School For Heiresses 3- Beware A Scot's Revenge by Sabrina Jeffries

any mind. Many aHighland man has to resort to dangerous or illegal work, like reiving or distilling. If his women are wise, they’ll take whatever he brings in and keep quiet about it.”
    “And if they’re not wise?”
    “Well, then, he’ll sew their mouths shut,” he quipped. “Do you happen to have a sewing kit in your pocket, lassie?”
    “Very amusing.” She paused. “You make Highlanders sound like thieves, but I’m not some Lowlander to believe such prejudices. Certainly your family wasn’t like that when I knew them. And you are a baronet, after all.”
    “Aye, and a lot of good having a title has done me. Or my mother.”
    She softened her voice. “I remember her well. She was always a practical sort, always busy. Come to think of it, she was also rather outspoken. I can’t see her keeping quiet. At the very least, she’s had to pretend you were dead for the past few months. Surely you had to give her a reason for that . What did you say?”
    He could think of no reason to hide the truth, and mayhap if he gave her answers, she’d stop bedeviling him long enough to fall asleep. “I told her the Scourge’s men ambushed me after I killed their leader. And I was so outnumbered, I had to pretend to drown to keep from being killed myself.”
    That’s what he’d told her once he’d been conscious enough to speak, which had taken days. “Then I said that since I’d seen their faces, I’d best keep up the pretense until I could hunt them down.” After he’d recovered his strength enough to fight back.
    She chewed on that a moment. “Why wouldn’t you just tell her the truth?” She added, in an arch tone,
    “She of all people should realize your cause was just.”
    “I don’t want her having any part of it. If something happens and I’m taken, I want no blame falling on her. Bad enough that I had to confide in some of my clansmen after the attack. I never involved them before. I always felt that since I was the one choosing to risk my life, it should be my life alone.”
    “And Jamie’s,” she pointed out. “And the lives of the people you robbed.”
    “I never hurt any of them, and you know it,” he ground out. “Ne’er did anything but take a bit of what yer father owed my family.”
    “What you think my father owed your family.” When he cursed under his breath, she added hastily,
    “And what about Jamie?”
    “Jamie and my other two companions came from my former regiment. They returned toScotland to nothing—no homes, kin, or work. So I told them I’d share whatever we took if they helped me rob yer father’s Scottish friends.”
    He frowned into the darkness. “Unfortunately, Sean and Robbie got greedy and decided to ride the roads on their own. Pair of fools got themselves murdered robbing a merchant with a blunderbuss. But Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Jamie’s got good sense.” His voice hardened. “And he’s been loyal to me ever since joining the army as a drummer boy, so don’t waste yer breath trying to convince him to help you escape.”
    “What a fine idea,” she shot back. “He looks too young to have had many sweethearts. I’d wager that if I smiled and—”
    “I mean it, lass,” he growled, “leave the lad alone.”
    “Or what? You’ll sew my mouth shut?”
    “No, but I sure as the devil will gag you with my stock.”
    “You’d have to hold me down to do it, Lachlan Ross,” she vowed. “And believe me, I’d make sure you didn’t enjoy it.”
    A devilish impulse made him snap, “Oh, I don’t know about that. At the moment, I’d give a great deal to have you beneath me.” When he heard her soft gasp, he added, “So don’t be tempting me to anger with talk of flirting with Jamie, or you and I’ll have a right fine tussle.”
    That shut her up. Finally.
    But now he had pictures to torture him, of laying her down in a grassy field and covering her body with his. She would be willing and