Page 83 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
“Tommy,” Lydia said softly. “Come with me. Mama, we can escort you to your room.”
Callum rose, Eilis pawing at him to be carried, and he lifted her into his arms. Glancing behind him, he caught the eye of the Duchess, who was watching him with an expression that was hard to read.
She sniffed primly, raising her chin and following her daughter out of the room. Callum shifted Eilis onto his hip, frowning as little crumbs scattered all over his shoulder from the pie she was eating.
The six of them made their way up the dark stairs, the girls visibly uncomfortable with every noise that echoed through the castle.
Callum frowned, anger rising anew that they should be fearful in their own beds.
Lydia bid her mother goodnight, a silent exchange passing between mother and daughter that Callum couldn’t decipher.
She hugged Tommy tightly to her and bid him goodnight before carrying the girls to their room.
“Where is Raven?” Amy asked sleepily.
“He is in his bed. Look,” Lydia said, lowering Amy to the floor.
The little girl went to pick up the kitten from a chair at the edge of the room. Cradling him to her chest, she came back to stand beside her bed as Lydia helped her out of her dress, and Amy crawled beneath the covers.
“I dinnae want to sleep by meself,” Eilis protested as Callum tried to lower her down.
Callum released her, and she wriggled away from him, climbing into Amy’s bed, the kitten settling on the pillow between them.
He felt like a giant towering over them as they stared up at him.
Now, looking at the two little dark heads, their blue eyes filled with trust, his chest tightened at the thought that they might have been taken from him.
Callum turned to Lydia, who was standing looking down at the girls, too, her teeth worrying at her lip.
“We should get some sleep,” he said shortly, and she nodded, following him out of the room.
As he stepped out into the corridor, he found Alexander outside their door.
Callum’s lips quirked. “Ye are guardin’ them yerself are ye?” he asked.
“No one is gettin’ in this door tonight, M’Laird,” Alexander said firmly, and Callum put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently before he went back to his bed chamber.
As he reached the door, he paused, a hand on the latch, uncertain what to do.
If this were a real marriage, we would be goin’ to bed together.
Lydia was a shadow behind him, standing at her own door, watching. Her long hair was in disarray from her run over the hill, a streak of mud on her cheek that his fingers itched to rub away.
“Are ye all right, lass?” he asked, keeping his gaze somewhere just to the right of her shoulder.
If I look at her too much, I’m gonna drag her into me bed again.
“Are we safe?” she asked, her neck convulsing on a nervous swallow.
“Aye, there are guards stationed throughout the castle. Nae one is goin’ to get close to the girls or ye again, that’s a solemn promise.”
“Were you hurt today?” the worry in her eyes made his pulse quicken.
“Nay. Takes quite a bit to take me down.”
She took a step toward him, her hair shimmering in the torchlight from the wall. Her tongue wet her lips as she glanced at the door, and Callum clenched his fists to keep from reaching for her.
“Get some rest. I’ll leave the adjoinin’ door to our rooms unlocked. Call me if ye need anythin’, but ye need nay be afraid. Nothin’ is goin’ to harm ye while I’m here.”
