Victoria Roberts - [Bad Boys of the Highlands 03] by To Wed a Wicked Highlander Page A

moment, Sybella actually wanted him to crush her mouth in a hard, bruising kiss.
    He was so warm and so very tempting.
    When long, tickling tendrils brushed against her cheek, she couldn’t help herself. She wound her hand in Alexander’s thick hair and pulled him closer. Her soft curves molded into his lean body.
    He tugged at her dress, exposing a creamy breast. His lips touched her nipple with tantalizing possessiveness, and he fondled the other with his rough fingers. The rosy peaks grew to pebble hardness.
    And then he stilled…
    Thundering hooves approached from a distance. Alexander hastily adjusted her clothing and she smoothed her skirts. Branches cracked and snapped behind them as someone trudged through the brush. A man as imposing as her husband emerged into the small clearing.
    “John.” The captain of Alexander’s guard.
    Sweat beaded on the man’s brow and his breathing was labored. “Pardon the intrusion, my laird. ’ Tis Lady Iseabail.”

Seven
    “What’s wrong?” Alex’s heart sank, and a worried expression crossed his brow. “I told ye to have someone look after her.” He grabbed Sybella’s hand and pulled her along behind him, not waiting for John’s response.
    “Aye, I had Ian keeping an eye on her,” said John, following his laird through the brush.
    Alex smirked and spoke with sarcasm. “Aye, because he did so well when ye asked him to look after…” He was about to say the MacKenzie’s son, but thought it best to keep that knowledge to himself lest he found himself thrown from his wife’s bed within a day’s time.
    When they reached their mounts, Alex lifted Sybella onto her horse and then turned to John. “Where was Aunt Iseabail last?”
    “Nay one has seen her since she broke her fast. Ian thought she was in her chamber. I have men searching the castle and a handful of them wandering the grounds.”
    Alex placed his hand on the flank of Sybella’s mount. “I will ride with ye back to the stable and then I must take my leave.”
    “Does she wander off by herself often?”
    “More so than I would like.” He started to walk away and spoke over his shoulder. “The last time she did this, I found her in the woods where my men hunt. She forgot why she had left home.”
    “Then we must find her. I will assist ye in searching the grounds.”
    Shaking his head in disagreement, Alex mounted his horse. “The last thing I need is to worry about ye. Ye have yet to know my lands and ye ride a mount that isnae easy to handle.” He thought he heard his wife growl at him, but the lass was the least of his worries.
    They galloped on the dirt trail beside the loch, and his eyes continued to search the surrounding area. As they reached the end of the path, he slowed his mount and Sybella darted around him. He called after her, but the daft woman only increased her speed. The lass fled up the hill past the clan burial markers and ran her horse full speed into the forest.
    John and Alex merely stared, tongue-tied. Alex had to admit that he was momentarily speechless with surprise at seeing his bonny wife handle her mount with the same skill as a seasoned Highland warrior. But that was no excuse to rush blindly into the woods with complete and utter disregard for her own safety. He quickly recovered his wits and nodded to John.
    The men thundered up the hill after Sybella and cautiously slowed their mounts when they reached the tree line. Once Alex caught his witless wife, he would need a tremendous amount of strength not to throttle her. God’s teeth! The woman’s carelessness was going to get her killed.
    They separated and he could still see John a few yards away through the foliage, but neither of them spotted Sybella.
    A branch snapped to the right and Alex’s horse shied.
    “ Thalla dhachaigh! Mach a seo! ” Go home! Get out of here! Sybella screamed through the trees.
    Alex turned his mount toward the sound of her voice. And then his breath caught in his lungs.
    ***
    Sharp,