A Fire Within (These Highland Hills, Book 3) by Kathleen Morgan Page B

she wished it or not, she was going to have to face-and
resolve-them all by herself.
    Anne had encouraged her, that eve she had discovered Caitlin
and Darach in the storeroom, to change her ways because she felt
the need and not because someone else wished her to do so. But
change wasn't an easy thing for Caitlin, especially when it came
to the matter of her high emotions.
    She had always wanted things her way. Though time and maturity had tempered those selfish desires into a more socially acceptable manner, most times Caitlin still managed to get everything
she really wanted. Most times, she still felt as if she controlled
her own fate.
    She wasn't so certain, however, she really wanted to continue on
the path she had apparently been set on yesterday, when Darach had taken it into his head to abduct her. Caitlin feared what lay
ahead, and feared it greatly. Feared the battle that might well
evolve between familial loyalty and love, and the ever strengthening call of her heart.

    How could a woman hate a man one instant, then in the next
feel so drawn to him? He was toying with her. He must be and
he, with his greater age and experience, knew how to manipulate
her like a puppet. Perhaps that was what frightened Caitlin most
of all. That Darach was in control and she wasn't.
    But she was fooling herself, she realized with a sudden burst
of insight, if she imagined she had ever truly been in control
of anything. She had never been able to control life's tragedies,
much less stop them. She had never truly been the one driving her
disastrous romance with David Graham. And she most certainly
wasn't leading the events of her life since Darach MacNaghten
had entered it.
    But if she had no real control over what happened, leastwise
not events that truly mattered such as what transpired with family,
friends, and the search for a true love, what did she have control over? Anne had encouraged her to surrender her life-and
will-to the Lord. To die to self so that she might be reborn to
the only existence that really counted-a life of faith and dedication to God and one's fellow man. The only existence, in the end,
that she really did have some control over. Yet, try as she might,
Caitlin remained uncertain how to accomplish that.
    And Darach MacNaghten surely didn't seem the sort who
would be willing or able to teach her.
    With a sigh, Caitlin settled back against his strong, solid form
and closed her eyes. It was indeed a surety that this man wouldn't
teach her of God. She doubted he even believed in a Creator,
much less a Savior. But he was quite capable, her woman's intuition warned her, and equally willing, to teach her of more
fleshly pursuits.

    If the truth were told, such considerations excited her. She
burned for the dark, dangerous Highlander as much as she imagined Anne had burned for Niall. But at least Anne had chosen
wisely. Caitlin knew her desire for Darach wasn't wise, or even
right and good.
    Then there was always the additional issue of where her true
loyalties should lie. Before, as an outlaw of some unfortunate
clan with a death warrant on its head, Darach had been of little
personal concern to Niall. Now, in taking his sister from Kilchurn to hold as hostage, Darach had become Niall's enemy.
And enemies, when they finally clashed, inevitably forced others
to take sides.
    There seemed no way she could halt the inevitable, headlong
collision of these two men. It was yet another instance of her
inability to change the events of her life. Problem was, whoever
came out the victor, Caitlin feared the death of the other would
surely break her heart.

    Neither spoke to the other for much of the day. It was almost
as if Kenneth's presence had provided the safety net their two
battling temperaments had needed. In his absence, both feared
that anything they began they might not be able to end.
    The midday meal was a brief, short-on-words affair. Then
Darach silently lifted Caitlin