Braden's eyes darkened speculatively, and worse, he smiled. "And what be your name?"

"Tara," she said, purring her name.

Maggie had the sudden urge to wrench every strand of blond hair from the young woman's head.

"I'm making a special hotchpotch tonight," Tara continued, "just foryou ." She reached out to touch Braden's chest.

Braden cast a quick glance at Maggie, who glared at him with the full weight of her displeasure.

The smile faded from his lips, and then he removed Tara's hand from his chest. "I'm sure we'll enjoy it."

Still, Maggie's heart ached as she wondered if he'd have bothered removing Tara's hand if she weren't standing right there watching them.

Tara pulled her hand back to rub it slowly along her collarbone as she trailed her gaze over Braden's body, pausing it briefly at the area where his thighs met.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it," she said, her voice conveying a thick double entendre.

Maggie turned her back on the two of them, unable to stand anymore.

Let him have the harlot. Maggie had more important things to do, like gather up this stupid firewood so that she and Sin could have a roof over their heads while Braden gallivanted with that strumpet.

Maggie dumped the kindling, loudly, then turned to gather more.

She caught Braden's gaze. Tension sizzled between them as they stared at one another for a long minute, motionless.

"Here, now!" Seamus shouted as he came around the side of the house and broke their unspoken exchange. "What are you girls doing out here? I told you you were to stay inside while the lads be working."

"But Da," Tara said, stepping away from Braden, "we just thought-"

"I know what you be thinking, and you'd best be getting back inside. You might be grown, but you're still me daughters and I've a good strap for your backsides if you don't listen to me."

Tara poked her bottom lip out, then reluctantly did as her father ordered.

Seamus cast a malevolent glare at them until he saw the woodpile. "That should carry me through the winter!" he said gleefully. "Now, if you'll see about that fence, I'll see about your food."

Braden didn't move until Seamus left them.

At least he had the good grace to look ashamed as he approached her. "Maggie-"

"Don't," she said, cutting him off. He didn't have to explain it to her. She knew.

Bock, bock. She heard the cruel, taunting laughs of the boys from her clan as they mocked her. Women who looked like her didn't turn the heads of men who looked like Braden.

At least, nowhere other than in her dreams.

"There's work to do," she said, stepping around him.

He sighed, then led the way to the broken fence.

Sin frowned at her as she walked past him.

"What?" she asked.

Sin started to speak, then locked his jaw and followed Braden.

Maggie felt like throwing her hands up in defeat. Sin's look had been accusatory. Though why he would accuse her of anything, she couldn't imagine. She hadn't done anything wrong.

Braden was the one who needed to be chastised. His behavior was deplorable.

Oh, bother anyway. They would soon reach the MacDouglas and then she wouldn't have to worry over it anymore. Then she could go back home, and Braden would be free to make l.u.s.tful eyes at all the pretty la.s.ses who caught his fancy.

Besides, she didn't need a man. She'd never in her life needed one. All they did was gulp down food without so much as a thank you, belch and sniff.

Why, she'd be better off with a pet pig.

And yet, deep in her heart, she didn't believe her words. For it was there she knew the truth. And not even the harshness of her thoughts could protect her from caring. Because she did care. She wanted Braden for herself and the thought that he could just dismiss her and claim another woman cut her to her soul.

Saddened, Maggie joined the men at the fence and they worked in silence.

Once the fence had been mended, Seamus brought their food.

They barely made it into the stable with their platters before the storm broke. Sin shut the door as thunder clapped and hard raindrops pattered against the wood.

Maggie paused and looked around the dim interior as Braden lit two lanterns.

Inside, the stable's worn wood was faded to a light tan, but the structure appeared sound. Two cows mooed from their stalls to her right, and an old nag chomped at its hay on her left. There were four nicer horses huddled in a large stall to the back of the stable.

Braden led them to the center of the building, where bales of hay could provide makeshift tables and chairs. He sat on the one closest to the door while Sin sat to his left. Maggie took the smallest bale, farthest from the door, and set her platter on it.

As they ate quietly, the rain pelted the roof and more thunder rumbled.

" 'Tis a good thing we stopped here," Sin said after a few minutes.

"Aye," Braden agreed. "It would have been a miserable night otherwise."

To Maggie, it already was.

When they finished eating, Braden gathered up their platters and cups. "I'll return these to Seamus."

Maggie narrowed her eyes on him and the lie he was spilling. Did he honestly think she was too stupid to know what he had planned?

"What?" Braden asked innocently as he caught her glare.

Averting her gaze, she said nothing as he shook his head at her and walked off. If he was that dense, then she truly had nothing to say to him.

