Free Highland Vengeance by Saydee Bennett Page A

she lay
down on the blanket. He was amazed that this woman had not
complained once on their journey, especially now about sleeping on
the frozen earth. He saw his new wife start to shiver and Camden
knew she needed his body’s heat to warm her. The laird also
realized that he needed to be touching her for his own
sake.
    “ I am sorry I do not have a
tent for you. I should have planned better for this journey,”
Camden said softly as he lay down next to her.
    He pulled the plaid from her and then
held her close to his body and wrapped them tightly together.
Olivia almost stopped shivering instantly with her face pressed
against his bare chest. She loved the masculine way he smelled of
leather and pine. He began to run his fingers through her hair and
Olivia had chills run through her body. She suddenly wanted him to
touch her everywhere but she knew that was not possible.
    She moved to face him and Olivia could
not help herself with their mouths so close. She pressed her lips
softly to his and kissed him gently. Camden smiled against her
mouth remembering how timid she had been at first but now he was
pleased with her boldness.
    “ You must be careful when
you kiss me this way,” he whispered between their lips
touching.
    “ Why?” She worried thinking
she had done something wrong.
    “ If you continue to tease me
with your lips I will have no other choice than to strip you bare
and please you thoroughly.”
    “ You wouldn’t.”
    “ Aye, wife I would. Now go
to sleep.”
    Olivia obeyed her husband for fear he
would be true to his word. His men were sleeping not more than five
feet away and she was sure they had just heard the conversation she
had with her husband. By early morning, the temperature had dropped
even lower but Olivia woke up sweating from the heat of the large
warrior that had her pinned in his arms. It did not take long for
the group to prepare their horses and be on their way
again.
    As they reached the Highlands and rode
into Camden’s newly claimed land, the beauty that surrounded them
stunned Olivia. Being almost wintertime, there was stillness in the
air as the animals prepared to hibernate through the cold. She
slowly and carefully guided her steed behind Camden’s up the rocky
terrain as they climbed higher into the land.
    “ This is the land that I
have received from our marriage,” he said plainly to his
wife.
    “ All of this was my
inheritance?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ It is so beautiful. If I
had known I had all this incredible land I would have left the
convent years ago to live here,” she said breathlessly.
    Camden was curious about her statement
and why she seemed so enchanted by the land. What English woman
would want to leave the comforts of royalty to live in the
mountains of the Highlands?
    “ This land is much more
beautiful in the springtime. I am interested in knowing if you
truly think you could have survived your life here in the
Highlands. What about your castles and royal celebrations wife? I
am sure you would have missed them,” he insisted.
    “ You do not know what I
would have missed. You just assume I am silly little English girl
that has everyone doting on her,” she said with heat. “Well Laird
Camden Sinclair of the Sinclairs, you are a damn fool!” She
spouted.
    “ A damn fool you say? You
certainly have surprised me more than expected but if you think I
could believe for one minute that you would have survived in the
Highlands without my protection then you are the fool wife,” the
laird said.
    “ Broderick?” She asked
loudly to the warrior behind her.
    “ Yes m’lady?”
    “ Do all the Scotland lairds
think their women are weak or is it just Laird Camden?” She said
furiously.
    “ M’lady you have astonished
all of us with your strength thus far but my laird is right. A
woman could not survive in this land without a fierce man to battle
for her,” Broderick answered.
    “ Aye m’lady, you are strong
but you haven’t seen what the highland men