Surrender

Her gaze met his, her green eyes glazed and filled with shadows. "I-Iain?" Iain understood those shadows only too well. She was in shock. She had witnessed the full horror of war. Worse, she had killed a man. Like a young soldier after his first battle, she was struggling to cope. 'Twas an anguish no woman should have to bear. His rage broke like the tide against the shore, and before he could think, he pulled her hard against him, held her, stroked her hair. "You foolish, brave woman! Why do you no' obey me?" "What the bloody hell is he doin'?" Connor asked from somewhere behind them. Morgan answered, "I think he's punishin' her." "If he tries this on the men, they'll mutiny.

She reached up, held his face between her palms. "How can I help but fret? You live wi' death on your heels." "For your sake, lass, I promise to stay one step ahead.

For a moment he said nothing, then he reached over and traced a line down her cheek with his finger. "When a man looks into a woman's eyes, lass, he doesna want to see the horrors he has kent written there. He wants to see joy and warmth and some measure of innocence. Tis the natural duty and desire of a man to protect his woman and children from the world's bitterness.

You were inside my body, but somehow 'tis my soul you touched, Iain Mackinnon.

Annie is my wife, and she will remain wi' me as my wife, subject only to my rule. I will suffer no man to dishonor her or lay hand upon her so long as I live.

She told him ... how her heart had fairly skipped a beat when she'd seen him standing in the middle of the road dressed as a true Highland warrior. "If I hadna been in love wi' you already, I'd have fallen in love wi' you then." He grinned, his whiskery face unbearably bonnie even with its cuts and bruises. "So you like the sight of me in a pladdie, aye?" "Aye--and wi' braids in your hair." She leaned down and kissed him. "But I think red paint looks silly.

I was adopted into the Muchquauh, the Bear Clan, of the Muhheconneok people when I reached manhood. The grannies got so tired of my bein' forever at their fires eatin' their food that they decided to make me part of the family so they could quit treatin 'me like a guest and send me out to fish.

Have you always been this skilled with women?" - Joseph to Iain

He was, she realised, quite graceful. The very idea surprised her. Male grace was a quality she'd never thought of beyond the ballroom; either a man could dance a quadrille with skill and without stepping on her feet or he could not. But here was another kind of grace altogether--and untrained grace, an instinctive animal grace.

He didn't see the look his brothers shared or overhear the vow they made to one another--that if any one of the four of them were to make it back from Ticonderoga, it would be Iain.

Iain?” “Mmm?” “If the bairn is a lass, I’d like to name her after our mothers—Mara Elesaid.” “’Tis a bonnie name. And if ‘tis a laddie?” “Then we shall name him after his father.” “Och, well, ‘tis a grand idea. And what name would that be?” “You daftie!

You live life wi' death on your heels. For your sake, lass, I promise to stay one step ahead.

But if she were still unmarried by war’s end . . . What the bloody hell are you thinkin’, MacKinnon? He was thinking of bedding her. Nay, ‘twas more than that. He was thinking of wooing her. Och! For God’s sake, he was thinking of marrying her. Are you mad, MacKinnon. You barely ken the lass. Even as he rejected the notion, some part of him decided it was not so daft as it seemed. They were both from the Highlands. She was bonnie, strong, and spirited, qualities that would surely pass to her children, while he had the skill to protect her, provide for her—and show her what the passion in her Scottish blood was for. Aye, but she was a Protestant and came from Loyalist roots, while he was Catholic and sprang from a clan that had stood by the Stuarts. Then there was the fact that he was bound to this war until its end. And had a price on his head. And was without a roof to shelter her. A lass would be silly to pass up such a match, MacKinnon. Bloody grand idea.

A hint of fire in his eyes, he glanced up at her. "If that displeases you, lass, I can leave you here for the next savior who comes along.