Sins of the Highlander (A Highland Erotic Romance) by Dawn Halliday Page A

midst of her loneliness was that Niall remained nearby, waiting for the laird as she was. She knew he had remained steadfast in his devotion, a fact which soothed her and at the same time made her worry for his safety. She prayed he did nothing rash.
    The castle occupants dined together in the great hall, and she saw him there, among his men, every day. Last night, she’d fought not to meet his gaze, but it had inexorably drawn her in. The look of raw longing she’d seen in his blue eyes made her heart patter wildly, made the blood rush beneath her skin in a torrent. Her limbs trembled, her skin flushed. Her nipples brushed painfully against the wool of her dress. A heaviness had pooled in her womb and flooded her body with tingling lust.
    Her primal feelings must be blatant to anyone who cared enough to look. And she couldn’t risk Niall like that. At all costs, she would keep her eyes on more mundane things at dinner tonight.
    “Auntie Aileen!”
    Startled, Aileen dropped the crushed thyme and turned to the source of the voice. A lass approached, giving her a bright, dimpled smile. It was the laird’s daughter, Margaret. The only child born of John’s first marriage, Margaret was a happy, beloved child hovering on the cusp of womanhood.
    Surely a man who cared for his own daughter so deeply wouldn’t offer his sister to the wolves.
    Smiling, Aileen rose. “Good afternoon, Margaret.”
    “Do come inside with me, Auntie.” Margaret grasped Aileen’s hand and towed her toward the castle, her slipper-clad feet skipping over the rough, graveled path. “We have had wonderful news! Papa is due back tomorrow. And the courier said he brings good tidings.”
    Aileen’s heart constricted. “That is excellent news indeed,” she managed to choke out.
    In its own way, it was very good news. At least this confusing state of purgatory she’d found herself in would soon come to an end.
    Aileen dragged reluctantly after the lass and prayed she wasn’t headed for a new kind of hell.
     
    ***
     
    Niall paused at the threshold, but the Mackenzie instantly spotted him and waved him inside his bedchamber. Moving forward, Niall sank into a low bow before his laird.
    “Up, up,” Mackenzie said. He was sitting on a high stool, wearing nothing but a rough, homespun tunic, his face covered with shaving lotion. A servant stood beside him, swiping a glistening blade over his cheek.
    “So why the eagerness to see me, Niall? I gather you’ve brought my sister safely to Ellandonan? Didn’t encounter any damned cutthroats along the way, I hope?”
    Niall tensed. Thank God they hadn’t, though he knew the laird was having a hell of a time of keeping outlaws from robbing innocent travelers on Highland roads. “Nay, sir. We traveled safely. Lady Aileen and her people are well.”
    “Good, good.” Mackenzie grinned widely, showing big yellow teeth. He waved the valet away and leaned forward in the stool. “Have you heard the word of my coup in the Lowlands?”
    “I have not, sir.”
    “Well, thanks to some timely negotiation by Gilbert Dunbar, I have just come from signing the documents to marry my daughter Margaret to the Earl of Dolphinton.”
    Niall took a step back, raising his brow. To align with Dolphinton would be a coup for the Mackenzie laird. But how had it happened? Who was this Gilbert Dunbar?
    “I am sending her to the Lowlands as soon as can be arranged.”
    “An excellent match, sir.”
    Mackenzie turned his shrewd gaze upon Niall. “It is indeed.” He sighed, a smile playing around his lips. “And though the benefits to me are vast and obvious, I cannot help but be pleased to have made such a match for my daughter. Now she will be a countess, a title she deserves. And I must confess that I have taken a liking to the earl as well. He will be good to her.”
    Niall nodded. Mackenzie’s affection for his first daughter was no secret to anyone.
    “But you have come to ask me something.” Mackenzie motioned to the