Read Online One Hot Scot by Suzanne Enoch - Free Book Online Page A

sort of conflict, because the last thing he wanted was to have neighbors who preferred him dead. Unfriendly was one thing, and the lot of them were accustomed to that. But this was different.
    He stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to the right, heading for the westernmost bedchamber on the floor. Belatedly it dawned on him that perhaps his first priority shouldn’t be introducing Julia Prentiss to his loved ones, but that was what he meant to do. He wasn’t going to leave her sitting in the morning room while he made plans to protect her.
    Aside from that, his lasses needed to like her—not because he would surrender her if they didn’t, but because it felt … vital that they view her the same way he did. So he could know that this wasn’t some faerie tale, but a real woman and a real … chance at something wondrous and unexpected.
    “Grandmama Maevis?”
    “Are ye alone, Duncan?”
    “Nae. I’ve a lass with me.”
    “The Sasannach lass Bellamy’s foaming over?”
    He squeezed Julia’s fingers in his. “Aye.”
    “Well, let’s have a look at her, then. Open the door slow, lad.”
    Doing as she suggested, he lowered the handle and eased open the narrow door. His grandmother sat in the center of the room, her white hair piled high and a blunderbuss comfortably across her lap. He was well aware that she knew just how to use the big musket.
    “Ye havenae stashed my sisters in the wardrobe, have ye?” he asked, drawing Julia in behind him.
    “We’re behind the sofa,” his youngest sister, Keavy said, straightening.
    The other two joined her in standing then came around the furniture to hug him. All of them talking at once, they regaled him with the tale of how Bellamy had come calling and demanded to look through their house, and how Keavy had wanted to bloody his nose for being a Campbell and daring to set foot on Lenox property.
    “Ye’ve had quite the adventure then, aye?” he broke in. “So have I. Ladies, this is Miss Julia Prentiss. Julia, Sorcha, Bethia, and Keavy. And Grandmama Maevis.”
    His sisters curtsied in a ragged wave then dragged Julia into the conversation. Duncan relinquished her, grinning at her expression, before he went to squat down beside his grandmother’s chair.
    “Bellamy means to come back for her at three o’clock,” he said in a low voice. “He’ll have more men and more weapons with him.”
    “Why did she run from him? He’s no Adonis, but a marriage is a ma—”
    “He didnae marry her. He dragged her oot of a ball in Aberdeen, intending to bully her into marriage to save her reputation. She’s an heiress, with a cartful of money going to her husband on her marriage.”
    “And she ran oot from under Hugh Fersen’s beady little eyes?”
    Duncan grinned. “Aye. That she did. She stumbled across me, and I hid her in the old cottage.”
    His grandmother eyed him. “And?” she prompted.
    “And what? We waited oot the rain and made our way here. Bellamy crossed our trail aboot half a mile from the house.”
    “Ye were holding her hand, lad,” Maevis said in a lower voice.
    He could dissemble, he supposed, but that would only make explaining things more difficult later. “Aye. That I was. She … It’s odd, I suppose, since I’ve only known her one day, but she’s … dear to me.” Duncan sent a glance in Julia’s direction, to find her seated on the couch, smiling, with Sorcha holding one of her hands, and Keavy the other.
    “How dear?”
    “Very dear.”
    “Enough fer ye to risk yer sisters and Lenox House?”
    “I’ll attempt to avoid that, but I’ll nae hand her over. Bear MacLawry’s still at Glengask. I’ll send the four of ye there to keep ye safe.”
    “By the time we arrived and Bear decided to charge to yer rescue, it’d be too late, Duncan. Ye think Bellamy would lose a minute of sleep over burning this house to the ground because of pride and money?”
    “I dunnae mean to lose, Grandmama.” He took a breath. “Father