Page 49 of Scot of Deception
And Kathleen could only glance at the bed, at the shadow that shifted right below it.
Blaine could not believe his bad luck.
Out of all the times Kathleen’s parents could have come to her chambers, now was the worst. There was no way out forhim; there was no door, no secret passage that he could use to get out of there undetected, and his only hope was that neither her mother nor her father would notice he was hidden under the bed.
Thankfully, the covers made for a good camouflage. Still, the bed stood tall, the gap between the mattress and the floor more than big enough to accommodate him and leave plenty of room over his back, and his heart thundered in his chest as he began to think about all the ways he could be discovered.
Just one careful look was all it would take for his location to be revealed.
He didn’t know which of the Mackintoshes he feared the most—Bran could and would have his head if he discovered him there, lurking under his daughter’s bed. But Blaine had the sneaking suspicion Bran's wife, Ilyssa, would not be satisfied with a simple beheading.
When Ilyssa had gone to sit on the bed, Blaine had shifted uncomfortably, restless underneath the mattress, terrified he would be spotted.
At least Kathleen’s holdin’ it together.
Though she had panicked at first, just like he had, she had managed to calm herself enough to deal with her parents. Ifeither of them suspected anything, they didn’t show it; they only spoke about Kathleen’s disappearance from Moy Hall and the danger in which she had put herself.
By the time the two of them left, Blaine was drenched in cold sweat, his shirt sticking to his back. He didn’t dare crawl out from his hiding spot—not until Kathleen marched over to the bed and threw the covers back, exposing him.
“They’re gone,” she assured him. “Ye can come out.”
Only then did Blaine move, shuffling along the floor to get out of the confines of the small space. Unable to stop himself and his urges, he grabbed Kathleen and pulled her close, pressing a desperate, heated kiss to her lips.
Fear still coursed through him like poison. The tentative peace they had created for themselves in Castle Stalker had now shattered, reality crashing over them both once more. How could he have ever thought everything would work itself out? Bran’s and Ilyssa’s presence only confirmed what he had always known. He and Kathleen could never be together.
“I must go,” he told her, his thumb brushing gently over her cheek. He didn’t want to mention this thing between them or how it would all be over soon, but he didn’t think he needed to, either. Kathleen seemed shaken, her fair complexion now even paler, a flash of grief in her eyes as she looked at him. “They… they might come back.”
“Aye,” was all Kathleen said, nodding slowly. She took Blaine to the door, peeking her head through a small gap to make sure no one was there before she sent him on his way, and he quickly slipped into the chambers next door.
The sound of her door closing was like the sound of the final nail in a coffin.
A knock on his door startled Blaine. He sat in the dark in his room, with nothing but a couple of candles and a small fire in the fireplace to shed light around him, sharpening and oiling his blades as he always did when he needed to think. A single shadow passed by under the gap in his door, and though Blaine had half a mind to ignore the whole thing and sink deeper into the abyss of his fears, he stood with a sigh and opened it.
Bran stood there, pacing back and forth. When he saw Blaine in the dark, he stopped, frowning in a way that reminded Blaine of Kathleen.
“Did I wake ye?” Bran asked.
“Nay, m’laird,” said Blaine, bowing to the man before he let him inside. “I… uh… enjoy sittin’ in the dark.”
Bran looked at him in confusion, but thankfully made no comment, much to Blaine’s relief. “I see,” he said. “Well, I came tae thank ye fer yer good work. Rest assured ye will be rewarded handsomely fer it.”
Blaine couldn’t imagine what monetary reward could make up for falling for Kathleen and then losing her. Nothing in the world was worth it—not gold, not fame, not even a title. He would have been perfectly content to spend a quiet life with her somewhere in the Highlands, in a small cottage, where no one would ever bother them.
Yet, she was not meant for such a life. She was meant to be behind castle walls, lounging in drawing rooms and feasting with other nobles. A life of hardship would destroy her.
“Thank ye,” Blaine told Bran. “But I was only doin’ me job.”
“Was she difficult?’ Bran asked, already fishing in his pocket for gold. “I always feared travelin’ with her. She insists on ridin’ a horse instead o’ a carriage an’ any time somethin’ catches her eye, she must personally examine it.”
Blaine couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he remembered the incident from earlier that day. It had all started because Kathleen had wanted to look at the bunny, and it had ended with them getting covered in mud from head to toe. Unlike her father, Blaine found the whole thing rather endearing, butthat was only because he didn’t have to deal with it on a regular basis, he reasoned.
Just as Bran handed him a pouch of gold, the coins jingling in the small bag, there was another knock on the door. It opened before Blaine could even call out to his new visitor to reveal Kathleen, and his heart leapt to his throat as he quickly shoved the pouch in his pocket.
Did she notice? Did she hear the coins?
“Faither?” Kathleen asked with a confused frown. Seeing her father there seemed to have gotten all of her attention, thankfully. “What are ye daein’ here?”
“What are ye daein’ here?” Bran asked her instead of answering. “An’ enterin’ Mr. Farquharson’s chambers without his permission!”
