Harlequin Historical May 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Notorious in the West\Yield to the Highlander\Return of the Viking Warrior (23 page)

Then the crowd began to stir. Someone stepped forward.

“None of this mush,” Jimmy the bellman observed loudly, “sounds like a proposal of marriage to me. How 'bout you boys?”

“No!” As one, the assembled men roared out. “No!”

“Hold on!” Grace Murphy yelled back, speaking for the collected ladies. She motioned for the men's catcalls to quit. Her husband, the saloonkeeper, helped with that endeavor. Then, with that accomplished, Grace looked at Olivia and Griffin. “Please continue,” she suggested with a courteous gesture. “Here in Morrow Creek, most of us have faith in true love.”

Her sisters, Molly and Sarah, stepped up to agree.

“Nah! It ain't happenin'!” one of the menfolk said.

Someone chuckled. “She ain't sayin' yes, if it does!”

“Pshaw,” added a woman. “She practically proposed to him!”

At that, Olivia looked at Griffin. He looked at her.

They both smiled. They both drew in deep, happy breaths.

“
Please
marry me,” they said in unison.

A confused, collective groan came from the crowd.

“What in Sam Hill does that mean?” Gus the stableman shouted from the back. “Did anybody hear a yes or a no?”

Amid all the turmoil, Griffin smiled at Olivia.

Olivia smiled back.
“Yes,”
they said together. “I will.”

A stunned silence fell over the crowd. The banjo quit playing. Even the town's children, who'd wandered there with their parents, stopped frolicking near the station platform.

“Tarnation!” someone cried. “Does that mean we
all
lose?”

“On the contrary,” Mrs. Murphy demurred. “I believe you'll find that means the ladies win their bets. And so, after a fashion, at least, do Miss Mouton and Mr. Turner.”

“We men
lost
our wagerin' money?” Jimmy asked, looking astonished. “But...we were gonna add it to the kitty for the big faro tournament. It was gonna draw in heaps of high rollers!”

“Mmm. I don't think so,” the town's most-known suffragist told him. “Not anymore, at least. But I
do
believe it will be a fine addition to the Temperance League's coffers.”

“Temperance League?” the men groaned. “Ain't that a kick in the pants?” A pause. Then... “Sure you ain't gonna reconsider, Miss Mouton? It still ain't too late!”

Olivia laughed, shaking her head.

And with that, the people of Morrow Creek were off, doing several of their most favorite things at once—gambling, arguing, coming together, laughing...and most of all, cooking up a brand-new addition to the town's burgeoning supply of folklore.

This tale, Olivia heard as Griffin gallantly helped her to her feet and then kissed her, seemed to involve a misunderstood beauty, an enigmatic beast and a whole passel of suspiciously “essential” town matchmakers who'd paved the way for their love and happiness. But even if the folklorists didn't
quite
get all the details perfectly and accurately right, Olivia didn't care.

Because against all the odds and beyond all her hopes, she'd found the one man who could see into her heart and love what he glimpsed there. She'd found the one man who could soak up every bit of the love she had to give him—and it was a
lot
of love, she assured Griffin as they sneaked their way past the increasingly frolicsome crowd and headed back to The Lorndorff together—and then give it right back to her.

Only somehow, Olivia realized, Griffin had managed to double the love she'd given him. He'd managed to make it as big and as strong as befit a seven-foot-tall giant who could turn around trains with his will alone...and emerge from the darkness to find a girl with a light, just waiting there for him.

From now till forever, Olivia meant to be that light for Griffin. She meant to love him and care for him and trust him.

At the bottom of The Lorndorff's stairs, Griffin turned to her. He smiled, patently hers in that moment and happy for it.

He held out his hand. “Are you ready for this?” he asked.

“I'm ready for
everything,
” Olivia promised him.

Then she took his hand, assembled all the inborn curiosity that had separated her from everyone else for so long...and used it to send her straight into her future with Griffin.

* * *

“Have I ever told you,” Olivia remarked as she and Griffin reached the top of the hotel stairs after leaving the railway station, “about the time I discovered the universe?”

Still holding her hand, Griffin smiled. “I don't think so. I guess I should have known there was more?”

“Of course there's more!” She laughed. “With me, there always is.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” he assured her.

“Good.” Olivia nodded. “So...?”

“So...?”

“So aren't you going to ask me?”