Still, she fumed. Did he honestly think she didn't know what he was going to do? He wouldn't give those dishes to Seamus; it was Tara he was aiming for.

d.a.m.n him!

"Why don't you hit him and get it over with?" Sin asked as soon as they were alone.

Maggie looked up to see him reclining on his own pile of hay. "I beg your pardon?"

Sin tugged his boots off and stretched his legs out. "If looks could kill, Braden would be smeared all over yon wall."

"That's right," she said churlishly, "side with your brother. After all, 'tis the right of your gender to strut around after anything in a skirt."

In a royal tiff, Maggie ignored Sin as she pulled her sleeping plaid from her pack. She struggled to make a pallet and as she worked, her pain over Braden built until tears gathered in her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

Angrily, she wiped them away.

"Maggie," Sin said with a tenderness in his voice that she wouldn't have thought him capable of. "Why don't you tell Braden how you feel?"

"Why?" she asked, her voice breaking on a sob. "So he can laugh? Or worse, I could have him for a night or two, but then so couldany woman. Don't you understand?"

Tossing his boots aside, Sin laughed bitterly. "You ask a man who has never known love or kindness whether or not he understands your need to feel special? Of course I do. But while you condemn Braden for what he might do, let me ask you this. Have you ever really known him?"

Maggie sniffed and looked at him as if he were daft. "Of course. I've known him all my life."

Sin snorted. "No, you haven't. You may have seen him all your life, but you've never known thereal him. If you had, you would know just how foolish your fears are."

"What do you mean?"

Sin's gaze intensified. "If you truly knew Braden, then you would know Braden would sooner gut himself than hurt someone he loves."

"What has that to do-"

"Think about it, Maggie."

She did, but at the moment, she felt completely stupid, for she had no idea what he was talking about.

"As the youngest of five headstrong boys," Sin continued, "Braden learned to negotiate peace between us. If you hit one of us, we'll hit back instantly, without thought. If you raise a fist or sword to Braden, what does he do?"

Maggie didn't hesitate with her answer. "He tries to talk you out of using it."

"Aye, but is he a coward?"

"Nay," she snapped defensively. "I've never known him to shirk from a fight."

"That's right. And do you know why he's like that?"

She shook her head.

"Unlike me, Braden doesn't like to hurt anyone."

Sin had yet to tell her anything she didn't already know, and none of that bore any importance on why she was angry at Braden. "What has this to do with his womanizing?"

Sin breathed as if exasperated with her. Although why he should be, she couldn't imagine. After all, he was the one being cryptic. She was merely trying to follow his logic.

"Tell me," he said, "how many women do you think he's been with?"

"By all accounts I've heard, nearly every woman in Kilgarigon, London, and pretty much any other place he's ever visited."

"By whose accounts?"

"The women who brag about him."

"Have you never thought about how odd it is that he has been with all these women yet there are no b.a.s.t.a.r.ds of his roaming about?"

Maggie froze while smoothing her plaid over the straw. She'd never considered that. "But he has never denied it."

"Of course he hasn't. He's a man."

She ran through her mind all the years she'd known him. The time she'd saved him from being mobbed by the girls of the village. Even today, the way Tara had gone after him.

Come to think of it, she seldom knew him to actively pursue a woman. Most of the time, he was running from them.

"Are you telling me he's had no women?" she asked suspiciously.

Sin laughed. "Nay. I'm sure he's had plenty, but I think some accounts are seriously exaggerated.

Personally, I've only known him to take three women successfully."

"Successfully?"

"Aye, due to his reputation, I've noticed that most brothers and fathers tend to keep a close eye on him and whatever woman he's around. Most of his encounters were cut short before he could, shall we say, finish the transaction."

Now that she thought about it, she knew a number of such events herself. Indeed, some of the juicier interruptions had kept the village gossipmongers happy for weeks on end.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

Sin averted his gaze as he unstrapped his sword from his hips and laid it down by his side. "Because Braden likes you. More than I've ever seen him like anyone else, and I can't stand to see him so misjudged. I think you owe it to both of you to give him a chance."

He met her gaze. "You know, Maggie, Braden can't help the way he looks, nor can he help the women who run after him. But he would sooner cut his arm off than hurt someone he loves."

At last she understood what he'd meant earlier. "You're saying he would never stray?"

"Not if he loved you. Believe me, I know my brother well enough to say, without doubt, that he would never leave a woman he truly loved for another."

"But he doesn't loveme ," she said, her voice breaking.

"Are you sure of that?"

Maggie's breath caught in her throat. Was he implying...

Surely not. Why on earth would Braden have any tender feelings for her?

"Are you saying he loves me?" she asked doubtfully.