Unraveled By The Rebel Read Online Free Page A

accident en route had caused her to be inadvertently left behind, leaving her stranded in the Scottish Highlands for days. After that, her anxieties had held her prisoner in the house. It was only with the duke’s help that she’d managed to walk past the front door. No one knew how she would manage to travel to London with her new husband.
    Juliette moved into the parlor, keeping on the outskirts of the other guests. Her mother, Beatrice, was beaming with joy, thrilled at her daughter’s successful match. Soon enough, she would drag the rest of them back to London, in the hopes of securing successful marriages.
    The thought was both reassuring and frightening. Juliette had her own reasons for wanting to be away from Ballaloch. Yet, her mother would never understand why she wanted to remain a spinster. At the thought of confessing her nightmare, nausea roiled in her stomach. She intended to put it off for as long as humanly possible.
    Victoria crossed the room alone, and Juliette thought it odd that her husband would have left her side on their wedding day. Her sister was twisting her hands, eyeing the door with uncertainty.
    A moment later, Dr. Fraser came through the front door. His gaze narrowed upon one of the Highlanders, and he crossed through the crowd, speaking quietly to Mr. Cain Sinclair. There was a sense of urgency in his demeanor, and when Juliette made her way toward them, she caught only Paul’s last words: “Get the horses.”
    For what purpose? Juliette frowned, wondering if there had been another raid or if anyone was hurt. Paul met her gaze for a fraction of a second, inclining his head in a nod. He donned his hat and hurried back outside.
    Before Mr. Sinclair could join him, Juliette caught the man’s arm, craning her neck to look at him. “What’s going on?”
    “Let me by,” he said. “We heard that Lord Strathland has sent men riding toward this house. We’re wanting to know where they are and why they’re coming.”
    Her mind went numb at the thought. Only this past autumn, the Earl of Strathland had evicted the MacKinloch crofters on his land in order to make room for his vast herds of sheep. Her family had given the local clan refuge before the duke had agreed to give them space on his land for permanent homes, but the fighting had continued between the earl’s men and the crofters.
    Lord Strathland was a threat to all of them. The very thought of the man tightened the fear within her, and she wished he’d go back to England. She couldn’t understand why he stayed here, in the midst of thousands of acres of grazing land, when he could live on another estate. For as long as she could remember, he’d lived in this region like a king trying to conquer all the surrounding lands. He’d tried, time and again, to buy her parents’ land, only to have her father refuse. It was also the reason why he’d wanted to wed her—in the hopes of winning Ballaloch as a marriage settlement.
    Juliette clenched her hands together to stop them from shaking. “Don’t let Strathland ruin my sister’s wedding.”
    Sinclair’s blue eyes hardened into chips of ice. “None of us will let any harm be done here. No’ when we can stop them.” Without another word, he pushed past her and opened the door.
    Juliette followed him. She caught a glimpse of Dr. Fraser and the duke as they mounted their horses. At the sight of Paul riding away, a pang of worry caught her heart.
Let him be safe,
she prayed. She stood watching them until the three men disappeared into the hills and she closed the door at last.
    An iciness threaded through her veins, though she pushed it back. From the window, she saw the sun sinking below the horizon. Her sister Victoria was standing near the edge of the crowd, as if she desperately wanted to escape.
    Juliette understood that feeling. She made her way past the wedding guests until she reached her sister’s side. Excusing them both from the others, she led Victoria back into the