Margaret Mallory - The Sinner

What was God thinking, allowing a man to be this handsome?

He stood so close that the heat radiating from his body drove the chill right out of her. The humor that had touched his eyes was gone, replaced by something darker that pulled her toward this MacDonald warrior as if an undertow were dragging her out to sea.

“Ye should be more aware of your surroundings, lass,” Alex said, still standing far too close. “I could have been a dangerous man.”

“And ye aren’t one?” she asked.

“Me?” His teeth were white, and his smile had the force of the summer sun on a clear day. “I’m dangerous as sin.”

“My father’s guards can see us from the castle.”

Alex glanced over his shoulder. “I could have ye behind the trees or in my boat before they were out the castle gate.” He paused, eyes glinting. “Especially if ye were willing.”

She rolled her eyes. “No fear of that.”

“Are ye certain?” he asked in a husky voice that resonated somewhere deep in her belly.

Glynis held her breath, unable to move, as Alex lifted his hand to her face. Even though she anticipated his touch, her stomach fluttered when he brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. Her gaze dropped to his wide, sensuous mouth, and her throat went dry. This man would know how to give a lass a proper kiss—not like that wretched Magnus Clanranald she’d wed.

She felt herself leaning forward and snapped her head back. “I warn ye, I’ve got a dirk, and I’m no afraid to use it.”

“So I’ve heard, but ye won’t need your dirk,” Alex said. “I like my women willing.”

And she’d wager there were plenty of those.

“You’ve nothing to fear,” he said. “I never harm women.”

“If ye don’t count breaking their hearts.”

Glynis didn’t know what made her blurt out the words. But he stiffened, and she saw the truth reflected in his eyes. Alex MacDonald had broken hearts, but he didn’t glory in it. Nay, it pained him.

Of course, that only added to his appeal. A heartless man would be easier to resist.

“You’re safe from me.” Alex gave her a wink, and she could almost see him pull on his charming mask. “I don’t dally with women who are looking for husbands.”

“I’m no looking for a husband.” Her cheeks grew warm as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “I didn’t mean I wish to d… d…” Try as she might, she could not get the word dally to cross her lips.

“I can’t say the same.” He gave her a devilish grin that sent hot darts of awareness across her skin. “But even if ye aren’t looking for a husband, your father is, and that amounts to the same thing. Besides, ye deserve better than me.”

“I do,” she snapped. “God save me from another handsome philanderer.”

Something flickered in his eyes before the smiling mask dropped into place again. It was a blindingly handsome mask, but Glynis found herself wondering about the part of Alexander MacDonald that he hid from the world.

She felt guilty for being sharp with him, when the man had done nothing more than tease her, so she asked, “Do ye want to see my favorite spot?”

“It might be more fun to let me find it myself,” he said.

Her breath caught as his eyes traveled over her slowly from head to toe.

“I meant on the beach!” She punched his arm, and it was like hitting iron. “Ach, ye are the worst rogue I’ve ever met.”

He laughed and took her hand. “Lead me where ye will, fair lady.”

Alex’s hand was big and warm around hers. She’d never walked hand in hand with a man before, and she felt a wee bit wicked for it—in a good sort of way.

She took him to the far end of the bay.

“The seals like to gather here.” She pointed to a huge, flat rock that jutted out of the water a few yards offshore.

They found a dry, sandy area high on the beach and sat down. As she removed her hand from his, her gaze slid over his arm, taking in the golden hairs against his tanned skin. Alex stretched out his long, muscular legs, which were covered with the same golden hair.

“Ye should lie on your stomach,” he said, “so the sun can dry the back of your gown.”

Glynis was tempted. Her stepmother was bound to make unpleasant remarks about Glynis’s slovenly ways if she returned to the castle with her gown soaked. But she couldn’t very well lie down when she was alone with a man.

“I wouldn’t want your father to think I had ye on your back in the sand,” Alex said. “We’d be wed before noon.”

Glynis flopped down on her stomach and leaned on her elbows. They watched in companionable silence as several seals hauled themselves out of the sea to nap on the flat rock.

Alex nudged her with his knee. “What other tricks have ye used to drive away potential husbands?”

“I tell them I’m barren.” She kept her voice flat to cover how much this hurt. “That’s sufficient to discourage most of them.”

“Ye can’t know that for certain, can ye?” Alex asked. “You’re young yet.”

Glynis shrugged. Since she was never going to marry again, it was of no consequence.

“What about the men who already have heirs?” he asked. “How do ye discourage them?”

“I’ve rubbed onions on my clothes and chewed garlic.” She sighed. “If that isn’t enough, I say I dreamed I was wearing widow’s clothes on my next birthday.”

Alex’s laugh rumbled deep in his throat. It was a surprisingly pleasant sound.

“Are ye the one who started the story about stabbing your husband?” he asked.

“I fear that one is true,” she said. “I do find it useful.”

This time, his laughter roused two or three seals, who lifted their heads to look at them before resuming their slumber.

“I doubt your father is trying to marry ye off to make ye suffer,” Alex said. “He needs alliances, just as my chieftain does.”

“And the wrong alliances will bring disaster,” Glynis said. “I told my father not to join this rebellion, but, of course, he wouldn’t listen to me.”

Half the clans in the Western Isles had risen against the Scottish Crown in yet another doomed rebellion.

“The rebellion will fail eventually,” Alex said. “But until it does, any clan that takes the side of the Crown risks being attacked by its neighbors.”

“’Tis clever of your chieftain to let each side court him,” she said.

“Court him?” Alex said. “Connor feels like he’s straddling two sea monsters, while each tries to snap his head off and dump him into the sea.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his colorful description, but she was worried about her clan. “You’re lucky to be a man. Ye can serve your clan without being bought and sold like a cow.”

“I’ve never met a woman with such a low opinion of marriage,” Alex said, then he added something under his breath that sounded very much like “except for my mother.”

“I’d do anything for my clan but wed,” Glynis said.

“Since we are of one mind on that,” Alex said, “we can be friends, aye?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Do ye mean it?”

“Usually I become friends with women after I bed them,” he said. “But I’ll make an exception for ye.”

“Ye are teasing me again,” she said.

“Ye are so serious, I can’t help myself,” Alex said in a soft voice. “But if we should meet again, ye can trust me to be a friend.”

Glynis met his sea-green eyes. “Then I’ll be your friend as well, Alex MacDonald.”

When she shifted her gaze back to the seals, several of them lifted their heads. Then, one by one, they began slipping into the water.

“Get up,” Alex said with steel in his voice.