Page 75 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
He stepped away, going to stand before her again, receiving a quizzical gaze in response.
“Be sure to protect yerself when ye come at me.”
“I am nae afraid of ye, me laird,” she said simply.
He wanted to order her to call him Noah again but decided that it was probably best if they kept some boundaries between them.
“Are ye ready to try again?” he asked, running his eyes over her figure for a final time, purely to ensure her stance was correct and not to linger on her curves.
“How should I do it?” she asked, her body rigid as she contemplated her path.
“Try to knock me down.”
Her eyes widened. “Yer shoulder?”
“I have a good healer; it doesnae bother me anymore.”
She gave him a shy smile that just about froze the breath in his lungs, and he mirrored her stance, telling himself sternly to focus.
“I dinnae want to hurt ye,” she said quietly.
“Bigger men than ye have tried and failed to do that, lass, if ye dinnae run at me soon, I’ll do it to—oof!”
As he had been speaking, she charged, taking him by surprise. He was knocked backward, almost clean off his feet. The only reason he didn’t land on his back was because his legs were parted firmly on the ground.
Keira, on the other hand, did not fare so well. He scooped an arm around her waist, twisting her away from him, and she tripped over his shin, tumbling into the forest floor.
He approached her as she rolled onto her back, glaring at him furiously. He was too distracted by her beautiful body and her long hair scattered across the leaves below her, to pay much mind to her expression, however.
“That was mischievous,” Noah said as he offered her his hand. She did not take it, pulling herself to her feet.
“Bigger men than me?” she asked archly.
“Aye. I’ve fought a lot of people in me life, lass.”
She contemplated him for a short while. “When we first met ye said if ye needed to kill someone ye did it with yer bare hands. Have ye ever killed anyone?”
Noah hesitated.
He was not going to apologize for his position—as a laird, he had to settle scores and had been in many battles—but this was the first time the question made him feel uncertain. He didn’t want Keira to think of him as a killer.
“I have, lass,” he admitted, “I had to. But we are nae longer at war because of me sister’s alliance. We are aimin’ for peace. If I can prevent it there will be nae more fightin’,” he sighed, “but yes. I have killed before, and I shall probably have to do so again in me life.”
“We?” she asked curiously.
“The other lairds. There are four of us, excluding MacDunn—the man who set that village alight. We all want to stop him. Laird Dougal, who ye met, is one of them. He was me rival, and instead of choppin’ off his head, I married him off to me sister to ensure peace.”
He knew his words were flippant when compared to the agonies he had endured to make that choice. But seeing as Amelia and Jack were sickeningly happy, he found that he didn’t mind speaking of it so lightly now.
Keira brushed down her skirts again, scattering twigs and leaves everywhere, before glancing at him through her long, dark lashes. There was a small smudge of dirt on her cheek, and it took everything in him not to brush it away with his thumb.
“Do ye miss yer sister?” she asked, her eyes softening.
Noah was silent for a long time, unable to tear his gaze away.
“Aye,” he said slowly. “Aye, I miss her every day. But she dinnae live with me for much of me life. She was in danger, and I sent her to me grandparents so that she would be safe. Since she married Jack, I’ve seen more of her. She’s a much better person than me. Clever, funny, kind.” He shook his head. “I’m sure ye would miss Scott and Daisy if they werenae with ye?”
She smiled. “I would. They drive me mad some days, but they are wonderful children—” she frowned. “I must stop callin’ them that. Daisy keeps remindin’ me they are almost sixteen now.”
