Alex did want to know. He narrowed his eyes at the MacNeil. He was more accustomed to having fathers hide their daughters from him. “Are ye not fond of your daughter?”

“Glynis is my only child by my first wife. She’s verra much like her mother, who was as difficult a woman as was ever born.” The MacNeil sighed. “God, how I loved her.”

More proof if Alex needed it—which he didn’t—that love led to misery.

“The other girls are sweet, biddable lasses who will tell their husbands they are wise and clever and always in the right, whether they are or no,” the chieftain continued. “But not Glynis.”

The younger sisters sounded too dull by half.

“I didn’t raise Glynis any different, she just is,” the MacNeil said. “If we were attacked and I was killed, the other girls would weep and wail, helpless creatures that they are. But Glynis would pick up a sword and fight like a she-wolf to protect the others.”

“So why are ye so anxious to see Glynis wed?” Alex asked. She seemed the only one worth keeping to him.

“She and her stepmother are like dry kindling and a lit torch. Glynis needs her own home. She doesn’t like being under the thumb of another woman.”

“Or a man’s,” Alex said. “Judging from what I heard she did to her former husband.”

“Ach, he was a fool to tell the tale,” the MacNeil said with a wave of his hand. “What man with any pride would admit his wife got her blade into his hip? Ye know what she was aiming for, of course.”

Alex winced. He’d had women weep and occasionally toss things at him, but none had ever tried to cut off his manly parts.

But then, Alex had never married.

CHAPTER 3

The pungent smell of low tide filled Alex’s nose as he followed Glynis MacNeil over the barnacled rocks and seaweed along the shore. Each time the wind blew against her skirts and revealed her slender frame, he smiled to himself. She was absorbed in collecting shells and did not appear to hear his approach over the cries of the gulls and the rhythmic crash of the surf.

When she hiked her skirts to create a makeshift basket for her collection, a sigh of appreciation escaped Alex’s throat. He could see no more than slender ankles and a precious few inches of calf, but his gaze slid upward, imagining long, shapely legs.

Glynis paused over a tide pool. Something caught her eye, and she dropped down for a closer look, wrapping her arms around her knees. Her rich brown hair formed a curtain, hiding her face from his view. Would the lass’s face be as alluring as her long, slender body?

It was time to satisfy his curiosity. In a few long strides, he stood over her.

“I see ye found a purple starfish,” Alex said. “That means good luck is coming your way.” He made that up, of course.

When Glynis tipped her head back to look at him, Alex’s heart missed several beats—and then made up for it by hammering in his chest. He’d noticed the beauty of her wide, gray eyes the night before. But in that face, they were arresting.

Her features were a tantalizing mixture of wholesomeness and sensuality, from the sprinkling of delicate freckles across her nose to her full, rosy lips. The unusual combination set off warring urges within him. He had a wild desire to lay her back on the sand and watch those gray eyes glaze with pleasure as he had his wicked way with her. At the same time, he felt an odd urge to protect her.

Alex knew he should reassure her, for he had clearly startled her, but words failed him. This was so unlike him that he wondered for a moment if a fairy had cast a spell upon him.

But then the lass fell backward onto her arse, and he knew she was human.

*  *  *

The man’s voice startled Glynis, and she looked up with her heart pounding.

She recognized the golden warrior looming above her to be Alex MacDonald, the man she’d spoken to last night. At least, part of her knew that was who he was. But with the glow of sunrise shining all about him, he looked like a Viking marauder come to blazing life out of the old stories her father’s seannachie told.

She could imagine him standing in the prow of his ship with his white-blond hair blowing behind him and carved gold bands encircling his bare, muscled arms. When he fixed green eyes the color of the sea on her, she felt as if something slammed into her chest, and she fell backward.

The shock of cold water jarred her from her trance. Heat flooded her cheeks as she realized she was sitting in a pool of seawater, soaking the back of her skirts to her skin.

“Sorry, lass. I shouldn’t have startled ye like that.” The glint of humor that touched his eyes as he held out his hand should have made him less threatening—but it did not.

Glynis swallowed and gave him her hand, which was gritty with sand. He hoisted her up effortlessly, as if she were as petite as her sisters. Tall as she was, Glynis had to tilt back her head to look into his face. She was vaguely aware that she was staring, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

What was God thinking, allowing a man to be this handsome?

He stood so close that the heat radiating from his body drove the chill right out of her. The humor that had touched his eyes was gone, replaced by something darker that pulled her toward this MacDonald warrior as if an undertow were dragging her out to sea.

“Ye should be more aware of your surroundings, lass,” Alex said, still standing far too close. “I could have been a dangerous man.”

“And ye aren’t one?” she asked.

“Me?” His teeth were white, and his smile had the force of the summer sun on a clear day. “I’m dangerous as sin.”

“My father’s guards can see us from the castle.”

Alex glanced over his shoulder. “I could have ye behind the trees or in my boat before they were out the castle gate.” He paused, eyes glinting. “Especially if ye were willing.”

She rolled her eyes. “No fear of that.”

“Are ye certain?” he asked in a husky voice that resonated somewhere deep in her belly.

Glynis held her breath, unable to move, as Alex lifted his hand to her face. Even though she anticipated his touch, her stomach fluttered when he brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. Her gaze dropped to his wide, sensuous mouth, and her throat went dry. This man would know how to give a lass a proper kiss—not like that wretched Magnus Clanranald she’d wed.

