Claimed by the Highlander by Julianne MacLean Page A

partners, who were more than happy to lift their skirts for the famous Scottish Lion. He certainly couldn’t challenge her to a swordfight. Nor could he bed her against her will. Life experience prevented that sort of thing.
    So if he could not take her by force, he would have to seduce her into wanting it—which was proving to be more difficult than he’d anticipated. Because he did not wish to be intimate with her. Not now. Not ever. Love and intimacy made a man weak. It led him down a path that made him believe happiness was possible, and that he could forget all the evils in the world.
    Angus could not afford to rely on someone else for his happiness. Nor could he forget certain evils. He simply could not let down his guard. He could not become weak.
    *   *   *
     
    “I find it odd,” Gwendolen said to Onora that night after the feast, “that Angus has not forced himself upon me. He has had two opportunities, and it was hardly necessary for him to negotiate my terms of surrender. He simply could have bent me over the table in the hall and claimed me as his property, right then and there.”
    They moved through the torchlit corridor to her bedchamber. She unlocked her door, entered, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
    “I learned something about him tonight,” Onora said, as she removed her shoes and placed them together on the floor. “His cousin Lachlan is quite a charmer, and with a little persuading, he was willing to indulge me when I asked some delicate questions.”
    Gwendolen swiveled on the bed to face her mother. “What exactly did you learn?” She wasn’t sure she had ever craved information with such fervor before.
    Onora sat down on a chair. “He told me that Angus’s younger sister was raped and killed by English soldiers a few years ago. It’s part of the reason why he was banished. He went absolutely mad with vengeance against the English and betrayed a close friend who married an Englishwoman, and it was all very ugly in the end. Lachlan is not surprised that Angus is waiting until your wedding night before he beds you. He said Angus cannot bear to see any woman cry or plead, for it makes him think of his sister’s final moments. It’s why he has ordered his men to stay away from our MacEwen women. He wouldn’t stand for any raping or pillaging.”
    Gwendolen pondered this with a rather morbid curiosity, and not without some sympathy. “And yet, he told me he wanted to kill that Englishwoman.”
    “But he didn’t kill her, did he? And Lachlan said he had plenty of opportunities.” Onora rose to her feet. “From what I understand of the situation, that friend he betrayed is now married to that woman, and they are very much in love. They have a son and another child on the way.”
    Gwendolen pulled the pins from her hair. “He told me about his friend, and that he betrayed him, but he didn’t tell me why. I had no idea it was because of what happened to his sister.”
    Onora shrugged. “Well, at least it has given him reason to spare you for a week or so. You’ll have time to prepare yourself for your first encounter. It won’t be so terrible, darling. You’ll see.”
    Rising from the bed to undress, Gwendolen wondered if she would ever truly be prepared for it. And despite everything her mother had just told her, she was still amazed that Angus had shown such mercy toward her and her clan. Bitter, brooding vengeance was blatantly visible in his eyes. His deep anger and contempt for the world was obvious, and it never ceased to unnerve her.
    No, she was not yet ready to lie back and give herself over to him without fear. He was a dangerous man, and though he could be merciful in some ways, he did not seem capable of genuine tenderness or love. She was still very much afraid.

Chapter Eight
     
    Angus lay in bed, tossing and turning. There was no point in visiting Gwendolen’s bedchamber again, he told himself, over and over. He’d given his word that he would not bed her