Page 23 of Scot of Deception
“I never had the time tae consider creatin’ a family, I already told ye. I travel too much,” Blaine said. Kathleen didn’t know if she should believe this, though. It seemed like such a simple, generic answer that it could have easily been a lie, but she didn’t know enough about Blaine to truly know if it was. Before she could ask him to clarify, he asked, “Are ye eager tae find yer match?”
A surprised chuckle tore itself from Kathleen’s throat against her will. “Nay,” she said. “If I can have it me way, it’ll be a long, long time afore I wed.”
“Is that so?” Blaine asked.
“I’d dae anythin’ tae avoid a marriage like Fenella’s.”
All this time, ever since she had received the invitation, Kathleen had been thinking about her own wedding and the possibility that it could happen soon—too soon for her liking. Like every other woman of her station, she would eventually have to wed for wealth and power, but she was desperate to avoid it for as long as she could. She was happy with her life; she didn’t want to be bound to a husband, her only function to bear heirs.
Blaine said nothing in response but Kathleen was used to that by then. She didn’t expect one, and so she turned around so that she was facing the flames, watching them dance in the fireplace.
Before long, Blaine joined her on the floor. He lay close to her, trying to get some of the warmth from the fire. Even though Kathleen could feel his presence, no part of him touched her. It was a strange sensation; it was almost as though she could feel him on her skin, the air between them charged with tension.
In the silence that followed, she managed to fall asleep as the howling of the wind died down. It wasn’t until later that night, when she woke next to a dying fire, that she found she wasn’t cold at all because Blaine had draped a cloak over herat some point in the night—his cloak, she realized. When she glanced at him, he had nothing but a thin, spare shirt thrown over him to keep warm, and Kathleen had half a mind to give the cloak back.
But something stopped her. The room was too quiet; the two of them were too close. The moment was so intimate that she feared the slightest disturbance would bring reality crashing down around them. And so, with one final look at Blaine, she turned back around and willed herself to sleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Blaine had rushed out of that hunting lodge like a man pursued. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so ill at ease, so overstrung—and he had spent all his life as a sword for hire, putting himself in danger day after day.
It wasn’t the thought of danger that disturbed him. That was always at the back of his mind, a needling worry which lingered long after the signs of it had passed. It was the only way to stay alive and he had long since gotten used to it. What disturbed him, rather, was the thought that he was no longer the master of his own emotions.
Never before had he been confronted with feelings he could neither ignore nor suppress. There was a routine to his life, a strict, disciplined approach to everything and everyone around him. He was not the kind of man to be infatuatedwith a woman, no matter how beautiful or interesting. And though Kathleen was both, she should not have been the exception.
An’ yet…
The heat beat down relentlessly on the two of them as they continued down the road to Castle Stalker. It was a warm day; too warm for the time of the year, uncharacteristic for those parts of the country. The sky was unmarred by clouds, a sprawling blue that reached as far as the eye could see. The sun shone brightly, bathing everything around them in a warm light—the rustling leaves, the swaying grass, the lake in the distance, whose waters seemed to glitter.
It was a beautiful sight, one Blaine couldn’t appreciate one bit. If anything, seeing all this beauty around him only served to increase his irritation until it threatened to bubble over. It was as though nature itself was mocking him.
He was painfully hard. All this beauty around him, this gorgeous day, the idyllic picture painted by the golden light and the twittering birds, and all he could think about was how he had to keep his hips as far from Kathleen’s own as possible so that she would remain ignorant to his plight.
Every step his horse took was torture. Every squirm of Kathleen’s body brought him one step closer to the edges ofinsanity, forcing him to take deep breath after deep breath in an attempt to remain calm and collected. Sweat gathered on his brow and along the expanse of his back, making his shirt stick to his skin uncomfortably, and though Kathleen had made no comment on his pressing issue, he couldn’t say for certain that she hadn’t noticed. She was oddly quiet that morning, refraining from asking a torrent of questions, much to Blaine’s surprise.
Has she noticed? Is she so uncomfortable that she cannae even speak tae me?
That, at least would not be surprising. For a maiden like Kathleen, it would not only be awkward, but scandalous.
Blaine should have worked harder on securing them another horse. Surely, for the right price someone in that village would have been willing to part with theirs, but it was too late now. The village was far behind them and he didn’t know when they would find the next one. Once they did, though, he would spare no expense if it meant escaping this torment.
“We should rest,” Blaine blurted out, incapable of pretending everything was fine. He needed a moment to himself; he needed to collect his wits about him and then, once he had reined in his feelings, he’d be ready to continue on their journey. Thankfully, the heat provided a good enough excuse for him to pull the horse to the nearest water—a small stream which fed the distant lake, gurgling happily somewhere nearby.
He found the stream nestled among the trees, not too far from the main path. Once there, he was quick to jump off the saddle and walk off, wandering down the length of it and leaving Kathleen behind.
Naethin’ will happen tae her. I’m right here.
He didn’t have to watch her every move. And yet, when he heard her dismount the horse, he couldn’t help but turn around and observe her—partly because he was truly worried and partly because he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off her.
Kathleen patted the horse’s flank before she made her way to the stream. There, she knelt on a small patch of grass that grew near the waters, making sure to keep her dress from getting soiled by the mud, and carefully dipped her hands in the water, bringing a handful to her face. Blaine craved to do the same, to feel the cool water on his heated skin, but he felt as though he was frozen by that large oak at his side, as still as the tree itself, mesmerized by the sight of those glimmering drops of water dripping down Kathleen’s cheeks.
And then she turned and looked at him, catching him watching. Tilting her head to the side, she frowned and pushed herself up to her feet, and Blaine prepared himself for the storm of questions that was sure to follow.
Only Kathleen never managed to speak a word. As she took a step towards him, she slipped on the mud that had gathered at the edges of the creek and landed on her rear right in the water.
For a moment, Blaine’s heart jumped to his throat and he had the ridiculous fear that she would drown as she sputtered and flapped her arms uselessly. But even as she sat on the bottom of the creek, the waters barely reached her chest and her head was well out of its depths, and so his fear dissipated as fast as it had appeared.
In its place, laughter bubbled out of him. He couldn’t help it. After all those hours of unbearable tension, when he had done his best to keep all his thoughts and all his feelings to himself, all this weight had finally sloughed off his shoulders. Seeing Kathleen sitting there, drenched and miserable in the freezing waters, was enough to make him forget, even momentarily, about all the things that had already gone wrong in this mission.
