Page 78 of The Highlander's Auctioned Virgin
CHAPTER 21
“What in God’sname do ye think ye’re doing?” Ciaran hissed the instant the door clicked shut behind Elinor.
The study smelled just as he remembered. Wood, books, dust. While there had been several changes since the last time he had come here, the walls and the stacked books on the other side of the study made the room feel exactly the same.
“I said, I was going with ye. Why is that a problem? Is there something ye daenae want me to see? Perhaps ye’re lying to me about these so-called people of yers.”
Ciaran rubbed his forehead. A pounding headache loomed behind his eyes. One he was certain would only get worse if he continued to entertain this for longer.
“Is this a joke?” he asked, his voice full of disbelief.
“Why would it be?” Elinor responded, her arms folded tight over her chest like she had something to prove.
“I daenae ken. It seems to me like ye daenae trust me or something.”
“We are getting married in a week. I have nay reason nae to trust ye.”
“So where is all of this coming from?”
“Yer people are settling in me village. How is it suddenly a bad thing that I want to visit them? They are also me people now, are they nae?”
“Ye cannae travel with me, Elinor.”
“Why nae?”
Ciaran’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why nae?”
“Aye.”
He didn’t know what irked him more, the indifference in her tone or the fact that they were having this conversation in the first place.
“Because I am a risk to travel with, how about that? From one mile to the next, there are people intent on killing me.”
“Well, Thomas can come with us in that case. A nice opportunity to have me man-at-arms with me, do ye nae think?”
Ciaran threw his head back and squeezed his eyes shut in exasperation. “This isnae about protection. This is about safety. I cannae fully guarantee yer safety if ye’re with me.”
“I can protect meself.”
“Nae against the kind of men who want me dead,” he gritted out.
“Well then, Thomas will protect me.”
Ciaran took a step back and turned around, his chest heaving like he’d just chopped a hundred heavy logs. He walked to the end of the study, where the bookshelves lined the walls. His footsteps were loud and reverberated through the study, but he attributed the enhanced noise to the layout of the study.
He turned back to her from where he stood. She was so far, and yet her presence was so near. She remained by the door, her arms still folded over her chest.
Images of what had happened in the gallery flashed through his mind like the morning sunrays. Especially the part where she laughed at Murdock’s portrait.
Ciaran had promised to let her shine, no matter what.
He intended to do that, even if it meant risking her life on a journey with him. It was bound to happen sometime.
“Ye’re nae going to quit bothering me about this, are ye?”
“Nae in the slightest.”
Ciaran groaned. Then, he walked back to her, leaving the shelves and the books behind him. “Fine, ye’re coming with me. But nae Thomas.”
