Page 39 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
He had missed Alexander’s counsel. There was a time when he had thought of him as a brother—but those days are over.
“I want a list of every guard on me watch. Every wall must be manned at all times, every entrance covered. We cannae be sure what Moira will dae, but I dinnae believe shewishes me wellon me weddin’ day.”
Alexander leaned over the table as they began plotting out where the guards should be placed and how the shifts would be managed.
Callum didn’t want to take any chances.
He paused as he heard rapid footsteps outside the door. Frowning, he strode over to it, jerking it open to find Lydia on the other side staring up at him in shock.
“I am sorry,” she said, turning in place and looking up and down the corridor. “I don’t know how I ended up here. This place is such a labyrinth.”
Callum crossed his arms over his chest—was she listenin’ at the door?
“And where were ye tryin’ to get to?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“How can ye nae be sure?” he asked, his suspicion mounting with every breath.
“I agreed to play hide-and-seek with the girls. But I didn’t realize how much of the castle I don’t know yet. I have gotten lost thrice already, and there is no sign of them anywhere!”
“That is hardly yer fault, M’Lady,” Alexander said from behind him. “Someone should give ye a tour.”
Callum looked back at him, glowering ferociously, but Alexander just grinned.
Turning back to Lydia, Callum stared up the long, winding corridor with the passages and doorways coming off it on all sides.
Now that he came to think of it, he had taken for granted how big the castle was. He had been walking these halls since his youth, but to someone who had never set foot in it before, he could imagine it being just as Lydia had said—a confusing maze.
“All right,” he said reluctantly. “I can show ye around. It is important ye ken the layout of me castle.”
To keep ye safe should someone penetrate our defenses.
He turned back to Alexander. “Dae as I said and report to me when it is done.”
“Aye, M’Laird.”
Callum stepped into the corridor, looking down at Lydia’s upturned face and clenching his jaw.
The last thing he wanted to do was spend more time with her. Particularly when, every time he saw her in that dress, his body seemed to forget that it was meant to stay away from her.
“Where exactly did the wee girls go?”
“Well, they left through the side door of the dining hall, but I followed after them and then ended up here.”
“Ye have gone round in a circle.”
“Oh.”
“Come on, I’ll show ye the way back, and we can retrace yer steps. If they get lost, we have bigger things to worry about. They ken this castle better thanIdo, and they’ll be jumpin’ out on us for the rest of the day.”
Lydia followed Callum’s wide back through the corridors, still unable to believe how large he seemed in the huge space.
Every time she was around him, it was becoming a little harder to draw a full breath. She was addicted to his scent. It was difficult to place, but it reminded her of the wild wind on a moorland and the leather of a horse’s saddle.
He seemed to spend most of his time just wearing a thin léine over his torso, and she was mesmerized by the play of muscles across his back.
In a few minutes, they reached the dining hall, and Callum turned to her, crossing his gigantic arms over his chest and fixing her with a piercing stare.
