Free The Highlander's Woman (The Reckless Rockwoods #3) by Monica Burns Page A

skip a beat. God, how she wanted to run to him, but the fear of being hurt again held her back. He’d lied to her, and she couldn’t forget that.
    “I said I needed time to think, Julian,” she said warily.
    “Aye, that you did.” His lips were thinned in a grim line as he nodded. “I’ve had time to think as well, and I think we need to talk about why you’re willing to think the worst of me.”
    “Isn’t that obvious,” she snapped.
    “I do no’ dispute the fact that I deceived you Patience, but it was with good intentions. I also know the evidence against me is damning. But none of it is true, and I can prove it.”
    Startled by his observation, Patience stared at him for a moment before she shook her head.
    “I don’t know how you think you could possibly do that.” At her brittle reply Julian eyed her carefully.
    “Let us consider the gossip column first,” he said quietly as he clasped his hands behind his back. “Gossip requires a source, and I’ve learned that a woman with red hair supplied the newspaper with the lies they printed in the column.”
    “How do you know that?” she scoffed with a disbelieving frown.
    “Because I threatened to thrash the man who wrote the article until he told me where the story came from.” The fierce expression on his face made Patience certain Julian had terrified the newspaper reporter into believing he would make good on his threat.
    “Even if what you say is true, there’s still the brooch and Una’s visit,” she said scornfully.
    “Aye, the brooch,” he said softly. “The estate agent who showed us several houses, said he found the brooch and Una claimed it as hers,” Julian said tersely, his expression dark with a dangerous emotion that unsettled her. If she didn’t know better, she would think him capable of hurting the woman. “Naturally, she did no’ return it to me, but delivered it to you instead.”
    Patience stared at him in silence as she contemplated everything he’d told her so far. When she didn’t say anything Julian frowned.
    “Do you no’ have something to say?”
    “What would you have me say?” she asked with an aching heart. “You’ve explained two things, but you’ve failed to explain why you were house hunting with her or how Una knew about your birthmark, which is the most damming of all the evidence.”
    “Christ Jesus, Patience,” he snarled. “I can no’ explain how Una knows about my birthmark, but I have no’ been with her or any woman since we met. Whatever lies Una told you are nothing more than that—they’re lies.”
    “The an dara sealladh showed me a baby. The woman was holding a child, Julian,” she choked out in a hoarse voice. At the accusation, Julian stiffened, but did not look away from her.
    “Tis no’ my child, mo ghràdh ,” he said firmly, but it was the endearment he used that made her flinch.
    “ Don’t call me that ,” she exclaimed fiercely. “I am not your love. You don’t know the meaning of the word.”
    “And you do no’ know the meaning of trust,” he snarled viciously. Her heart skipped a beat. She’d never heard him speak so harshly to her before. A savage anger hardened Julian’s face, and she was certain dark angels could not have looked more fierce. As she met his furious gaze, bitterness welled up inside her.
    “You’re not asking for trust, Julian,” she said through clenched teeth. “You’re asking me to believe she’s the liar, not you.”
    “She is lying,” he ground out with restrained fury
    “But she’s not lying about the birthmark,” she said softly, and her words made Julian jerk.
    “No,” he said in a flat voice.
    “I asked you once before, but you didn’t answer me,” she rasped. “Put yourself in my place and answer me honestly, would you believe me if our positions were reversed?”
    “I hope I would choose to believe you,” he said in a voice devoid of emotion.
    “But you’re not certain that you would.”
    “ No ,” he bit