Free My Tempting Highlander (Highland Hearts #3) by Maeve Greyson

as she turned and hummed her way down the hall to the kitchen.
    I am going to wring her neck.
Mairi turned back to Chieftain Sutherland just in time to catch the man trembling with silent laughter. So, he thought this situation was funny? Fine. Time to interrogate him and unravel Eliza’s obvious plot. Mairi waved him toward the monstrous wingback leather chair angled beside the bookcase, while she settled on the armrest of the love seat. “So, Eliza’s your aunt?”
    Ronan sank down into the chair as though he owned it. His large hands draped comfortably over the ends of the rolled arms as he settled back and crossed his boots at the ankle. The man looked every bit the chieftain of a powerful clan. “I believe Mistress Eliza might ha’ stretched the truth a wee bit when she called us distant relatives. We have no shared bloodline, but she was quite correct when she said I had traveled quite a ways t’meet wi’ ye.”
    “Why?” Mairi wasn’t in the mood for polite conversation no matter how deliciously lickable the man looked. She needed to be out in the streets of Edinburgh locating her lost dog. She felt sure Eliza had ousted the poor stray. It didn’t matter if she confessed it or not.
    “Why?” Ronan repeated. He uncrossed his boots and leaned forward as though ready to spring from the chair. Did the man sense she was about to make a quick getaway?
    “Yes. Why did you want to meet with us?” Damn, the man was sexy as hell, but she didn’t have time for sexy as hell—especially without any pertinent details, like who the devil he really was. She struggled against the strange pull of the chieftain. She had to find her dog before the authorities picked him up and sealed his fate with an ending she’d rather not think about.
    “Look. I’m really sorry to cut this short, but I just don’t have time for polite chitchat right now.” Mairi jumped to her feet and hurried to the door. “Enjoy your tea with Eliza. I’m sorry. But I really have to go. If you’re still here when I get back, maybe we can visit then.”
    Without looking back, Mairi bolted down the hallway, grabbed her jacket, and headed outside. Eliza was going to be pissed, but she’d have to get over it. Mairi had to find that poor dog before he met a terrible end.

Chapter 6
    She was gone? Just like that she was gone?
    Ronan stared at the open doorway of the parlor, dazed and perplexed. What the blazes had happened? The quiet thud of the front door closing promptly ended his paralysis of disbelief.
    “By the verra gods themselves!” He launched out of the chair and stormed down the hallway. Throwing the door open wide, Ronan bolted down the steps, stopped in the center of the smooth stone path running in front of the house, and searched up and down the busy street. How the hell could she have disappeared so quickly? The urge to shift into the wolf was strong. He could cover so much more ground in that form.
    “Dinna be rash,” Eliza warned from the top step. “Ye best find her as a man and deal with her as a man would. ’Tis the only way and ye know it. She must love ye as a man before she knows the truth of yer history. Look what trouble the curse has already laid at yer feet by having her love yer wolf first.”
    Damn, but the woman was right. Ronan sucked in a deep breath and lifted his face to the icy sleet raining down from the muddy sky. The stinging chill helped cool his need to release his beast. “I will find her. I dinna ken how t’make her forget the wolf. But somehow, I will bring her home.”
    “Animals have always been dearer to Mairi than people ever could be. She trusts animals. She never trusts people anymore. Lies and cruelties have scarred her and she’s incapable of moving past them. Bear that in mind when ye find the wee gal.” Eliza backed into the house, closing the odd bright purple canvas shielding her from the rain and propping it beneath the shelter of the eaves. “Off wi’ ye now. Find our Mairi and