Free Stolen by the Highlander by Terri Brisbin

much heat but at least it banished the darkness for now. Being midsummer, the night would not last too long here in the Highlands. Which meant they intended to sleep here.
    A chance for her to escape? As if he’d heard her thoughts, he motioned for her hands. ‘Give me your hands, Arabella.’
    ‘There is nowhere for me to run, Brodie,’ she said, glancing around at the darkness around them. ‘I would be daft to try...’
    ‘I saw it in your eyes,’ he said, the smile that curved his mouth a grim one. One that spoke of his suspicions about her. Considering that the last time she’d been free for a moment, she’d run, she could not truly blame him for thinking such.
    He wrapped the length around her wrist, only once this time, and then surprised her by wrapping the other end around his wrist. Brodie held it out to his friend who finished the task. They were tied together and she could not move without him feeling it.
    ‘How will I...?’ She could not voice the task she needed to see to right this moment, but from Rob’s chuckle, he understood.
    ‘Worry not,’ he said as he tugged on the rope, leading her away from the light of the fire. ‘It is too dark for me to see anything.’
    Some mortifying minutes later, they walked back to the shelter where Rob had laid out some blankets and lengths of woollen plaid. Two places. Arabella looked from Rob to her keeper and shook her head. She would not sleep that close to him. She backed away until the rope stopped her.
    ‘Your virtue is safe, lady,’ he said. He guided her over to one of the blankets. ‘As long as you remain quiet, I will leave the gag off.’ She’d forgotten about that possibility.
    Arabella decided that, if she wanted to escape, she needed rest and daylight. So, she would allow him to think her a compliant prisoner...until she was not. She must keep the element of surprise on her side since she was outnumbered. And a stranger in these lands. Her father and Caelan would be searching for her and she just needed to give them time to catch up with them.
    It took one all-too-short minute for them to lie down. The pile beneath her was surprisingly comfortable, but her body went rigid when he lay behind her. Sliding as far away as possible, Arabella knew she would not sleep at all this night. Weariness and fear and anger proved her wrong, overwhelming her resistance as her body gave up then. As she drifted off, warmth surrounded her and she sank into it, dreaming of a huge fire burning in the hearth of her chambers.
    * * *
    Brodie could tell the moment she stopped fighting sleep, and him, because her body softened and leaned back against his. A soft sigh followed a shiver and nearly unmanned him. He tossed another blanket over her and slid his arm around her, pulling her closer.
    To warm her.
    So she would not sicken or grow weak.
    She would be of no use to them if she sickened and died.
    He was only taking care of her for the good of his clan and not because of any softer feelings he might hold for her.
    He repeated those thoughts to himself throughout the rest of the night as she burrowed closer to him. He reminded himself also of his true intentions in this endeavour and that she was only a means to his end—to tear control of the Mackintosh Clan from Caelan’s traitorous hands and save it from complete destruction.
    * * *
    When the meagre light of dawn pierced through the chilly fog, he was still telling himself those facts and trying to make himself believe them. Brodie knew that he had to endure this closeness to her for only two more days. Once they reached their encampment hidden high and well in the mountains, he would pass her off to be watched by someone else and not have to deal with her until he executed his plans.
    Two more days.

Chapter Seven
    O f hell. Of unadulterated misery.
    Two days of it.
    Mayhap if she’d cried or carried on, wailing and moaning, or whimpering, he could have withstood the pressure. If Rob had not laughed, silently