Free The Highlander's Bride Trouble by Mary Wine

“Me sire’s wife was a cringing coward. I remember her weeping in the hallways,
     unable to look her husband in the eye.”
    “She was English.”
    “Aye.” He nodded. “And she never adjusted to being wed to a Highlander. All she gave
     him was one fae-like daughter, but at least me sister, Daphne, has her father’s spirit.
     The MacLeod deserve better than another mistress who cannae stand with her chin held
     high.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she did not want to be his wife.
    But she quelled the urge. To insult him for the sake of arguing was childish. He deserved
     more than that from her. Aye, he was arrogant, but he was not a brute. At least he
     hadn’t proved to be yet. But her brother could have contracted her to him without
     a single word from her on the matter. As a laird’s daughter, she’d been raised to
     expect to wed for her clan’s benefit. Saer claimed to have permission to court her,
     and she had been foolish enough not to question what else Kael had agreed to.
    Leaving the Ross castle so far behind suddenly seemed a poor choice.
    Suspicion flooded her, and she looked at him.
    He was working the soap along his chest, and she found herself wanting to do the chore
     for him. The brief moments she’d felt his hard chest seemed too long ago. She craved
     another opportunity to discover what his skin was like when in contact with her own.
    He looked up, holding her gaze, and grinned. She paused, a memory surfacing of leering
     faces peering down at her. Her fingers froze as her cousin’s voice invaded the moment.
    Nareen shuddered, a horrified gasp escaping her lips. Even now, it felt like their
     gazes had left a dirty smear on her skin. She was caught in the memory, feeling the
     way she’d felt trapped in her tiny cell-like chamber. The moments feeling endless
     until her cousin guided her clients away to look at another girl because they declined
     to pay the price her cousin put on Nareen’s maidenhead.
    A girl less fortunate than Nareen had been that night.
    But she still heard the bar being shoved down on the other side of the chamber door
     to make sure she was there when another buyer arrived.
    A wet hand cupped her chin, bringing her attention back to the moment.
    “Stay here with me, lass. The past belongs where it is.”
    The feeling of his skin was firm and exactly what she needed. The past was a ghost,
     one she refused to be chained to.
    “Aye.” She yanked the lace that held her bodice closed free with more force than was
     necessary, pulling the knot up so that she might loosen it. She needed to prove she
     would not be ruled by Ruth or any of her bad memories.
    But she still shied away from disrobing facing Saer. She turned her back on him and
     forced herself to continue disrobing.
    He’d seen a woman’s form before.
    She was the same as other women.
    Her arguments didn’t really reinforce her confidence. Hearing him step back into the
     water did. The tiny splashing sound gave her enough courage to pull free the lace
     that held her bodice closed. The moment she did, the fronts sagged beneath the weight
     of her breasts. They felt swollen, her nipples tingling as they drew tight. She tossed
     her bodice aside and opened her skirts. Her dress was simpler than Abigail’s, with
     only one set of skirts secured to a single waistband. Once it was open, she untied
     the small, padded bolster that went around her hips to save her back from the weight
     of the wool, and it all dropped down to her ankles.
    When she stepped free, her chemise fluttered in the breeze. She shivered, but it had
     nothing to do with the temperature. The heat rising inside her was wild and uncontrollable,
     but it also bolstered her courage.
    “The water is refreshing, Nareen…” His voice was edged with temptation. She reached
     for her braid and delayed turning around as she worked the strands free. A few years
     ago, she’d dreamed of meeting her groom with her hair flowing