Page 27 of When a Highlander Vows
“Thank ye.” He sat down again, and Archie walked to the door. “Och, will ye send in a servant? I wish to eat here this evenin’. Keep me Nan from makin’ trouble. She’s embarrassed Caitlin and I enough as it is.”
Archie opened the door and then turned around to look at Lucas again. “Aye, it must have been very embarrassin’ to be locked together for so long in the healin’ garden last night. And there were also nay desperate knocks on the door for yer Nan to let ye out as one might have expected for two trapped andembarrassedpeople. So she tells me.” Archie winked as Lucas’ eyes filled with rage, but he shut the door before Lucas could say anything.
“Damn it all to Hell,” Lucas grumbled, leaning back in his chair as he held the cup of whisky tight in his hand.
After a few minutes, a soft knock sounded at the door.
“Come in.” He looked up, hoping to see just the servant, but instead both the servant and Paige entered together.
“Paige,” he said with a frown.
“Laird Lucas,” she smiled prettily as she spoke, drawing his eyes to her mouth.
The bonnie healer had a way of drawing all men’s gazes, especially to her lush pink lips. But those beauties did little to tempt him and had never really done so. Especially not since he’d already tasted the ones he truly wanted to taste.
“I will take dinner here this eve,” he said to the servant. “Please inform me grandmaither. Bring it as soon as it is ready.”
The young male servant bowed and left the room, and he wished that Paige would also. But instead, she lingered, shutting the door behind her.
“Is there somethin’ ye need, Lass?” he asked, pulling a map toward him to plan the journey for the morrow.
He considered making it more than a few days, not looking forward to seeing Caitlin again after what happened.
“Aye. I was wonderin’ if ye needed a healer to come and join ye on yer trip tomorrow. I saw Archie, and he mentioned ye would be goin’.” She clasped her hands in front of her and looked eager.
It was a dangerous thing to have so young and pretty a healer in a castle full of lusty men. Not that they would take advantage, but that they’d be so distracted they could hardly do their work.She generally seemed to purr under the male attention, but he noticed, it was especially so when he spoke to her. It was the reason he so often avoided her.
“Nay, I daenae think so. It is better for the healer to remain here for those in the Castle and the nearby villages. I wouldnae wish to leave me Nan unattended, especially when her joints are givin’ her such troubles of late.”
Paige’s pretty face looked crestfallen. “Och, aye, of course. Ye are right. Well, I have prepared some medicinal materials for yer men if ye should so need them. I have given them to Archie.”
“Good, thank ye. That is kind. Although we will only be gone for a few days.”
Paige nodded and turned to leave. He stopped her at the door, calling her name.
“Aye?” she asked, turning around, her almond eyes sparkling with hope.
“Would ye pay special mind to the new lass? She may need the comfort of a friend since this is a strange place to her. I am too busy to play the sole host, so I will need the help of others in the Castle.”
Paige’s expression looked less than pleased. Instead of looking so eager, she gave him a curt nod.
“Aye, I will dae as ye say.”
“Thank ye. A good eve to ye.”
“And to ye.” She left the room, shutting the door behind her, just a little bit louder than he thought warranted, and he sat back in his seat, awaiting both dinner and the inevitable arrival of his complaining grandmother.
14
After she heard Lucas’ words to Archie in the hallway, Caitlin hadn’t moved. She remained pressed against the stone wall outside of the library. She’d come out just after they’d walked past, and she’d heard Lucas.
“Forced to ferry the new lass about.”
The comment stung more than it should have. It was not only insulting to her, the ‘new’ used to describe her quite accurately. She was new there. But the fact that he spoke of it like an onerous duty made her all the angrier. She didn’twanthim to do it. It was not her fault that he was taking her about.
It is his fault I am even here!
She stayed against the wall for a few minutes after the men went inside his study and shut the door. Closing her eyes, she wished herself away to anywhere else but there. To be forced into astrange home was one thing, but to also feel as though she was a burden on those she was forced to be with was another.
