Page 55 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
She laughed, and it cut through to his core.
“Ye think someone breakin’ into this castle and hurtin’ ye is funny?” he asked briskly.
“Well, the thought had not occurred to me,” she replied. “Seeing as you keep telling me how safe I am, how was I to know you thought someone had broken in?”
“Thegirlstold me that. The little heathens must have made it up. When I catch them…” he left the sentence open.
Callum had no intention of punishing them in any real way; perhaps fewer cakes at dinner might make them think twice about it, but Lydia was right behind him as he stalked to the door.
“What do you mean? They have done nothing wrong.”
“I will dae as I see fit!”
“They must be bored out of their minds in this place. No one ever spends any real time with them. They only asked me to come here so that I could read them a story. Let them have a little fun.”
Callum whirled around, shoving his sword back into its scabbard.
“A little fun? Pretendin’ someone is in trouble is nae fun. I thought ye might be in danger.”
“And if I were, surely a man who sees me as nothing but a convenience could easily find another wife to amuse him.”
Her tone was acidic and angry, and Callum’s fingernails dug into his palm, the fear of what might have happened to her morphing into something else.
There was a dark need writhing within him now, like a snake. The adrenaline of the chase was pent up inside him, a ball of energy that needed an outlet.
No one in the castle spoke to him as Lydia did; no one dared. Sheshouldbe afraid of him. He was twice her size, twice her strength, yet she argued with him like they were equals.
He grabbed the door handle, forcing himself to leave before he did something foolish. He turned it, but the door wouldn’t budge.
“What is this? Have ye locked it, woman?” he asked.
Lydia moved past him, taking the handle and rattling it.
“No, I didn’t even know itcouldlock.”
“Someone has done it from the outside.”
There was the sound of giggling from beyond the door, and Callum pounded his fist against it.
“Amy, Eilis, ye will let us out of here!” he shouted, but the only response that came was the fading sound of the girls’ footsteps.
Callum pulled at the handle with more force, but the heavy wooden door wouldn’t budge.
“Wonderful,” he grunted. “I am to be a prisoner in me own castle, is that it?”
Lydia put her hands on her hips as she watched him circle the room looking for another way out, but Callum knew there was none.
“They are trying to get your attention, can’t you see that?”
“All Iseeis that my life is made more complicated by meddlesome women. They have their mother’s wickedness, that is for sure.”
“There is nothing wicked about those little girls,” Lydia snapped, stepping toward him again as he rounded on her. “And you have still not told me what happened to their mother.”
“And I willnae!”
“Why not?”
“Because it isnae yer business,” he said, crowding her toward the door as her back hit it, her breath harsh and angry as she glared up at him.
