Page 49 of Kilted Abduction
“Dinnae tell me tae walk,” she screamed at him. “I am tired of this. Why am I bein’ locked in yer room? Why are ye keepin’ me here? Why dinnae ye just let me go? I’m nae a bleedin’ spy and I’m nae tryin’ tae dae anythin’ tae yer clan. I’m just tryin’ tae stay ahead of me faither, like I keep tellin’ ye.”
Her voice echoed around the corridor and Magnus stared at her like she’d lost her mind, which only made those fires of fury in her breast burn even brighter. She reached back and slapped him hard across the face. It didn’t seem to faze him, but he did look surprised. A sneer on her lips and her frustration bubblingover, Ciara reached back again to deliver another slap, but as she swung at him, Magnus caught her wrist before it could connect.
“That’s enough of that,” he said.
Before he could say anything more though, Ciara wrenched her hand free and delivered another slap, the sharp crack of flesh meeting flesh echoing off the stone corridor around them. Magnus’ face darkened and a scowl split his lips as he stepped forward and pushed her against the wall behind her. His face loomed mere inches from hers and their eyes were locked. She struggled to break his hold but couldn’t break his grip on her shoulders.
“Let go of me,” she cried.
He didn’t though and his gaze burned into her with an intensity that stole her breath away. Ciara stopped struggling and looked into his eyes, her throat growing dry and her heart pounding in her ears. It was beating so hard in her breast, Ciara was sure Magnus could hear it. She wasn’t scared though. With his face mere inches from hers, Ciara felt something… different.
His breath was warm upon her cheeks and was tinged with the sweet, fruity aroma of the wine he’d had. For a moment, time seemed to stop, and the scope of the world narrowed to his face. His full lips were tantalizingly close to hers and part of her was terrified he was about to kiss her. More troublingly, part of her wanted him to. That realization confused her as much as it scared her. She wasn’t in love with Magnus, and she had alwayssaid she would never give away her first kiss to a man she didn’t love.
But something about the man stirred something deep and primal inside of her. Something she didn’t understand. Having him standing so close made her heart flutter and her stomach turn over on itself and she trembled with both fear and anticipation. Her breath was shallow, and her legs were shaking so hard, she thought they might give out beneath her. As she looked deep into Magnus’ icy blue eyes, she wanted, more than anything, for him to press his lips to hers.
As he drew closer, seeming to be pulled by some unseen force, Ciara tipped her face up and her lips parted. The anticipation was like fire coursing through her veins. She was frozen, waiting, wanting, desire burning in the pit of her stomach. But then he abruptly pulled away and took a step back, leaving her with a cold rush of disappointment sweeping through her body. That was followed by a feeling of foolishness that swept over her like a river. She’d thought he felt what she was feeling. Ciara could have sworn she’d seen it in his eyes. Had she been wrong?
“Come,” he said gruffly. “Let’s get ye back tae yer chamber.”
She didn’t know how she’d misread the situation so badly. She’d been sure he was going to kiss her. Too stunned and feeling too foolish to speak, Ciara simply turned and walked on in silence, biting the inside of her cheek to keep the tears welling in her eyes from falling.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Magnus tried to get settled on the pallet he’d had brought in and set up in the corner of his bedchamber. He was tired of trying to get comfortable in the chair and since it didn’t seem like Ciara was going anywhere any time soon, he refused to try sleeping in it anymore. He’d talked to Domhnall about moving Ciara to her own quarters, under guard of course, but his brother had refused, telling Magnus he didn’t trust anybody but him to watch her.
As he lay in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling, Magnus grumbled under his breath and shifted on the hay-stuffed mattress. He reflected on the past few days—ever since that moment they had shared in the corridor. His stomach had turned over on itself and his heart had beaten to a drunken rhythm in his chest. He couldn’t get those sparkling green eyes of hers out of his head, nor the way looking into them had made him feel. It was a feeling he’d been carrying around in the pit of his belly for days now and he didn’t know what to do with it.
Just like when they’d been in the river together on their trek to Dunvegan, that moment they’d shared in the corridor had been seared into his mind. They’d been close enough to touch, their lips just inches apart, and the air between them had crackled like the air right before a lightning strike. Just thinking about it now made the hair on his arms stand on end as gooseflesh rose all over his body. He’d wanted to kiss her—he still wanted to kiss her—and he’d gotten the feeling she’d wanted him to. But he hadn’t. Why? Why had he not acted?
He sighed and turned over on the pallet, his mind racing as fast as his heart. Magnus didn’t understand it, but Ciara stirred something deep inside of him. Things he couldn’t recall ever feeling before. Things he didn’t comprehend. Magnus’ entire life had been devoted to his family, to his clan. He was a loyal soldier and had never made room in his life for anything but duty. Nothing else had ever mattered to him.
But Ciara had him feeling things he’d never expected to feel. She had him twisted up in knots and the more he tried to understand it, the more the answers seemed to elude him. All he knew was that she was lodged firmly in his head. When he wasn’t with her, he was thinking about her, and when he was with her, he had a difficult time not giving in to the desires that raged through him. It was made all the worse by the fact that, not only had Domhnall ordered her to watch her every minute of every day, but they were also forced to share quarters. The forced proximity made things all the more confusing for him and he had no respite from her… or the things she made him feel.
“Would ye go tae sleep already?” she snapped, her voice slicing through the darkness. “All yer bleedin’ tossin’ and turnin’ and sighin’ is keepin’ me awake.”
“Ye can give up me bed and sleep on the pallet if it offends ye so much.”
“Nae likely,” she responded. “If ye’re forcin’ me tae stay in yer stinkin’ bedchamber, then I’m goin’ tae be comfortable. And before ye think it, ye’re nae sharin’ the bed with me.”
“I didnae ask.”
“Just in case ye were thinkin’ about askin’, the answer is nay.”
Despite his frustration, Magnus chuckled to himself. That was something else about Ciara—she knew how to make him laugh. He wasn’t a man who laughed often, but she somehow managed to bring it out of him, seemingly, without even trying. It was just another one of those things about her that compelled Magnus and drew him to her. Another one of those things he found so intriguing about her.
“May I ask ye a question?” she asked.
“Ye can ask, but I’ll nae be sharin’ the bed with ye,” he deadpanned.
“Ye’re nae funny.”
“I’m a little funny.”
Even in the darkness, he could see her rolling her eyes as she blew out a frustrated breath. Magnus chuckled to himself.
“Ask yer question,” he said.
“How long am I goin’ tae have tae stay here?”
