not possible. I must be at Westmore Manor for my husband’s birthday party on Saturday,’ she protested. ‘There’s going to be a grand ball, Cameron will announce our marriage, and introduce me to his family and friends.’
    â€˜A grand ball? Strange how McRae has no qualms spending vast amounts of money entertaining when his people are being evicted from their homes.’
    She shook her head and looked at him with a mixture of scorn and pity, the way one might look at a diseased dog or a pitiful creature crawling from underneath a rock. No one had ever looked at him that way – and certainly no woman. A flash of heat ran through his veins.
    â€˜Cameron warned me about you and your kin,’ she started. ‘He said the McGunns were a sour, vengeful and jealous lot, stuck in their ways and always ready to blame the McRaes for their own failings.’ She paused and added, ‘I see he was right.’
    His anger vanished at once. He had to give it to her. She was brave. Or mad. He didn’t often smile these days, let alone laugh, but his lips now twitched with repressed laughter.
    â€˜Sour, vengeful and jealous? Anything else?’
    She shrugged. ‘I could probably throw in hirsute, rude and arrogant… But I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings.’ She paused. ‘I will tell Cameron not to expect you at the ball on Saturday since you don’t approve of people having fun. Somehow I don’t think he will be too disappointed. As for the Sea Eagle , Captain Kennedy is a very able sea captain. I’m sure he will manage to get it safely to Thurso despite that broken… thing – whatever it is – on top of the mast.’
    â€˜It’s called a top