Read Highlander Unbroken (Highland Adventure Book 8) for Free Online

there as if she were looking into a silver mirror. He had suffered greatly. What had happened to him?
    "I am sorry," she whispered.
    He blinked, then studied her. "Why?"
    Having no logical reason for what she'd said, she shook her head. She couldn't tell him she was sorry for whatever pain he'd suffered in the past that had formed him into the man he was now. She turned. "The other musicians will be looking for me."
    Neacal didn't wish Anna to go. With everything in him, he yearned to linger in her bright presence a few minutes more. But how could he get her to stay?
    "I'm sorry if I frightened you yesterday during practice," he blurted. "I saw you in the bailey watching."
    She halted, glancing back at him with caution, her green eyes wide. "Oh. Um… nay, m'laird. You did not frighten me."
    "I wish you'd call me Neacal. Every time someone says m'laird , I wait… expecting my father to answer."
    She searched his eyes, then smiled. "Very well. I'm Anna."
    He gave a nod, near rendered mute by her beautiful smile. "Anna," he said, relishing the excuse to say her name. The creamy, velvety-looking skin of her face lured him. How he wished he could stroke his fingers over her. Many months had passed since he'd last touched a woman. Och, how he had loved everything about women—their softness, their floral fragrances, the sweet taste of their kisses.
    Anna's lips were full, lush and pink, just the type to entice any man. Neacal found, for the first time in eons, that he was fantasizing about kissing someone—Anna. He had gone crack-pated for a certainty.
    "Do you miss your father?" she asked, startling him out of his outlandish fantasies. Her compassionate gaze made him want to speak the truth.
    "Very much. He was a great man and admirable chief."
    She nodded.
    "Do you have any family?" he asked.
    "A sister."
    When she didn't elaborate, he said, "You met my sister, Maili, before she left with the MacKenzies and her new husband, Shamus."
    "Aye, a lovely and sweet lady."
    If Neacal were the man he used to be, he might say the same to her—that she was lovely and sweet—but he found those effortless compliments no longer rolled off his tongue with practiced ease. How he had taken everything for granted back then. He was a different person now.
    She looked past him, the golden light of sunset illuminating her face and the vivid green of her eyes. "What a beautiful view," she whispered.
    What a beautiful woman. He could not tear his gaze away from her long enough to see what she was talking about. Her skin was luminous ivory and her lips delicate pink. A lock of her blond hair trailed from her cowl. It looked silky and he craved rubbing it between his fingers.
    "Do you not think so?" she asked.
    He forced himself to send a quick glance over the loch toward the sunset. "Aye, indeed." He could not keep his gaze from venturing back to her.
    She gave a shy smile. "Well, supper will begin soon and I must prepare for my performance."
    He gave a brief bow. "I look forward to it."
    She curtseyed. "I'll see you in the great hall."
    He watched her until she disappeared from view, excitement racing through his veins. Damnation! What had just come over him? He turned as the sun dipped behind the orange clouds and dark islands in the distance. Hell, he didn't need a woman making his life even more muddled than it already was.
     
    ***
     
    The next evening, after Anna finished singing three songs, the other musicians took over. She needed a reprieve from the crush in the great hall during the cèilidh . Neacal had also disappeared again, as he did half the time. Was he telling the truth about enjoying her singing? She wasn't so sure.
    Still, anytime his eyes chanced to meet hers, her heartbeat sped along and she felt flushed.
    Some wild and irrational part of her urged her to slip up to the ramparts again, for Neacal might be there, but…that would be madness. She'd best avoid him for many reasons. She must guard her secrets well if she wished