Beyond the Highland Mist (The Highlander Series, Book 1)

Hawk placed a finger beneath Adrienne's chin and tilted her head back, forcing her to meet his flinty gaze. "I will tear from you anything Adam gives you. Remember that. If I find his body draped over yours, he will suffer the same fate." His eyes drifted meaningfully over a scrap of crimson silk stuck on the bark of tree, flapping like a dead thing in the breeze. "Why?" "Because I want you." "You don't even know me!" His mouth curved in a beautiful smile. "Oh, sweet lass, I know everything about you. I know you're a complex woman, full of dualities; you're innocent, yet tough; intelligent"--He cocked a teasing brow--"but lacking a smidge of common sense." "I am not!" Adrienne scowled her protest. He laughed huskily. "You have a wonderful sense of humor and you laugh often, but sometimes you're melancholy." He crowded her with his body and gazed down at her with heavy, hooded eyes. Adrienne tossed her head, trying vainly to dislodge his finger from beneath her chin and escape his penetrating gaze. He cupped her face firmly with both hands. "You're a willful woman, and I'd like to be the focus of such a willful woman's desire. I'd like to have you yield your trust and loyalty to me as steadfastly as you withhold it. I'm a mature man, Adrienne. I will be patient while I woo you--but woo you, I will." Adrienne swallowed hard. Damn him for his words! Not only will I woo you, lass--I will win you completely,the Hawk added in the privacy of his heart. But he couldn't say that aloud, not yet. Not when she was staring at him, her lower lip trembling ever so slightly, but enough. Enough to give him hope. "I'm going to teach you that one lifetime isn't long enough for all the pleasure I can bring you, lass," he promised. Adrienne closed her eyes, willing the image of him to hell and beyond. "Where's Olivia?" she asked, eyes closed. "Fallen over a cliff, if the gods are smiling," Hawk replied dryly. Adrienne opened her eyes and crinkled her nose, peering at him. Did she see the hint of a smile in his dark gaze? A passionate Hawk was deadly, but she was on guard against passion. A teasing Hawk might slip right through her defenses. "Or if I'm really lucky and the gods are forgiving, she wandered into Adam's arms and he's been struck by the same thunderbolt that hit me when I saw you. Wouldn't that solve my problems?" The corner of her mouth twitched. "Oh, nay. I have it. She wandered into the forest and the fae mistook her for one of their own--the wicked banshee--and she is never to return." Adrienne laughed and was immediately rewarded with one of the Hawk's devastating smiles. He was melting her, disarming her defenses. And it felt good. More seriously he said, "I instructed the guards to see to Olivia's return journey the moment her horses are rested enough to make the ride." Adrienne's spirit elevated at his words. "Adrienne." He sighed her name like a rich port, complex and sweet. "It's only you--" "Stop!" Abruptly his mood changed, lightened like quicksilver. "I want to take you somewhere. Come, lass. Give me this night to show you who I really am. That's all I ask." AdrKaren Marie Moning is the author of 'Beyond the Highland Mist (The Highlander Series, Book 1)', published 2007 under ISBN 9780440244165 and ISBN 0440244161.