Free Highlander’s Curse by Melissa Mayhue

if you were clever and patient. Take the time to win a Mortal’s heart and she’d do anything you asked of her. Winning Abigail’s heart should be an easy enough task. In his experience, Mortals were vastly materialistic. He had only to shower her with her heart’s desires to win her over, and that was something he could certainly do.
    Once he was sure she was the one.
    Too often he’d seen the results of mistaking some woman for what she was not. And as for him, he was through making mistakes.
    Flynn reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black case. One glance inside assured him the GPS tracker in his cell phone was functioning properly, giving him an accurate record of wherever Abigail traveled on this little jaunt of hers. He’d worked far too hard to find her to carelessly allow her to slip away now.
    Not that he actually thought she’d run away. Already he could feel her molding to his desires. Even on a day off, she chose to spend her time working on his project, to make it better, to please him.
    Rising to his feet, he walked back to the window, staring off into the distance, thoughts of Abigail filling his mind. Filling his senses.
    Just a taste.
    Once again he rejected the lure of the Bloodlust. There was a better way. Win Abigail’s heart, and she would do his bidding without question. A better way, and though it would take time, he had all the time in the world.

Nine

    T he rain had turned to a fine, light mist by the time Abby pulled into the car park at Dun Ard. Her stomach knotted into a tight little ball as her foot hit the crushed gravel and she fought the urge to turn around and run as she made her way down the walk and up the massive stone stairs.
    This was it. In a matter of moments, she’d be face-to-face with the man she couldn’t seem to escape. Though she’d played that meeting over and over in her mind as the miles had slipped past, now that she had arrived, she still had no idea what she’d say to him.
    Hi, remember me? We slept together that one time. You kissed me good-bye and my lips tingled for a week. I’ve dreamed about you making love to me every single night since then.
    Yeah. Probably not. If he didn’t already think her a stalker, that little speech would push him over the edge.
    At the top stair, her stomach flip-flopped again. What if he didn’t remember her? What if he wasn’t here? What if they’d never even heard of him?
    A fine, prickly layer of perspiration broke out on her skin, and she dragged a hand over her forehead before opening the door and stepping inside.
    “Good day, Miss. Welcome to Dun Ard.” A smiling, ruddy-faced woman stood up from her seat behind a large antique desk, extending her hand in greeting. “I’m Margaret MacAlister. Are you looking for lodging?”
    “No. I’m . . . uh . . .” Abby gulped in a breath, hoping to steady her shaking voice. “I’m actually looking for someone. Colin MacAlister. Is he here?”
    The woman’s smile disappeared, a suspicious frown wrinkling her brow as she clasped her hands at her waist, looking for all the world like the disapproving headmistress in an old English movie.
    Oh, lord. That didn’t look at all like the “I’ve-never-heard-of-the-man” face.
    “And just what might you be wanting with my Colin?”
    Her
Colin?
    A new suspicion hit Abby like a tidal wave, a suspicion that made her feel as if she might be sick all over the carpet in this lovely, ancient-looking lobby.
    What if he was married? This woman did say her name was MacAlister.
    “I. . . uh. . . he, that is, Colin . . .” Abby’s tongue felt remarkably as it had the time she’d visited the dentist and he’d had to give her Novocain twice to deaden her gums. “I met Colin a few months ago when he visited Denver. I only wanted to stop by and say hello.”
    Not true. She’d wanted much more than hello, though even to herself she couldn’t say what, exactly.
    Almost immediately Margaret’s face brightened. “Well then,