“Oh. Of course.” Griffin delivered her his most inquisitive look, determined not to disappoint her. He felt far too grateful for the second chance he'd been given. “Tell me,” he said obligingly. “What about the time you discovered the universe?”

Joyfully, Olivia squeezed his hand. “It happened when you kissed me,” she told him. “It was right there in your eyes.”

“Aha.” Nodding, Griffin recollected that moment. “I think that was a dust mote,” he teased. “Just a bit of fluff.”

“It was not!” she protested. “We were at the creek!”

“I remember.” For a moment, Griffin did just that. Then he smiled at her. Rakishly. “If you're fond of what my eyes can do,” he said, “wait until you learn more about the rest of me.”

Olivia looked as though she could hardly wait. Except...

“
After
we're married, you mean?” she asked.

“Yes,” Griffin agreed staunchly. “
After
we're married.”

For an uncertain, rueful moment, they looked at each other.

Then, “Let's head to Reverend Benson's right now!”

Their unified exclamation made them both laugh.

“We've got to stop doing that,” Olivia said, looking giddy and full of daring. “It's going to begin annoying people.”

But Griffin only shrugged. “I don't think we can stop. It's not as though we're doing it on purpose.”

“That's true. Maybe it'll stop on its own. Eventually.”

They contemplated that for a moment.

Then, “Probably not,” they said in unison.

Laughing, they headed back downstairs again, hand in hand.

In the lobby below, Griffin stopped. He looked around the bustling hotel, soaking in the furnishings and the chandeliers.

“You know,” he mused, “I think I've found a home here.”

Olivia smiled mischievously. “Really? At The Lorndorff?”

“No.” At her overtly cheeky tone, Griffin smiled. He deserved that, he guessed, for joking about dust motes. Very discreetly, he touched her dress's lace-trimmed bodice, making his meaning more than plain. “Right here. In your heart.”

Olivia melted. “And here I had such a humdrum answer.”

“You had the perfect answer,” Griffin disagreed cheerfully. “Between the two of us, we have every territory covered. That right there, Miss Mouton, is the true meaning of partnership.”

“That's true.” With a newly assessing glance, Olivia looked him over. Lovingly. “You know,” she said, “I think we're going to have a very interesting and thrilling life together.”

“I know we are,” Griffin promised. “I guarantee it.”

Then he took Olivia's hand, and they both got started. On today, on tomorrow...and on every single fun-loving, philosophy-filled, sunshine-sparkled day that would come after that.

* * * * *

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ISBN-13: 9781460331637

NOTORIOUS IN THE WEST

Copyright © 2014 by Lisa G. Plumley

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com

CLAIMING WHAT'S FORBIDDEN

Fearsome warrior Aidan MacLerie may be brave and unquestionably loyal to his family and clan, but his heart remains restless. Until he meets stunning Catriona MacKenzie. She's a married woman, so he can never truly possess her, yet he seeks her surrender—one kiss at a time….

When the husband from her loveless marriage falls on the battlefield, Cat is left destitute, with her reputation in tatters. Aidan is the only man with the power to protect her now. All Cat has to do is yield to this powerful highlander.

“Richly emotional and splendidly sexy.” —
Booklist
on
Possessed by the Highlander

“But you have not told me what you
expect from me when you come here, if,
as you say, you will visit each night.”

“I expect nothing other than your good company,” he said. And that was true. In that moment, he did want only that.

A laugh escaped from her, a wonderful sound to his ears, and she gifted him with the smile he'd wanted to see. It was the first sign of joy in her face in weeks.

“And you expect me to believe that? After you have all but promised to seduce me into your bed?”

She did not appear to be opposed to it, so he would bide his time. “I would not mind that either,” he admitted.

* * *

Yield to the Highlander
Harlequin® Historical #1185—May 2014

Author Note

When I wrote
Taming the Highlander
in 2005, it was a stand-alone story, and I never planned to write any other stories connected to the MacLerie Clan. I had no idea that I would become so wrapped up in their family that, in the end, I would write TEN MacLerie romances, including two about their descendants in Regency times! So it is bittersweet to come to the last story and somehow fitting that it should be about the heir of Connor MacLerie.

Aidan MacLerie has lived a charmed and privileged life and now must make decisions that will shape his future and that of his clan. Falling in love with the wrong woman is not the best choice he's made in his life, but now he faces the consequences
and
his father's ire.

I hope you have enjoyed watching these wonderful Highlanders and the women they love as much as I have enjoyed writing their stories.

Sláinte!