Page 87 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
Callum winced. “She tried to seduce me. I didnae ken she was even in the room until she touched me.” He scoffed. “I was in thebathand she didnae have any shame about it. I pulled as far away as I could. I told her nay.” He scoffed. “I dinnae kenhow many men have said that to Moira Lawson, but it cannae be many.”
Lydia’s slim fingers came to rest on his hand, and he gripped them fiercely.
“She left, she was angry, but she walked away. I thought that was the end of it. Then me braither summoned me. She’d told him I’d gone into her room, tried to have me way with her. She was convincin’. She’s a talented liar, and Angus was persuaded that I was guilty. He’s the one who….”
He gestured to his face, unable to articulate the words. For a second, he could feel the blood dripping down his face all over again.
“I begged him to believe me. I’ve never begged a man before or since, but I tried to get me braither to see sense. I didnae fight back. We had been together since we were babies; I’d never betray him. Not for anythin’. But love destroyed his reason; everythin’ he once believed was eclipsed by a woman.”
Slowly, Lydia’s fingers released him, and she leaned away as he turned to face her.
“Then what happened?”
“He tortured me, told me I wasnae welcome in his clan, and banished me. When ye arrived here, I had only just returned from me grandmother’s castle. I had spent four years there inexile. It was a ruin, a miserable existence, but it was the only place I could go. I suppose there was a part of me that didnae wish to leave me clan.”
“And why did he allow you back?”
Callum sneered. “Angus found letters. Moira might be beautiful, but she isnae clever. She’d written to me askin’ me why I had never succumbed to her charms. Me braither was ragin’—furious. He sent her away, but she didnae take the girls with her. It’s her that’s tryin’ to get them back now.”
Lydia was quiet, her expression pensive as she stared at the fire before them.
“Angus died before I got here. We never reconciled. Love makes ye crazy,” Callum said bitterly. “It made me braither someone he wasnae, someone who couldnae see reason or truth when it was starin’ him in the face. I have nay need of it. Ye and I may desire each other, but that is all it will ever be. I have no need of any deeper feelin’s. They just make a man stupid.”
“And that’s why you’re keeping us apart? Because of Moira?”
“Ye saw what happened today. The girls, ye, yer maither, yer braither, they could all be dead now because Angus fell for the wrong woman.”
“But it is not always like?—”
“Cannae ye see, wife? I am protectin’ ye. Ye will come to see it in time. Ye’llthankme.”
“Protecting me from what?”
“From meself.”
To his dismay, her slender legs moved off the bed as she bent to pick up her nightgown.
She pulled it over her slim shoulders, not looking back at him until she was standing at the foot of the bed.
“Very well, husband,” she said quietly. “Thank you for theprotection.”
She turned away, and Callum sat up, wanting to beg her to stay and pushing away the feeling.
Callum Lawson doesnae beg.
“In the mornin’ it would be best that yer maither and braither leave the castle. It would be best if they returned to London, away from all this.”
Lydia was still, her shoulders rigid, before she gave a single nod and left the room, pulling the door shut with a thud as the candle beside him was snuffed out.
CHAPTER 24
“Are you all right, my lady?”
Lydia glanced up at Hannah, her maid, watching her in the mirror with a look of concern.
“Yes, quite all right. Are you finished?”
“Almost, my lady. Would you like the lavender brooch today?”
