Page 68 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
Does he really never wish us to be close again after all that we have shared together?
In order to distract herself from her wayward thoughts, she turned back to the door and walked over to Tommy.
The little boy was slumped down in his chair, dead to the world.
Lydia put her hands on her hips, sighing.
“You should go to bed,” she said to Callum as he stepped up beside her. “I’ll wake him and take him to his room.”
“No need,” Callum said, stooping and picking Tommy up as though he were made of paper. “He is only a wee thing, dae ye nae feed him?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “My father believes in abstinence. The meals in our house were always small.Hisweren’t, but my mother and I had to make do with less than the Duke would allow himself.”
Callum frowned, his eyes darkening as his jaw clenched. “Well, we shall feed him up while he’s here, then. If ye ever wish to eat outside of meal times, ye speak to the cook. There is no rationin’ in this house. Nae for me bride.”
Lydia gave a little lilting laugh. “I’ll remember that, thank you.”
They walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind them as the girls sank deeper into sleep.
Callum walked down the corridor in front of her, with Tommy in his arms, and Lydia entertained herself with a fantasy of another life where they had been married for many years, and this was their son.
Would we be happy together? I suppose I will never know.
Once they were inside Tommy’s room, Callum lay him down gently on the bed, and they tiptoed out, so as not to wake her mother, who was sleeping in the adjoining room.
As she reached her bedchamber door, Lydia turned to Callum. His huge body cast a giant shadow in the dark, but his eyes twinkled in the torchlight from the bracket on the wall.
“Goodnight, Lydia,” he said, her name a soft breath between them that sent a shiver through her body.
He gave a short bow and slipped silently into his room without a word.
Lydia lingered in the corridor for some minutes after, staring at his closed door in wonder.
The Laird she had met in the gardens, thescarred beastwho had whisked her away to his castle in the Highlands, was no more. Now, she knew the softness in Callum’s soul, the love he had for his nieces as they had fallen asleep on his shoulders and he had cradled them in their beds.
Nothing about this man is as it seems, and I can feel myself beginning to care for him more and more.
The wedding was only a few days away, and now she found that she did not dread it. In a strange way, it felt like the beginning of a new life.
Lydia smirked as she went into her room.
What would my mother think if she knew how fixated I am on the wedding night…?
CHAPTER 19
Once Callum wasin his room, he felt restless. Lydia’s scent clung to him, as if she were still there.
The gentle way she had cradled Amy in her arms and cared for the girls touched his heart. She wasn’t just caring for them when the eyes of the household were on her, either. She had ensured they were warm tonight, dressing them in their coats for stargazing.
Callum stood beside the bed, looking at the pristine sheets, imagining all the wicked things he could be doing to her if she were with him. He could hear her moving around in her room, each creak of a floorboard like a summons.
Groaning, he threw his head back, staring at the ceiling.
Why can I nae get her out of me head?
Usually, when he felt on edge, he would go down to the courtyard and spar with one of his guards.
At his grandmother’s castle, there were plenty of young men who had been terrified of him and agreed to train whenever he asked.
