Page 2 of Tempted by a Highland Beast (Tales of Love and Lust in the Murray Castle #9)

A part of her longed to stop. Just for a breath. To dismount, to gather herself, to be something more than a hunted thing. But there was no time. No place safe enough for composure.

Just as her horse skidded to a halt on the wet stones, Rowena tumbled from the saddle. Her knees buckled on impact, and she tried to catch herself but her body betrayed her as she tumbled into the water and bumped into something hard.

Her breath caught in her throat when she looked up and found that she had stumbled not into something but into someone . A man. It didn’t help that she was on her backside and the bottom of her dress was wet from the encounter. She moved backwards in a bid to preserve her dignity.

“I’m so sorry!” Rowena said as she walked out of the loch hurriedly. Her eyes settled on the man, and she managed to suppress her gasp.

He was tall, impossibly broad-shouldered, and standing waist-deep in the loch. His body was honed muscle, cords of strength roping around him. His nude form rose from the dark water like some ancient god emerging from the mists of time.

The sight stole the very air from her lungs. God, he’s handsome… and naked!

His hair, black as a raven’s wing, was slicked back from a face made of granite. Sharp cheekbones fell upon a jaw that seemed carved from ice. Water streamed in powerful rivulets down his chest and sculpted arms, and they gleamed in the light.

He dipped his head into the water, and as he rose back up, he cupped his face with both hands.

His hands slid up his face and over his head, drops of water splashing back into the loch.

His eyes were sharp, piercing blue, and utterly devoid of surprise.

They stripped away her last defenses with an unnerving glance, making Rowena shiver.

Her gaze lingered a moment too long, drawn to the breadth of his shoulders, the strength in his stance as the man started swimming, unfazed by her presence there, closer to the loch’s edge.

Her breath hitched, and she stumbled. It wasn’t proper staring at a naked man, and yet she couldn’t seem to look away until her misstep reminded her just how foolish she was being.

The frantic shouts of her uncle’s men echoing through the trees, was what yanked her back to the present. She froze, trapped between her hunters and the shocking presence of this wild, powerful stranger. Her tongue, so often quick with a retort, had completely failed her now.

“Please, ye must help me, Sir.” Rowena refused to dwell on how undignified it was to plead a naked man for help in the middle of the woods. God above…

One of his brows lifted, carved and unbothered. “And why, lass, would I dae that? I dinnae even ken ye.” His voice was low and rough as a storm breaking, and it nearly knocked the breath from her throat.

Although she knew it was a fair question—helping her could put him in harm’s way. What had she expected? That a stranger would leap to her aid without so much asking for a name, without knowing who chased her? Or, most importantly, why?

The sensible part of her understood his caution. But desperation had no patience for reason. He was all she had now, the last thread between her and everything Alpin meant to do to her. She could not afford his doubt, even if it was well earned. Her life hung in the balance.

“I ken I ask much,” she said, her voice steady despite the dread rising in her throat. “But me life’s in danger. If they catch me, I lose everything. So I beg ye, lend me yer hand.”

The man regarded her with a curious air. He walked out of the loch as if he had all the time in the world, water sliding off his exquisite body in rivulets. Rowena had half expected him to scramble out and rush to his clothes, or to command her to turn around. He did none of that.

Instead, he held her gaze as he reached the shoreline, one brow lifted and a flicker of something close to a smirk touched his mouth, like he knew exactly what he looked like and didn’t see the point in modesty.

Then, with maddening ease, he said, “How ken I help ye?” His tone was demanding, and Rowena felt she’d succeeded to gain his interest. Whether it was a good thing, she wasn’t sure.

Rowena turned her face away as he walked to the pile of belongings, but not before she caught a glimpse of his lower body, which sent heat flooding through her in a way she didn’t understand.

Her heart hammered against her ribs—not from fear this time, but from something else entirely.

Nothing could have prepared her for this strange pull in her belly, this awareness that seemed to awaken parts of herself she hadn’t known existed.

“Have ye never seen a naked man before?” She heard him huff a laugh, but she kept her back turned. Though she refused to look, her cheeks warmed at the boldness of his question.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed him picking up his clothes, putting them on with an idle pace. “Now, what’s got a pretty woman such as ye approaching a stranger for help?” His movements were almost dismissive of the approaching danger.

How can he be so calm?

Armed men were bearing down on them, and he was dressing as if he had all the time in the world. What kind of man reacted to an imminent threat with such casual indifference? Had she stumbled upon a madman?

“They are coming,” she said breathlessly, the only words she could utter. “They’re close.” Her hand trembled as she gestured wildly towards the forest. “Two men on horses are after me! I dinnae ken them. Please!”

He continued to dress like he had all the time in the world, and Rowena bit her lips in worry.

I havenae come this far just tae be dragged back tae Alpin!

But she was helpless against the chase of her pursuers and this stranger. She was meant to be back home, readying to find a suitable spouse so she could take over her father’s legacy. How had she ended up here?

She looked back at the man and found eyes that assessed her with a cold, piercing gaze that missed nothing. Rowena felt the urge to straighten, to lift her chin and meet that scrutiny head-on, as if passing whatever unspoken judgment he was rendering might somehow secure his help.

The man seemed to have found what he was looking for in her, because he finally nodded.

His gaze flicked to the trees. “Hide then, behind the mound. Take yer horse with ye. Dinnae come out until I come tae ye.” He pulled his kilt around his waist as he delivered the promise: “And worry nae. I willnae allow any harm tae come tae ye. Ye have me word.”

Relief washed over her so swiftly it nearly brought her to her knees. For the first time in weeks after her father’s death, someone had taken a burden from her shoulders, even if only for a moment. She nodded, almost dazed, willing herself to move.

She should have asked what his plan was and questioned how he intended to stop a hunting party of two armed men. But her body ached, her mind spun, and she was simply too spent to argue.

What will he dae? How is he going tae stop them, by himself?