Highlander Taken. Juliette Miller

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СКАЧАТЬ truth in them. Kade had appeared relaxed and somewhat amused by the lush attentions of the women at the festive gathering. And as I thought of it now, I couldn’t help considering that my sisters and cousins hadn’t thought him quite so tyrannical at the time. In fact, once Wilkie was clearly otherwise engaged, they had all turned their attentions quite convincingly to my brutish husband-to-be, and not without some enthusiasm.

      And now I could reflect that there had been more to Kade Mackenzie’s scrutiny than light, speculative appreciation. He tolerated the attentions patiently enough, engaging in conversation that clearly was not particularly interesting to him. He’d allowed the fluttery touches on his arms and his hair, the tittering responses to his every word. Having so many to choose from, I wasn’t sure why his eyes had followed me more than any of the others. In fact, I’d thought I’d imagined his preference for me—which, unlike my sisters, I had quietly attempted to discourage.

      I remembered the glint in Kade’s eye. On the contrary, I find insolence in women intriguing—it happens to be an affliction that I’m usually able to cure almost entirely under the right circumstances. Not malicious, as such. But playfully intimidating nonetheless. I had been indisputably drawn to him, aye, in ways that had confounded me with their glittery insistence. But always, behind his appeal had lurked turbulent layers of the unknown. The rocky landscape of my abusive upbringing had instilled within me a very real fear of all things unknown, especially those bestowed by such a vital, well-armed soldier.

      The arrangements had been made, the agreement secured. No more protests would be made.

      “At least he’s something to look at,” Ann continued. “Those blue eyes are striking.”

      “’Tis true, Stella,” said Agnes. “Kade Mackenzie might be fierce, daunting and unruly—”

      “And huge,” added Clementine.

      “And rather unnecessarily cruel,” Agnes said.

      “And freakishly strong,” agreed Maisie.

      “But he is, in fact, quite handsome,” Ann continued. “Quite handsome.”

      “In a very rough, aggressive kind of way,” Agnes said. But I could detect from her tone that she wasn’t entirely convinced.

      And neither was I.

      Was Kade Mackenzie handsome? I considered this. Striking, aye. His hair was a dark, sable-brown—as opposed to his black-haired brothers: that was the first thing I had noticed about him. His eyes, too, with their ice-blue clarity, spearing and direct. And the jaunt of his movement, quick and athletic; more than once he had reminded me of a predator whose unpredictability would give him every advantage. A man who might either save you or strike you down when you least expected it.

      Maybe I just wasn’t used to him. Maybe he wasn’t as intimidating as I was imagining. Perhaps I just wasn’t used to his abruptness, his size and power. My father had little time to spare with all the leadership of the keep resting entirely on his shoulders. He dined with his men and rarely visited our wing. No other men were permitted into our quarters, and those that we mingled with throughout our days were strictly supervised. My one private moment with Caleb—resulting in a rushed, featherlight kiss—had been a result of a bold excursion with Bonnie, for which I had later been severely punished.

      I could acknowledge that there was a certain magnetism to Kade Mackenzie, somewhere in the complexity of him. Those teasing hints of his appeal might shine through over time, and overtake the shadowy depths of his personality that I could not interpret. In an attempt to ease my billowing anxiety, I tried to assure myself that my fear was unfounded. But my hope was quickly eroded by my sisters’ continued discussion.

      “At any rate,” Maisie began, and there was sympathy and a note of jealousy in her tone, if I was reading her correctly, “with him, I have a feeling you need to be prepared for the unexpected. No doubt about it, Stella. You’re in for a time of it.”

      Agnes leaned forward, whispering, even though there was no one to overhear us. “Did I tell you what happened to Claire Buchanan’s cousin?” she said.

      I hesitated, sensing that I might not want to hear what Agnes was about to share. Ann answered for me. “Nay, Agnes. What happened to Claire Buchanan’s cousin?”

      “Well. I’m afraid it’s somewhat distressing, Stella. But I think you should hear it.”

      “You never mentioned this before, Agnes,” said Maisie, her eagerness clearly detectable. “Do tell.”

      Agnes paused, as though reconsidering. But then she continued. “I wasn’t sure if I should bring it up, but I think Stella should prepare herself.”

      “For what?” asked Clementine.

      “Well,” continued Agnes, with the undivided attention of all, “Kade Mackenzie attended a gathering at the Buchanan manor—this was half a year or so ago. Lottie told me all about it last time she visited their keep.”

      We all knew that our cousin Lottie, in fact, had been issued not only an invitation to the Buchanan manor, but also a proposal by a lower-ranking nobleman of the Buchanan clan. My father, predictably, had denied the match outright.

      “Claire’s cousin invited him to her private chambers—why I’ll never know. She allowed him...well, whatever he wanted. Claire’s cousin said he did unspeakable things. It took her several days to recover.”

      “What do you mean ‘unspeakable’?” asked Maisie.

      Agnes continued in hushed tones. “Apparently, she was completely overcome.”

      “In what way?” It was my own hesitant question that lingered in the confined space.

      Agnes took a moment to answer. “She said it was the most intense experience of her life.”

      I couldn’t help asking it: “Intense?”

      Agnes nodded. “She spent the whole night in a state of terrified ecstasy, according to Lottie. Those are the words she used, too, I remember it clearly—‘terrified ecstasy.’ She didn’t know what he was going to do from one moment to the next, but in the end, she begged him to do it all over again the very next night.”

      This was met with momentary silence.

      “She begged him to do it again?” Ann asked, as though she was unsure if she’d heard it correctly.

      “Aye,” said Agnes. “But he wouldn’t. She was so eager she even asked him to propose to her. But he refused, and he made his leave the next day.”

      More silence, as we absorbed this disquieting information.

      “What did he do to her?” asked Maisie, wildly intrigued as we all were. Me, perhaps most of all, as the carriage continued on its way, swallowing distance and divides, taking me ever closer to my fate.

      “Claire’s cousin wouldn’t tell Lottie everything,” Agnes said, “but she did say this—he bound her to the bed.”

      “Bound her?” I asked, my voice doing nothing to disguise my distress. “Why?”

      “To constrain her. She was entirely at his mercy.”

      “Good Lord,” whispered СКАЧАТЬ