She felt herself leaning forward and snapped her head back. “I warn ye, I’ve got a dirk, and I’m no afraid to use it.”

“So I’ve heard, but ye won’t need your dirk,” Alex said. “I like my women willing.”

And she’d wager there were plenty of those.

“You’ve nothing to fear,” he said. “I never harm women.”

“If ye don’t count breaking their hearts.”

Glynis didn’t know what made her blurt out the words. But he stiffened, and she saw the truth reflected in his eyes. Alex MacDonald had broken hearts, but he didn’t glory in it. Nay, it pained him.

Of course, that only added to his appeal. A heartless man would be easier to resist.

“You’re safe from me.” Alex gave her a wink, and she could almost see him pull on his charming mask. “I don’t dally with women who are looking for husbands.”

“I’m no looking for a husband.” Her cheeks grew warm as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “I didn’t mean I wish to d… d…” Try as she might, she could not get the word dally to cross her lips.

“I can’t say the same.” He gave her a devilish grin that sent hot darts of awareness across her skin. “But even if ye aren’t looking for a husband, your father is, and that amounts to the same thing. Besides, ye deserve better than me.”

“I do,” she snapped. “God save me from another handsome philanderer.”

Something flickered in his eyes before the smiling mask dropped into place again. It was a blindingly handsome mask, but Glynis found herself wondering about the part of Alexander MacDonald that he hid from the world.

She felt guilty for being sharp with him, when the man had done nothing more than tease her, so she asked, “Do ye want to see my favorite spot?”

“It might be more fun to let me find it myself,” he said.

Her breath caught as his eyes traveled over her slowly from head to toe.

“I meant on the beach!” She punched his arm, and it was like hitting iron. “Ach, ye are the worst rogue I’ve ever met.”

He laughed and took her hand. “Lead me where ye will, fair lady.”

Alex’s hand was big and warm around hers. She’d never walked hand in hand with a man before, and she felt a wee bit wicked for it—in a good sort of way.

She took him to the far end of the bay.

“The seals like to gather here.” She pointed to a huge, flat rock that jutted out of the water a few yards offshore.

They found a dry, sandy area high on the beach and sat down. As she removed her hand from his, her gaze slid over his arm, taking in the golden hairs against his tanned skin. Alex stretched out his long, muscular legs, which were covered with the same golden hair.

“Ye should lie on your stomach,” he said, “so the sun can dry the back of your gown.”

Glynis was tempted. Her stepmother was bound to make unpleasant remarks about Glynis’s slovenly ways if she returned to the castle with her gown soaked. But she couldn’t very well lie down when she was alone with a man.

“I wouldn’t want your father to think I had ye on your back in the sand,” Alex said. “We’d be wed before noon.”

Glynis flopped down on her stomach and leaned on her elbows. They watched in companionable silence as several seals hauled themselves out of the sea to nap on the flat rock.

Alex nudged her with his knee. “What other tricks have ye used to drive away potential husbands?”

“I tell them I’m barren.” She kept her voice flat to cover how much this hurt. “That’s sufficient to discourage most of them.”

“Ye can’t know that for certain, can ye?” Alex asked. “You’re young yet.”

Glynis shrugged. Since she was never going to marry again, it was of no consequence.

“What about the men who already have heirs?” he asked. “How do ye discourage them?”

“I’ve rubbed onions on my clothes and chewed garlic.” She sighed. “If that isn’t enough, I say I dreamed I was wearing widow’s clothes on my next birthday.”

Alex’s laugh rumbled deep in his throat. It was a surprisingly pleasant sound.

“Are ye the one who started the story about stabbing your husband?” he asked.

“I fear that one is true,” she said. “I do find it useful.”

This time, his laughter roused two or three seals, who lifted their heads to look at them before resuming their slumber.

“I doubt your father is trying to marry ye off to make ye suffer,” Alex said. “He needs alliances, just as my chieftain does.”

“And the wrong alliances will bring disaster,” Glynis said. “I told my father not to join this rebellion, but, of course, he wouldn’t listen to me.”

Half the clans in the Western Isles had risen against the Scottish Crown in yet another doomed rebellion.

“The rebellion will fail eventually,” Alex said. “But until it does, any clan that takes the side of the Crown risks being attacked by its neighbors.”

“’Tis clever of your chieftain to let each side court him,” she said.

“Court him?” Alex said. “Connor feels like he’s straddling two sea monsters, while each tries to snap his head off and dump him into the sea.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his colorful description, but she was worried about her clan. “You’re lucky to be a man. Ye can serve your clan without being bought and sold like a cow.”

“I’ve never met a woman with such a low opinion of marriage,” Alex said, then he added something under his breath that sounded very much like “except for my mother.”

“I’d do anything for my clan but wed,” Glynis said.

“Since we are of one mind on that,” Alex said, “we can be friends, aye?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Do ye mean it?”

“Usually I become friends with women after I bed them,” he said. “But I’ll make an exception for ye.”

“Ye are teasing me again,” she said.

“Ye are so serious, I can’t help myself,” Alex said in a soft voice. “But if we should meet again, ye can trust me to be a friend.”

Glynis met his sea-green eyes. “Then I’ll be your friend as well, Alex MacDonald.”

When she shifted her gaze back to the seals, several of them lifted their heads. Then, one by one, they began slipping into the water.

“Get up,” Alex said with steel in his voice.

Before she could move, his hands encircled her waist, and he lifted her to her feet.