Free Terri Brisbin by Taming the Highland Rogue

Chapter One
    Broch Dubh Keep
Lairig Dubh, in the west of
Scotland
Summer, AD 1370
    “There is a thief afoot in Lairig Dubh.”
    Connor MacLerie, laird of the clan and Earl of Douran, checked
his strongbox again. The lock held even when he tugged on it, proving he had
secured it, but he knew it had been moved from the smudges in the dust around
it. Connor turned to his most trusted men, Duncan, the man who watched over the
extensive financial concerns of the Clan MacLerie, and Rurik, who was
responsible for the safety of the clan, in war and in peace. Both men reacted as
he thought they would.
    “Here? Under our noses?” Rurik asked as he stepped closer to
peer over Connor’s shoulder at the box that held all the important documents and
records of the Clan MacLerie. Rurik was one of few who was tall enough to make
Connor feel short. “Nay, no one enters the keep without my approval.”
    “Is anything missing?” Duncan asked, crossing his arms over his
chest. Always pragmatic, Duncan raised his chin and studied the lock. “I just
reviewed several agreements last week.”
    “Nay, not that I can tell, Duncan. Once more they have only
just ruffled through them and left everything. Intact.” He’d even asked Jocelyn
if any keys had gone missing from her ring, but she’d said not.
    Duncan shook his head. “That makes no sense at all. Why bother
breaking into the box and taking the chance they’ll be caught if they did not
want something from it?”
    “Or they did not find what they were looking for?” Rurik asked.
“How many times has this happened?” Connor motioned for them to follow him back
into the main room of his, and Jocelyn’s, chambers before answering them.
    “I noticed it first a few months and thought I’d done it. But
four times now it has happened, the last one only days ago.”
    “And considering the wedding feast on the morrow that will
bring many visitors to the village and keep, that is suspicious timing,” Rurik
added, his brow furrowed and his gaze dark.
    “Be on guard, Rurik. This chamber is not to be entered by
anyone. I will move these…” The door burst open and Jocelyn stood there, eyes
wide and out of breath.
    Though married now for nearly two decades, she yet took his
breath away. Nary a gray hair marred the darker shades of her auburn locks and
her green eyes still gleamed with life. Bearing his bairns had softened her
body, but his readied now even as it did whenever he saw her. Though he feared a
day when he did not react so, it had not happened yet and she’d asked if he
would be randy into his old age! God willing, aye, he would…for her.
    “Jocelyn?” he asked. She looked startled at finding them there
and pasted a smile on her face that did not reach her eyes. “Is aught
wrong?”
    “Nay, Connor,” she stammered out. “Good day, Duncan. Rurik,”
she acknowledged the others with a nod at each. In spite of her words, Connor
knew something was amiss. She avoided his gaze, remaining at the door and
speaking to the others.
    “Your uncle was looking for you earlier. Did he find you?” she
asked. She had yet to meet his gaze.
    “Nay, but we are on our way to see him now.” Duncan and Rurik
understood that their discussion was at an end and strode over to the doorway.
As they left the chamber, he watched her enter and look around. “Is there
something else?” he asked hopefully, his body urging him on to more pleasurable
endeavors.
    “Nay, only that,” Jocelyn replied stepping out of the chamber
now.
    Something was clearly wrong.
    His wife had never misunderstood his invitation before and had
only declined on a rare occasion. This day, she either missed it or was avoiding
it. Connor took her hand before she could leave and entwined their fingers,
pulling her toward him. Their mouths touched, his tongue easing between her lips
to taste her. After only a moment of hesitation, she fell into it, kissing him
back and turning her body as he wrapped his arms around her to