Page 30 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
I willnae resent me sister for lovin’ the man I forced her to wed.
“So if ye dinnae see her, how is yer chest? Is it better than before?” Amelia asked.
“Aye, much better,” Noah stated.
“He’s lyin’,” Jack interjected, and Noah had never been so tempted to strike a family member in all his life.
“Ye stay out of this,” he snarled at Jack.
“Noah!”
Noah stepped back slightly at the anger in his sister’s voice. It was highly inconvenient that Amelia had found a love match in an arranged marriage. Noah was not used to her being on anyone else’s side apart from his.
“Well, if it is nae better, then what do ye propose to do?” Amelia asked, approaching him and taking his hand gently. “I worry for ye, brother; I dinnae wish for ye to be unwell.”
Noah was about to protest that he was nothing of the sort when the door suddenly burst open to reveal a harried-looking Keira. She stopped mid-stride coming up short, looking at Jack and Amelia with confusion and surprise on her face.
“Och, I am sorry,” she said hurriedly. “I dinnae think ye were with anyone.”
Amelia stared at Keira with eyes so wide they almost fell out of her head. Noah knew there was no way around things; he would have to introduce them and hope his sister’s inquisitive nature could be contained.
“Amelia, Jack, this is me new healer, Keira Young,” Noah said, his eyes narrowing at Amelia and daring her to say more. “Keira this is Laird and Lady Dougal. Lady Dougal is me younger sister.”
Amelia was no fool. She looked Keira up and down, her wide green eyes flashing with interest as she looked back at him.
“I see,” she said, in a way that suggested she more than saw what was going on.
Noah would have been irritated if he could have dragged his eyes away from Keira.
Her hair was wild and beautiful, curling over her shoulders in soft waves. Her eyes shone bright, her cheekbones tinged with a pink blush.
“We should leave ye to it, then,” Amelia said pointedly, giving him a significant stare as she rejoined her husband. Jack also glanced repeatedly from Keira to Noah and back again. Noah wanted to throw both of them bodily from the room.
“We will expect ye in a few days for the meeting with our allies, Noah,” Jack said in his usual imperious tone as they both filed out of the room, leaving Noah and Keira alone.
Noah quickly walked to the other side of the room and behind the desk, putting a barrier between him and the healer.
“I have come to state me terms,” Keira said, flicking her hair over her shoulder and glancing about the room, still a little flustered.
“Yer terms?” he asked, confused.
“Aye, for me help with yer ailment. Ye said if I was able to help ye —and I believe I will be able to —ye would do anythin’ I wanted in return.”
Noah leaned against the desk, staring at her in bewilderment.
“Aye, I did say that. What do ye need then? A permanent position?”
Having her around the castle all the time would be both a blessing and a curse. So why did the idea intrigue him so?
“Spend a night with me,” she said, her eyes meeting his with an intensity that took his breath away.
Noah blinked, then blinked again and cleared his throat.
“Excuse me?” he asked, worried that somehow he had brought his filthiest imaginings to life from thought alone.
“Lie with me,” she repeated.
Yes, I did indeed hear correctly. The world has turned upside down since this mornin’.
