Highland Lover. Hannah Howell

to go ahunting, he decided as his body tightened with a need that was nearly painful. He collected the hunting bow and arrows he had taken from the Gowans and left the cottage. Gregor did not particularly care if he actually caught anything, but he needed to get away from Alana and clear the fog of lust from his mind. It was time to make some hard decisions.

      Guilt wracked him as he fully accepted the fact that he could not marry Mavis despite the strong lure of her dowry. That had caused him to waver in his decision more than once, but no longer. Mavis was a good woman, and she deserved better than a husband who could never give her his whole heart. He was still not sure if Alana was his true mate, but he knew for certain that Mavis was not. The ferocity of the need he felt for Alana was proof of that. He had never felt anything like that for Mavis and doubted he ever would, no matter how many years he was married to her and how good a wife she was. As soon as he returned to Scarglas, he would send word to Mavis and her father that the betrothal would not go ahead. He would send Mavis a more personal missive explaining his reasons more gently and as honestly as he dared.

      That left him with the question of what to do about Alana. She was a free woman of two-and-twenty, a woman who had been ready to be courted for years now. Gregor did not feel confident of his courting skills, however. Even with Mavis, he had done little wooing except of her father, for he was the one who controlled the purse. Somehow Gregor did not think the few flirtatious games he had played with Mavis—and had played with other women—would impress Alana. He was going to have to come up with a whole new plan, and one that would help him decide if Alana was truly the mate he had been looking for but would not offer any false hopes of a future in case she proved to be the wrong one. And one very large part of that plan would be seduction, for he had no intention of getting all the way to Scarglas without at least once tasting Alana Murray. Preferably more than once.