Page 21 of Highlander's Captive Bride
“Take her back indoors, to her chambers, will ye?” the Laird ordered in a hiss.
“But, Da, I dinnae want to go back inside. Please, let me stay,” Elodie begged, tears rolling down her face.
“Take her. And ye go with her, Poppy. I dinnae want to see a repeat of this nonsense,” the Laird barked, ignoring her plea, much to Daisy’s fury.
Daisy clenched her fists as Jamie gently scooped up the crying child, preparing to follow him and Poppy inside.
But as they hurried off, with Elodie’s cries still echoing in her ears, a hand grabbed her arm tightly.
“Nay, ye’re coming with me,” the Laird ground out, practically dragging her after their disappearing figures.
“Let go of me! Ye’re hurting me arm,” Daisy demanded as he pulled her up the stairs and down the hallway to her room, her feet hardly touching the ground.
But he simply ignored her protests. She glimpsed Poppy vanishing into Elodie’s chambers just before he shoved her inside her room and slammed the door behind him.
* * *
“What foolish game are ye playing, woman? Are ye out to kill me child? Is that it?” Bellamy yelled in Daisy’s face, his own red with anger.
“Ye stupid fool!” Daisy yelled back, her hands on her hips, more than ready for a fight. “She’s been shut in her chambers for days. I took her outside because I thought the sunshine and fresh air might do her some good, and they were until ye came along with yer big clodhopping boots, shouting the odds to all and sundry and scaring the child half to death. Could ye nae see she was enjoying herself?”
“How can sun and air cure her, eh? In her condition, she needs to be inside, where ’tis warm and she can be tended to,” Bellamy growled, his fists clenching and unclenching as he advanced on her.
“Dinnae try to intimidate me,” she snapped, not budging an inch. “If ye’re such a great healer and ken so much about what’s good and what isnae, then why d’ye nae cure her yerself, eh? Ye dinnae need me, it seems, ye great know-it-all.”
She took in a deep breath, then continued to yell in his face, toe to toe with him now. “Ye’re so big and proud of yerself that ye dinnae even care that ye spoiled it for her. Ye dinnae even care that ye made her cry. Yet, ye say ye love the child, that she means more to ye than anything. Well,” she scoffed, “ye have a funny way of showing it!”
“What are ye trying to say, woman?” Bellamy gritted out. “Are ye trying to say I’m nae a good faither to her?”
“Aye, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Ye hardly ever bother to come and see her, even though ye must ken it breaks her heart that ye shut her out. Oh, I’ve seen the way ye act. Ye can handle it for a few minutes, but then ye’re gone like a rat down a drain, LairdI’m so busy I cannae even make time for me daughter!
“If ye bothered to spend time with the poor, wee lassie, ye’d ken how it pains her that ye’re so distant. She thinks ’tis her fault, but if ye treated her like a real faither should, then ye’d ken that and do something to change it.”
* * *
Bellamy opened his mouth to shout back at her, but she did not give him the chance, continuing to enumerate his faults as a father, stunning him with her apparently endless invective.
He stared, openmouthed, at her, for he had never in his whole life been confronted by a woman in such a manner. Women obeyed him, batted their eyelashes at him, begged for the chance to warm his bed, and then pleaded to stay when he sent them away.
But here was this little madam, this little spitfire, who barely came up to his chest, laying down the law to him. It was shocking!
“Of course, she wanted to go outside. And if ye spent any time with her, then ye’d ken that,” she was yelling at him, her eyes glinting with unabated fury, her little hands clenching into fists as if she was going to strike him next.
He was at a loss as to how to defend himself as her accusations rained down on him like physical blows. They stung because he knew there was truth to them. He had to shut her up.
“Stop yer yelling, or I’ll—” he threatened, breathing heavily as they stood nose to nose.
But she cut him off, again. “Or ye’ll what?” she challenged.
“I’ll do this,” he muttered, suddenly grabbing her by the waist, pulling her into him, and covering her mouth with his own.
* * *
Daisy was cut off midsentence when he suddenly grabbed her and kissed her, stopping her rant immediately before she realized what was happening. Then, she felt his arms holding her tightly against his broad chest, pinning her against him, his mouth hot and wet on hers as he forced her lips apart and forcefully plundered her mouth.
She breathed in his scent as his tongue invaded her mouth, and the flame she had felt before flared up inside her, a flame she could not seem to resist. With a low moan deep in her throat, she parted her lips, her tongue meeting his in a tantalizing dance. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss, wanting more of him despite everything.
They finally broke apart, panting, backing away from each other in stunned silence. For several moments, they simply stared at each other, and she could see that he was as shocked as her by what had happened.
