The Master Of Strathburn Read Online Free

wouldn’t go back to his father empty-handed.
    Damn him for this cat and mouse game he was playing. He was daring her to come closer to take it.
    Jessie changed tack. ‘Perhaps I shall just take the other book Lord Strathburn requested. If ye will excuse me, sir.’ She bobbed a quick curtsy before crossing to the nearest bookshelf and pulled out a random volume. Shakespeare’s Macbeth . It would have to do.
    She was about to turn and head for the door when she felt Simon behind her. Stupid, stupid. How thoughtless of her not to have kept her eye on him. A cold frisson of unease swept through her, chilling her to the very bone.
    Simon leaned over her shoulder. ‘ Macbeth . Another tale of great passion and violence.’ He was so close that Jessie could feel the brush of his breath against the exposed nape of her neck. The sour odour of the claret he had partaken with his lunch still lingered and nausea roiled. She hated feeling so helpless—frozen, like a trapped deer, too afraid to move or breathe. Where was her anger, now that she needed it?
    A lock of her hair had escaped a pin and had fallen forward onto her cheek. At these close quarters, Simon had obviously noticed it also. He reached out and tucked it back behind her ear, his long fingers then trailing slowly down her neck before grasping her shoulder. ‘In the words of Macbeth, ‘Let not light see my black and dark desires’ ,’ he whispered into her ear.
    Jessie’s shudder was involuntary. Trapped against the bookcase, she did not dare to turn around.
    ‘Are you cold, Miss Munroe?’
    Simon’s question prompted a sudden idea to effect an escape. ‘I’m a wee chill perhaps, sir. I do hope I’m no’ catching a cold,’ she replied and sniffed, loudly.
    To Jessie’s relief, her ploy worked. Simon immediately took several steps away from her, leaving her room to safely turn around without brushing against him. Lady Strathburn had alluded to her on more than one occasion that Simon had a delicate constitution. Jessie had correctly surmised that Simon would be particular about not contracting sickness. With Macbeth in hand, she hurried to the library door.
    As she grasped the doorknob, she turned her head to make sure Simon wasn’t following. Thankfully, he had retreated to one of the window embrasures, his attention seemingly claimed by the view of Loch Kilburn.
    Do no’ linger, Jessie. Go . She quietly pulled the door open. But then it creaked.
    Damn.
    Simon glanced over his shoulder at her; his grey eyes held a distinct, predatory gleam. A wolf’s stare. Jessie’s whole body instinctively recoiled and she stumbled over the threshold.
    ‘Good day, Jessie,’ she heard him murmur as she closed the door. She didn’t bother to reply. An unwanted book in her hand, and her heart in her mouth, she then all but fled back to the drawing room.
    * * *
    When Simon heard the door close, he sat in the window seat then drew the curtains, his erection straining painfully against his breeches. The maids wouldn’t be in to tend the fire and light the candles for at least an hour or two, so he should remain undisturbed.
    He’d thought that slaking his lust on the young, red-headed lass he’d come across in the fields, on a lonely country lane just outside of Nethy Bridge yesterday evening, would dull his appetite for Jessie. But if anything, it had just made the ache in his loins all the worse, especially when he recalled how the girl had struggled until he’d eventually had to knock her out. He liked it when they fought back. He had no doubt that the high-and-mighty Jessie Munroe would try to resist him too.
    The throbbing in his groin was now urgent. He swiftly unbuttoned the front of his black velvet breeches and closed his eyes. As the dampness of his release spread into his silk handkerchief, he shuddered and smiled with a mixture of satisfaction and anticipation. As luck would have it, Jessie’s father was leaving tomorrow to collect rents and inspect the