Love Beyond Compare (Book 5 of Morna’s Legacy Series) by Bethany Claire Page A

ever been lucky enough to come across a lass who could show him the man he can be.”
    I didn’t know what to say. It was a nice thought, and I knew there was a small part of me, as with many women, that wanted to be the woman who could change a man. But I’d never been one to take the bait on such a challenge. If I thought a man needed changing, I just stayed away. It was a rule that had served me well and had helped steer me away from many doomed relationships.  
    Adwen was no different. I did think he needed changing or, at the very least, a great maturation needed to occur within him. I didn’t need to try—I needed to stay the hell away from him.  
    Still, as we rode in silence through the sleepy village near Cagair Castle, I couldn’t help but think of the kindness he’d shown Isobel as I watched the villagers going about their daily lives down the small trail of a street. He did have the ability to care for others, to show kindness. I couldn’t help but think these people would be lucky to have him as laird.  
    As we reached the edge of town, a flash of movement in a window on the last house to our right caught my eye. I glanced up to see a woman, naked for the briefest of moments before she shrugged into a thin robe. On the story below, the front door opened and a man whose face he covered by pulling up his coat, glanced quickly from side to side before slipping around the side of the house.  
    I thought nothing of it for a second. Then a flash of green caught my eye, and I glanced back to see the tartan hanging from the bottom of the man’s coat—Adwen.
    “Better man, my ass. What a horny, rotten bastard.” I muttered it under my breath as I watched his horse take off into the woods.  

CHAPTER 15

    Cagair Castle

    The approach to Cagair Castle brought back memories I’d nearly forgotten; they seemed a lifetime ago, and in some ways, I guess they were. My time as co-owner and resident of the grand structure had been brief but had been filled with hard work, laughter, and the inevitable woes that one would expect when trying to renovate a five-hundred-year-old castle.  
    “Holy moly, this place is beautiful.” Cooper’s voice was filled with awe as he gazed up at the magnificent sight.  
    I glanced over at Isobel whose eyes were misty as she fought back tears. “Aye, I dinna know such beauty could exist.”
    I’d seen the castle before both in the twenty-first and seventeenth centuries. While it was even more breathtaking now, the magnificence of it had been able to choke me up even in my own time when the structure was in shambles.  
    The castle sat on its own island that was just big enough to hold the castle itself along with about a hundred yards of greenery and a hefty set of stables. It sat high enough off the ocean that even strong winds wouldn’t wet the grass but low enough that you could watch the waves from every window. A long, wide bridge made of stone, wood, and what I could only assume was more than a little bit of magic provided access from the main shore to its doors. The ocean served as Cagair Castle’s powerful and natural moat.  
    I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful castle anywhere in the world. Magic seemed to hang almost visibly in the air here. Only an idiot as big as Adwen would be distraught at the thought of having to spend the rest of his life here.  
    Only one man stood at the entry of Cagair Castle awaiting our arrival. It wasn’t Adwen, although the resemblance to him was striking.  
    Adwen was probably off somewhere washing away the remnants of his lovemaking before making his entrance. I hoped he didn’t offer me his hand in greeting; I wouldn’t go near it if he did—I knew how well men washed.  
    “Welcome, I hope that ye fared the journey well. My name is Callum, the laird’s younger brother. I doona know where Adwen has gone, but I expect he will be along shortly. Ye can dismount here, and I’ll have yer horses seen comfortably to the