Page 14 of Enchantment of a Highlander

Unrest churned in Celia’s stomach.

The woman’s visit was a stone in her mind.

The witch-burning fires in Aros singed too close for comfort.

Why did she now feel their flames lick ever closer?

Chapter Five

Light filtered through the trees and dappled the ground with flecks of gold. Celia tilted her face toward a gentle breeze and breathed in the sun-warmed scent of the forest. The earthy, clean scent had been her home longer than home ever had.

It was nice to be outside. Her cottage was still tinged with the expensive perfume the noblewoman had worn.

MacDougall’s daughter.

The memory of the malice in the woman’s eyes slipped into Celia’s mind like a nightmare. Suddenly she was glad to be gone from her cottage and out in the open of a beautiful day.

Her basket of herbs was already laden with her harvest from the forest, so she had nothing more to do than enjoy the stroll back home.

She gazed out at the loch through the trees, at the sunlight twinkling off the surface, at the rocky bank with stones worn smooth, at the man standing before it.

Her body went stiff.

She had no desire to run into anyone, especially not a man. Lone or not, most men on MacLean land were dangerous.

A stroke of recognition swept over her—those broad shoulders, the black hair tied back in a braid, the power he exuded.

Alec.

She shouldn’t stand there watching him. She should move on.

He jerked at the leine and tugged it over his head.

Celia’s breath snagged. Her tongue licked between her suddenly dry lips.

She’d seen the power of his chest before, but never had she glimpsed his naked back. Nor had she been able to admire the fine way it tapered down to a trim waist and narrow hips.

Every bit of his exposed flesh rippled with the muscles of a well-trained warrior.

Memories of her dreams flooded through her mind and captivated her body with a lusty fire. She imagined touching his back. Soft, scarred skin over powerful muscles flexed tight with desire, tensing and straining as his hips pushed against hers.

As he fit himself so perfectly inside her.

Her breathing went long and slow.

She should move on, she knew, but everything in her body demanded she stay and watch.

• • •

Alec breathed in the scent of the forest around him—heather and pine with the undercurrent tang of the sea. The smell of his home.

Loch Linnhe stretched before him, its mirrored surface reflecting all the greatness around him—the swell of lush green hills, the craggy shore, the open sky above.

He felt as open. As free.

At least in this one moment.

The previous two weeks had passed in a mix of hard labor and speeches made to the people in villages, all foundations for the greatness he intended to restore.