Page 38 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
He would normally have left the table by now, never one to hang around when there was nothing left to consume.
But he found himself reluctant to do so. Something about Lydia was making the girls more talkative.
It is nice to hear laughter in these halls again.
The urge to remain was overwhelming, and although his mind screamed at him to move and go about his day, he didn’t rise from his seat. Lydia continued to tell tales of her brother’s antics, and the girls were enraptured.
He was relieved when the door opened, and Alexander strode into the room with a sense of intense purpose.
“Good mornin’, M’Laird, may I speak with ye for a moment?”
Callum nodded, rising to his feet and following him out, relieved that something had forced him to move, or he might have sat there all day.
CHAPTER 11
“We have hadword from Lady Moira’s father, Lord McCarthy.”
Callum’s shoulders tensed.
“Has he finally declared war? It didnae take her long to get her claws into him again.”
Alexander shook his head. “Nay, M’Laird, that’s just it. He has denied that he sent those men to attack ye. He has even wished ye well on yer weddin’.”
“That bastard,” Callum muttered as they made their way down the long corridor to his study.
Pushing through the door, he marched to his desk, throwing aside the papers that he had piled there the night before.
He rummaged through some rolls of parchment that had been neatly placed in a barrel beneath the window and drew out the plans of the castle, laying them out for them both to see.
“We will need to increase security; there is every chance that she will try to penetrate our defenses.”
“Dae ye think she will come for the girls?” Alexander asked.
Callum’s heart was thudding wildly. “Either that or she will target Lydia. Moira was mad before. There is every chance she is still obsessed with the idea of us bein’ together.”
Alexander shifted his weight, tugging awkwardly at his sleeve.
“I am sorry I ever believed her lies, M’Laird.”
Callum scowled. “We have repaid that debt, or dae ye need me to remind ye?”
“Nay, I think once was enough,” Alexander said, rubbing a hand over his chest.
“We’ll station guards at the gates and above through the night. I want a twenty-four-hour watch, and runners stationed here and here. If anythin’ unusual is sighted, I am to be told. I dinnae wish to have anythin’ held back from me, is that clear?”
“Aye, M’Laird,” Alexander said, as Callum stood up, assessing the points of the castle that might be the most vulnerable to attack.
“Dae ye think she will come?” Alexander asked, his left hand moving subconsciously to the handle of his sword.
“I dinnae ken. But I dinnae believe she really wants her children back. She just wants to punish me for takin’ them from her.”
“Moira was never a good mother to those girls. They ran riot around the castle, and she never checked on them, or knew where they were half the time.”
“They dinnae behave like that now,” Callum muttered. “I suppose with a monster in their midst, they’re too scared to misbehave.”
“Ye are nay monster, M’Laird.”
Callum continued to stare at the map of the castle, even as a touch of warmth spread through his chest at his friend’s words.
