Page 16 of When a Highlander Vows
“Och,” Caitlin said, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “All right. Well, that does make things a bit more interestin’, although unusual. I confess I never kenned me grandmaither, so this will be a nice change. Tricks or nay.”
As they reached the end of the garden, Lucas spotted the wall of the castle, torches hanging over deep alcoves. As a child, he’d often run to those alcoves to hide from his parents and their retributions and remonstrances. Sometimes, even now, he would go and sit inside them, wanting to feel away from the world, hidden, never to be found again. In those alcoves, he could breathe easier, like it was the one place in the whole world where he felt safe.
“Are those rooms?” Caitlin asked, pointing forward to the alcoves.
He looked at them, unfocusing his eyes to see them as she might see them. They were dark inside from their distance away, so they did look like rooms from where they stood.
“Nay, just alcoves in the wall. I am nae sure why they were built into it, but I often go there to sit. Be at peace.”
“Dae ye?” she asked, intrigued, hurrying their pace a bit until they reached one. “May I?” she asked, turning around.
Her one hand was placed delicately on the stone as she turned to look at him.
“Aye,” he said softly.
She stepped inside, the light from the torch falling into the space but only a little. He could see her as she ran her hands along the back of the space.
“Och, there is even a seat,” she said, laughing and sitting on it. “I had somethin’ like this in the village. A place to hide away. I understand ye completely.”
She sat for a few seconds and then as she stood, her boot got caught.
He said, “Och, too many vines here. This one is nae the one I go into most often, so the plants have come to grow wild here. Let me.”
He walked inside the space with her and knelt, pulling her boot delicately out of the entangled vines, and stood.
“Thank ye,” she said when their eyes met.
Something moved inside his chest, and logic told him to step back and away. To find a way out of that space and that accursed garden and to hide away in his study. To find his grandmother and scold her mercilessly for her foolish matchmaking efforts that only ended up embarrassing both him and their new guest.
The torchlight was now cast over her face, and the desire that had been clawing at him since they met now came to the surfacein all its force. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. And her beauty was not like beauty he’d seen before, meant to trap someone into it, like a dangerous lure.
It was pure, golden, lovely, and it made his heart feel light at the same time it claimed the attention of his body. This woman had lost the last member of her family and was now under his protection. It made him feel unworthy as he looked into her brown eyes. Like she might see into him and see the dark, dangerous blood that ran through his veins. And see the past that came to haunt him still.
“We should—” he said but stopped as his hand reached up to cup her cheek.
Underneath his rough scarred skin, hers was soft and smooth. A little gasp escaped her as she felt his touch, but she did not step away. Boldly, for an innocent, she kept his gaze and his thumb reached across to brush against her pink lower lip. This mouth could hypnotize him for a lifetime.
“I—” he said again, and then without thinking for another second, he lowered his mouth to hers.
9
Caitlin held her breath as the laird looked down at her with his frightening eyes. They were steely yet not without beauty. When he touched her skin, she breathed in, afraid of how his touch sent shocks through her whole body. How the feel of his thumb under her lip made her want everything she’d hidden away for so long.
She wanted to be like other people, finding the love of someone and feeling their affection. Their mouths meeting, their bodies coming together. She knew nothing of it, and yet watching the laird as he looked at her made her want all of it at once. It was like a cord was pulling her closer to him, and she sighed with what she thought was relief as she saw his mouth moving toward hers.
Finally, it will happen.
But in the distance, the click of a lock and the screech of a door echoed against the walls of the garden, and just as quickly as thelaird had grabbed hold of her as if he didn’t want to let go, his hands dropped from around her, and he stepped back.
“Lucas!” Lottie called, and he stepped back even further.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, Caitlin’s chest heaving for breath, her body trying to recover from her disappointment. But now he was looking at her as if confused, surprised, and angry.
“We need to go,” he said, and he took the back of her elbow and led her back out into the garden to the door.
“There ye are,” Lottie said, hands on her hips, beaming at them both. “Thought we’d lost ye both.”
“Did ye now? Nan, I will talk to ye later.” He dropped Caitlin’s arm, and without sparing her a glance, he walked away, his bootsteps sounding like hammers against the stone.
