Page 29 of A Forbidden Night with a Scot
Dragging his attention away from Alicia, Samuel turned to look at the new arrival. Nerian seemed to dwarf the chair where he sat, his bulk taking up every inch of space, and his blue eyes shone with mirth as he turned to look at Samuel—a mirth Samuel himself couldn’t share.
“There ye are!” Nerian said, greeting him with a pat on the shoulder. Samuel couldn’t recall a time when they were formal with each other, at least outside of situations that demanded it. Ever since the MacDougall Clan had taken Nerian in as a young child, he had been like a little brother to Samuel. “Ye look terrible.”
“Thank ye, Nerian,” Samuel said with a fake, tight smile. “Yer comments are entirely unnecessary.”
Grabbing an apple from the spread, Samuel bit into the fruit. Nerian momentarily turned back to his plate but the relentless scrutiny of his stare didn’t cease as he once again looked at Samuel.
“What?” Samuel growled.
“Ye truly look terrible,” Nerian said. “The air here doesnae agree with ye.”
“There’s naething wrong with our air,” said Gavin.
“I’m only concerned about the clan,” said Samuel, which wasn’t entirely untrue. Even though he had left it in capable hands, those of his council, he always worried when he was away and Nerian’s sudden arrival did nothing to dispel those fears. “Why are ye here?”
“Well…” said Nerian and Samuel immediately knew the news couldn’t possibly be good. “Colm MacLaine’s men have been seen near our lands.”
“Colm MacLaine’s?” Samuel asked with a frown. There had been some tension lately between their clans, but if Laird MacLaine was sending spies and soldiers to his lands, then the situation had quickly escalated. And there Samuel was, lingering in Castle MacCallum and agonizing over every single mistake he had made with Alicia. “This has been confirmed?”
“Och aye,” said Nerian. “We havenae captured any o’ them but they’ve been identified. I’ve sent men tae the borders tae guard the areas an’ report any suspicious behavior.”
“Dae ye think there is a chance o’ attack?” Gavin asked.
“Perhaps,” said Nerian. “There is nae way tae tell yet.”
“I’ll return with ye on the morrow,” said Samuel. What other choice did he have? He didn’t want to leave his clan without its laird if MacLaine’s men were near, even if there were no plans of attack.
It would be better for Alicia, too, for him to be away. He wouldn’t be intruding in her own home anymore and she wouldn’t have to go to all the trouble of avoiding him.
When Alicia heard that Samuel would be leaving on the following day, she gasped, lips parting to protest, but before she could, a kick landed on her shin under the table. She bit her lips hard, trying to stifle the groan of pain as she glared at Katherine across the table, knowing her to be the culprit.
Though she didn’t want to admit it, Katherine was right kicking her. She shouldn’t say anything on the matter. She shouldn’t complain about Samuel’s departure.
Alicia drummed her fingers on the edge of the table, glancing between her father, her sister, Nerian, and Samuel—her father next to her at the head of the table and the rest across from her, with Samuel at the very end, as if the mere thought of sitting next to her was too terrible to bear.Revolting, he had said. The word still rang out in Alicia’s mind, no matter how much she tried to quiet it.
She shouldn’t say anything. She should keep her mouth shut.
She couldn’t. Parting her lips to protest again, Alicia was silenced once more though this time, it wasn’t a kick that stopped her.
A wail of pain left her father’s lips and he reached down, rubbing his leg under the table. Across from Alicia, Katherine had turned a bright shade of red, her face an expressionless, frozen mask as she realized she had kicked the wrong target.
“Gavin?” Samuel asked, tone tinted with concern.
“Alright,” her father said, sitting up straight and looking between Alicia and Katherine. “Are ye takin’ amusement in kickin’ yer faither?”
“I didnae mean tae!” Katherine said, immediately confessing, as she always did. “I was aimin’ fer Alicia!”
“How is that better?” their father asked, exasperated by their antics. Alicia could hardly blame the man. More often than not, she was up to no good and often dragged Katherine along with her.
From the corner of her eye, Alicia caught Nerian and Samuel trying to stifle their laughter, and soon, she had to do the same. It was the first time in a long while since she had laughed in Samuel’s presence, the first time the tension between them had evaporated enough to allow them to laugh together.
It was nice, at least partly. Another part of her ached at the thought that this moment wouldn’t last, that the levity of it would soon disappear, replaced by that same tension that had existed between them for over a week.
But what did it matter? Samuel would be gone soon and Alicia would be left to ponder that night in the library as she waited for the axe to fall—for her wedding to take place.
Eventually, it will all be naething but a memory.
Nausea gripped Alicia then at the thought of the two of them becoming strangers. What if they never saw each other again? What if Alicia was sent off to Laird MacTavish and Samuel remained steadfast in his decision to avoid her, so that he didn’t even attend the wedding?
