Free Gifts of Desire by Kella McKinnon Page B

do not to imagine tearing her gown off and taking her , swiftly and without gentleness ?  He groaned.  He was caught in a trap of his own making.  He could not stand to have the lass near him, yet he could not send her away without the possibility of endangering his people.  He had best work harder to find out who she was and send her on her way , before h e lost what was left of his sanity .
                  When they reached the border where the armed men had been sighted, they found nothing but a few tracks.  Though Ceann sent men to scout the area in each direction, they returned with no sightings ; nothing.   Neither were any of the farmers nearby missing any cattle.  How very strange.  What had the men been about, if not raiding or thieving ?  Ceann lingered a bit longer, and then, satisfied that there was no immediate danger, started for home.  He left a small patrol behind, to make sure the men did not return .  
                  A wasted afternoon, Ceann thought.  And there was so much to be done at Tulloch.  He h ad been away for two months, no , longer, and now there were many things that needed his attention.  His steward, Grant , kept things running smoothly in his absence, but now that he was home the full weight fell back onto his shoulders.  Sometimes he almost preferred battle to the huge responsibility he bore for the health and welfare of his people.  With both of his parents gone, and being their only child, he now and again felt as if he were alone in the world, except for Ethan, on whom he could always depend.  Ethan, who thought he should take a wife.  A wife who would share in his duties; a strong and capable woman who would stand by his side and help care for his people.   B ut he wouldn’t take a wife.  No , to do so would only prove to the world that he was cursed.  It would weaken his authority as laird, perhaps even tempt others to rise against him and take what was his.  I t was best that there would always be doubt.  But to have a wife to warm his bed, to tend his wounds after a good fight , and aye, to take over the care of the keep; a woman as beautiful and as intriguing as Ella…   
                  To his utter dismay , Ceann found his heart sped up when he thought of her, and heat pooled in his groin , making the saddle increasingly uncomfortable.   He uttered a series of vile curses , drawing the curi ous looks of several of the men who rode near him.   Which made him curse again.   Such thoughts would do him no good, would only make him long for things he couldn’t have.  
     
                  Ella had watched from the window at the end of the hall as the group of warriors rode off .  He had kissed her .  She could still feel his lips on hers.  Well, she admitted, it wasn’t so much of a kiss as just a brief touch of his lips, but even so, it had left her wanting more , much more .  Strange, she had been kissed many times before, stolen moments with this sweetheart or that… but she had never felt heat race through her veins as it did with the touch of Ceann ’s lips on hers. She shook herself, here she was dreaming when the laird had been called away, and now she could continue searching the li brary without risking hi s interference .  On her way to the stairs s he paused at the door to the study .  Did she dare?   She listened intently for anyone nearby, and then carefully tried the latch.  B ut the door wouldn’t open ; t he study would have to wait for another day.  She sighed, almost relieved that she would not have to intrude upon Ceann ’s personal sanctuary this day.  She went back to the library , instead, and carefully eased the door to the room closed behind her.  She set out methodically going through the books , looking for anything out of the ordinary, though not really expecting to find it so easily .  She had reached the second row and was pushing a book of poetry back into i ts