Page 66 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
She placed the bud on his lips, pushing her fingers in ever so slightly, caressing the edge of his lip as she did so. She felt the moist heat of his mouth for a few moments before moving back.
His eyes did not leave hers as he chewed experimentally and raised his eyebrows.
“It is good,” he conceded.
“Ye’ll need to wait a few minutes before the poison takes effect,” she said casually, and after fixing her with a sharp glare, he simply chuckled.
To prove that she was only jesting, she ate a couple of the remaining mushrooms in her hand and smiled at him.
“I was bein’ serious, lass,” he said, his expression turning grave. “Ye shouldnae just leave the castle on a whim. What if the priest had been lyin’ in wait for ye?”
“I am nae a fool; I asked Callum before I left if there had been any sightings of him. And these are yer lands. He’d be stupid to come here.”
“Och, aye, he has been quite rational up until now,” Noah said sarcastically. “Ye are playin’ fast and loose with yer life, lass. Ye say ye arenae a fool, and yet ye wander alone in the woods.”
Keira lifted her basket in front of her and tried her best to level her temper before she told him exactly what she thought of him calling her a fool.
“Ye arenae to leave the castle without me permission,” Noah stated flatly, and she scoffed at him in response.
“Ye dinnae command me!” she said emphatically but sucked in a sharp breath as he took a step toward her, his finger pointing at her chest, a familiar heat brimming in his eyes.
“I do,” he said darkly, “ye do as I say,justas I say, or ye will face the consequences.”
She shuddered. “Is this another punishment?” she asked, her voice wavering at the memory of the blistering heat she had felt between them at the lochside as he had pushed her down into the muddy earth.
“If ye follow me command, ye willnae need a repeat performance.”
“Is this what I am to expect from our marriage? That ye may disappear on a whim, but I am confined to the castle until ye deem it right that I may explore?”
He advanced on her, one slow step at a time, as she tried to catch her breath. She could smell the fresh earth, the sunlight burning through the canopy, and the forest coming to life all around them.
“That’s exactly what ye should expect, lass,” he said ominously, “it is to keep ye safe.”
“I looked after meself for many years before I met ye,” she said stubbornly.
“Aye, and where did that get ye?”
“Ye are nae me keeper; I can do as I please.”
He stopped, only inches away from her. “Maybe this is merely to get punished again,” he murmured. “Ye did enjoy it the last time.”
He was almost on top of her now, towering above her, their obvious size difference a potent reminder of his strength. She panted in the wake of it as her back connected with the thick trunk of a tree.
His fingers quivered at his sides, the same need in his gaze as she watched him fight with himself not to touch her.
“I thought we had agreed we should keep our distance from one another, lass.”
Despite his words, his body grew even closer to her as he swayed forward, only inches from taking her lips with his own again.
“Is that what ye want?” she whispered.
“I do,” he said firmly.
“Why?” she asked defiantly and after a slow second, he pulled back, looking at her in confusion, his eyes roaming all over her face.
“Ye ask me to marry me for me own protection, yet yer mind is not thinkin’ of protection now,” she said boldly. “If ye dinnae give me a reason why we cannae be together, then I cannae accept yer terms.”
His eyes flashed fire at her. “Because I have told ye that is the way of things. Ye shouldnae need any more reason than that.”
