I never meant to bid on a bride.
Not in the howling Highland rain, with rival clans circling like wolves and my keep crumbling under endless gales. Peace demanded a sacrifice. So I claimed her - sharp-tongued beauty trembling on that chilled block, silk clinging like a second skin, her eyes flashing defiance even as the hammer fell.
She was livestock bartered for alliance. A treaty seal. Nothing more.
Until her body arched under mine that first storm-tossed night, yielding not to chains but wildfire need.
Her whispers undo me.
Husky confessions in the candlelit gloom, secrets smeared across maps where my warriors plot raids - her sweat mingling with ink, her nails raking my back like accusations. I built walls of duty thicker than these mist-veiled stones, armored against raids and ruin. But this woman, this reluctant pawn, cracks them with every stolen touch. She craves full possession, not polite obedience. And hell, so do I.
My gravel voice growls orders by day. By night, it begs.
Silk tears in frantic hands. Blame-fueled release on storm-ravaged furs. She's freedom incarnate, haunting my every breath with shameful hunger.
One rift, one raid, and it all shatters - her liberty, my clan's fragile truce, the fortress I call a heart.
I've armored salvation for my people. Now she tempts me toward devouring blaze. Bartered flesh was the pact. But true surrender? That's the paradox throbbing between us.
Can I possess the bride I bought without her defiant fire consuming us both?
A full-length auction Highlander arranged marriage erotic romance featuring a brooding laird and his defiant auctioned bride.
