Page 40 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
He had been expecting to eat alone, but instead, Keira and her siblings were seated at the table, looking up at him expectantly.
“We were told to prepare a meal for yer guests, Me laird,” a servant stated, looking worried. “Were ye not expectin’ it?”
Noah closed his eyes. This could only be Callum’s doing. No one else would think to make Keira and the children feel welcome in this way.
He nodded briskly as he walked to the table and sat to the left of Daisy, who looked a little startled by his proximity.
“Very good,” he said gruffly to the servants who dutifully approached and began serving the simple stew that Noah favored.
Noah’s eyes flicked to Keira, who had a charcoal gray shawl draped over her shoulders, the color making her skin glow, her dark eyes like a stormy sky.
She had tied her hair up with a simple hairpin, which glinted in the candlelight. She looked better each time he laid eyes on her, which was not helping his resolve to stay away from the lass. Even the presence of the male servants waiting to serve her aggravated him.
Nay man should lay eyes on her save for me.
A fresh wave of worry washed over him as his possessive urges took hold, and he tried to smother the feeling, disconcerted by the strength of it.
As he contemplated her face, she looked up at him, and their gazes collided. Noah felt such an intense bolt of desire shoot through him that he almost grunted aloud.
“Scott is learnin’ to be a warrior,” Daisy piped up suddenly, dispelling the tension immediately.
Noah looked at her in astonishment. He had been sure the girl was a mute until now.
“Aye,” Noah said, giving Daisy his friendliest smile, “he is already quite a fighter.”
Scott preened at the praise, and Noah wondered how many times the lad had been complimented in his life. He remembered what it was like to be fifteen. It was a time when everything he did was somehow incorrect, and his father would often scold him for being too weak.
“Are ye the one that taught him his right hook, lass?” Noah asked Daisy by way of a distraction and felt a flutter of happiness as the girl gave a tinkling laugh. It was not so much her reaction that pleased him, more the light that suddenly danced in her older sister’s eyes as he paid her some attention.
“Nay,” Daisy said, still giggling, “I am better at bakin’ than I am at fightin’.”
“Och aye?” Noah asked her. “Ye wouldnae be responsible for the excellent bannocks I ate in yer cottage, would ye?”
Daisy grinned. “Nay, not them. Keira is the one who makes the honey bannocks, and she is much better than I am at those.”
“That’s not true, flower,” Keira said affectionately, “ye are the best baker in the village. Me bannocks are just Maither’s recipe.”
“Ye made them?” Noah asked Keira in surprise.
She gave him a coy smile. “I daenae just weave spells and stir potions, me laird, I have other talents.”
Noah took a spoonful of his stew hurriedly, his mind racing with thoughts of the type of talents she might possess. The memory of her fingers clutching him as he drove his hips against her sprang to the front of his mind, and he almost choked on his food.
“And what is yer bakin’ specialty, Miss Daisy?” he asked, recovering himself and attempting to quell the desire rising in his chest.
“It is not quite bakin’ exactly; I make a good clootie puddin’,” she replied as her brother groaned around his spoon.
“That she does,” Scott added, “Daisy’s clootie puddin’ is the best in three clans, I’ll wager.”
Daisy’s little face was a picture of happy contentment, and Noah noticed he, too, felt utterly relaxed and calm in their presence.
He had not had company for supper often in recent weeks, but he would not object to them joining him for dinner every night. They were such cheerful children, and their fiery hair and bright smiles quite blew away his melancholy.
At least, it did until Keira rose abruptly and gave a small bow in his direction, her teeth worrying at her lip as she curled a lock of her dark hair behind her ear.
“I have had a long day, and I am tired. I think I shall get to bed early tonight.”
She had not taken even a mouthful of her food. Noah stood automatically as she walked to the door, leaving the room quickly without even a glance back at him.
