Page 6 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
Lydia broke into a run.
Her feet knew the paths before her all too well, and she aimed for the rose garden. Its entrance was flanked by a high wire arch that had been erected when she was very small. Since then, a cascade of roses adorned it every year, and now was no exception.
A waterfall of red blooms wafted their scent toward her as she sprinted forward, expecting to find a wide expanse of lawn to run through.
It was rather a shock, therefore, to find that she instantly collided with a wall. Abreathingwall.
Lydia gasped, staggering backward and panting heavily as two enormous hands came up to steady her, thick fingers gripping her flesh.
“Dae ye want me to take ye away from here, lassie?” came a deep rumbling voice.
Callum stayed very still, ensuring that his big body remained in the shadows as the lass looked up at him.
Her fingers were clenched on his arms where he had caught her, and he felt a little thrill as they moved experimentally over his bicep.
Is she feelin’ me muscles for her pleasure?
The eyes that met his were a dark forest green in the shadow of the bushes around them, her sharp features pale beneath the setting sun.
She was half his size, if she was even that, tiny and vulnerable, her breath coming in quick pants. Whatever she had been running from must have been frightening indeed.
The lady squinted up at him through small, round, wire spectacles that gave her an endearing look. Callum stiffened when she focused on his face. He moved further back into the shadows, hiding his scars from her curious eyes.
No reason to alarm the poor lass before I’ve even made my case for her hand.
Her long, dark hair was loose and falling in tresses down her back, and Callum had the absurd thought of running his fingers through it.
But in the next instant, she pulled free of him, stepping back carefully, and pulling at her dress to right it.
“This isn’t proper,” she said testily, glancing back at the house as if a crowd were watching their innocent exchange.
The English are a strange lot.
“Ye didnae answer me, lassie. Dae ye want me to take ye away from here?”
Slim fingers flicked at her hair, curling it behind her tiny ear, her arm barely the width of his wrist. She pouted prettily, raising her eyes briefly to the multicolored sky.
“You couldn’t, even if you wanted to,” she said with a bitter laugh. “This auction was designed for me. I’ll be shackled to my new husband by the end of the night, and then no one will ever be able to take me anywhere again.”
Her hands were shaking, whether from anger or fear, he wasn’t sure.
Callum moved back a little further, leaning against a stone slab on the wall to his right. He tilted his head on one side, allowing himself the pleasure of briefly running an eye over her figure.
He had arrived that afternoon expecting the kind of auction that took place in Scotland. In his homeland, that would mean trials and games, even bartering over cattle and the like, and in some rare cases, it meant battles. This was very different.
The Duke was selling his daughter to whoever would pay him the highest sum. Callum had overheard some of the men talking of this wee lady that afternoon. They had used such disparaging terms that it had made him want to draw his knife.
What kind of faither does that to his only daughter? And such a beautiful one at that.
He was disgusted by the whole affair. After spending less than an hour at the event, he had already decided that it was not for him. Not only were they arrogant know-it-alls, but every man in the room looked at him as if he were a peasant on the street.
He never wanted to set foot in such a place again. He was resolved to leave and had been in the act of doing so when she had collided with him.
But now that he had met the lady, he could see that she had a fire in her, a determination in the back of her gaze that intrigued him. He didn’t like the thought of her being given no agency in her choice of husband.
Maybe I can help with that.
“Dae ye care for any of the men in there?” he asked, and she vigorously shook her head; the dark locks that had been pinned back falling loose, cascading over her face. She really was very lovely indeed—all the more reason to save her from this odious mess.
