“I hope he doesn’t.” Isobel’s tone revealed how besotted she was with her husband.
Marjory glanced at her, feeling a pang to see that her friend actually glowed, her face softening as she watched Kendrew walk away.
“You really love him, don’t you?” She put a hand on Isobel’s arm.
“Madly, I do.” Isobel beamed. “Wait until Alasdair comes round.” She patted Marjory’s hand, speaking with all the confidence of a woman well-loved. “Then you’ll see-”
“I’ve seen plenty this morn.” Marjory wished it weren’t so. “Alasdair is different. He’s not the same man who left here a year ago. I scarcely recognized him.”
Isobel’s smile didn’t waver. “He certainly recognized you.”
“He is aye attentive to women.” Marjory tightened her shawl about her shoulders, feeling a chill. “Any woman. In that, he hasn’t changed.”
“You are not any woman.” Isobel glanced to where Alasdair had vanished. “Kendrew isn’t the only one with eyes and ears everywhere. I saw how Alasdair watched you before he joined you at the cloth stall. And” – she tilted her head, her dark eyes twinkling – “I didn’t miss the annoyance on his face when he walked away just now.”
“To be sure he was annoyed. Kendrew provoked him beyond all reason.”
Isobel lifted a brow. “Do you truly think a battle-hardened warrior would let a few angry words get to him? Is it not more likely that you turn Alasdair’s blood to smoke, driving him to recklessness?”
Marjory considered.
Sadly, she disagreed with her friend. Isobel hadn’t heard him ask her to keep an eye on Nought, informing him if suspicious wayfarers entered Mackintosh territory.
That was why he’d drawn her into the bower.
She’d been a fool to think otherwise.
“You know it is true.” Isobel took her arm, leading her toward the cook stalls. “Alasdair wants you, and badly. He always has. He just needs to accept that truth. He will come for you when he does.”
“You do not know him as I do.” Marjory paused before a fish stall, eyeing a row of skewered herring, golden brown and sizzling over a bed of smoldering coals. “He won’t forget I’m Kendrew’s sister. If he does harbor such feelings, they’ll only make him strengthen his defenses against me.”
“Then you must tear them down.” Isobel turned the most sensible gaze on her. “The way to do that is clear. You must tempt him.”
For a moment, Marjory could only stare at her friend.
“I’m not a temptress.” She wouldn’t even consider it.
Isobel laughed. “Ah, but you can be if you wished.” She nodded to the burly stall-holder, indicating she and Marjory would each take a spit-roasted herring. “You just have to use what nature gave you, that’s all. You can begin the next time you see Alasdair.”
“He’s on his way to Blackshore. He’ll be busy, having been gone so long.”
“He’ll be back. And sooner than you think, I’ll wager. Or” – she produced a coin to pay for their fish – “did you not know it’s impossible to chase a thirsting man from a spring?”
“I am not a spring.”
“Nae, you’re a woman.” Isobel smiled brightly. “And that’s even better.”
Marjory just looked at her. “I do believe marriage has maddened you.”
“So it has.” Isobel had the audacity to wink. “In the very best way, I’ll agree.”
And as Marjory strove to keep a flush from blooming on her cheeks as she watched the stall-holder take their herring off the spits, she knew her friend’s influence must be affecting her. Because even before the man brought them the fish, she knew what she had to do.
She’d seduce Alasdair.
The only question was how and when.
* * *
I hope you’ll enjoy Seduction of a Highland Warrior (Highland Warriors Book 3) …
A Scottish warrior chieftain faces the battle of his life when he falls for a Viking’s promised bride.
Coming soon!
About the Author
“Sue-Ellen Welfonder brings legends and love to life.” – Fresh Fiction
USA Today bestselling author Sue-Ellen Welfonder won Romantic Times Best Historical Romance Award for her debut title, Devil in a Kilt. Many of her books have been RT Award nominees, and have received RT Top Picks and K.I.S.S. Hero Awards. She is thrilled to be a winner of InD’Tale’s RONE Award. Her favorite reader compliment is that her stories transport them to medieval Scotland, the setting of most of her books. She is also known for her strong heroines, Alpha heroes, and weaving Highland magic and humor into her tales.
Sue-Ellen also writes as Allie Mackay, penning contemporary paranormals, mostly set in the Scottish Highlands.
Connect with Sue-Ellen Welfonder
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Also by Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Bundle Collections
Highland Dreams: A Sizzling Collection of Scottish Highlander Romance mybook.to/HighlandDreams
Highland Magic: A Collection of Magical Love Across the Ages mybook.to/HighlandMagicBoxset
Highland Knights: A Collection of Sensual Scottish Romance mybook.to/HighlandKnights
Highland Warriors Trilogy
Sins of a Highland Devil mybook.to/SinsofaHighlandDevil
Temptation of a Highland Scoundrel
* * *
Coming soon
Seduction of a Highland Warrior
and…
Once Upon a Highland Christmas (series-related holiday novella)
* * *
Highland Knights Romances
Knight in Her Bed: mybook.to/KnightInHerBed
Master of the Highlands: mybook.to/MasteroftheHighlands
Wedding for a Knight: mybook.to/WeddingforaKnight
Return to Kintail Scottish Romances
Winter Fire: mybook.to/WinterFire
The Taming of Mairi MacKenzie: mybook.to/TamingofMairiMacKenzie
Only for a Knight: mybook.to/OnlyforaKnight
Highlander Regency Romances
The Kiss at Midnight: mybook.to/TheKissatMidnight
The Laird of Lyongate Hall: mybook.to/TheLairdofLyongateHall
Short Stories
The Seventh Sister: mybook.to/TheSeventhSister
Falling in Time: mybook.to/FallinginTime
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Ravenscraig Legacy Series
HIGHLANDER IN HER BED: mybook.to/HighlanderinHerBed
HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS: mybook.to/HighlanderinHerDreams
TALL, DARK, AND KILTED: mybook.to/TallDarkandKilted
SOME LIKE IT KILTED: mybook.to/SomeLikeItKilted
MUST LOVE KILTS: mybook.to/MustLoveKilts
Highland Ghostbuster Novel
HAUNTED WARRIOR: mybook.to/HauntedWarrior
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Temptation of a Highland Scoundrel: Highland Warriors Book 2 Page 34