Page 107 of Highlanders for the Holidays
Chapter 12
“I’ll takeye back to your chamber,” Roderick said, gripping her elbow.
“Don’t touch me.” She jerked her arm away. “I don’t need you to escort me. I remember the way.”
“’Tis not safe for a lass to walk about on her own with drunken warriors everywhere.”
She brushed away an angry tear. Arguing would be pointless, so she fixed her gaze ahead and marched down the corridor.
“In the morning after you’re rested,” he said, “we can discuss how to change the chieftain’s mind and avoid this marriage, if that’s what ye wish.”
Ifthat’s what she wished? Was he daft? He had deceived her. It gave her no comfort that he, in turn, had been deceived. When she remembered the horror on his face upon learning that he was expected not just to deliver her but to wed her, Lily had to hold her breath to keep from weeping—which infuriated her all the more.
“Don’t pretend you wish us to marry any more than I do,” she snapped as she marched up the stairs to her guest chamber. “Though I expect your chieftain would reward you well for suffering with me as a wife.”
There was no possibility she would let that happen.
When they reached the door, she was assaulted with the memory of the passionate kisses they had shared at this very spot on hour before.
“Give me time,” he said. “I’ll find a way to make this right.”
She bit her lip as he brushed a stray tangle of hair from her cheek. Despite everything he’d done, she had to fight the temptation to lean against him and rest her head against his chest.
“Lily,” he said, and rested his hand on the back of her waist, drawing her toward him.
For a moment, she was caught in the treacherous memory of how it had felt to be wrapped in his arms as he said her name and moved inside her. The enchantment he wielded on her was so strong that she wanted to believe he cared for her, that it had not all been a lie.
Before she weakened, she ran inside, slammed the door in his face, and threw the bar across. While he called her name and pounded on the other side, she leaned her back against the door and slid slowly to the floor.
* * *
Roderick satin his guest chamber drinking far too much, though his celebratory mood was long gone.
He had a nagging feeling that he ought to go back to Lily’s chamber. Each time it pulled at him, he took another drink and stifled the urge. When she slammed the door in his face, he had banged on it until his hand was bruised. It was the middle of the night now. She needed her sleep, and he should be sober when he tried to make amends to her.
Winning Lily’s forgiveness would not be easy. And how in God’s name was he going to mollify his chieftain when he refused to wed her? He sure as hell was not going to force Lily to be his wife.
He took another long drink.
He woke up with a start, dreaming he heard Lily call his name. Squinting against the daylight eking through the narrow window, he saw that he was still fully dressed, sprawled across the bed.
His throat was parched, his tongue felt like sand, and he had a blinding headache. He got up and splashed water on his face from the ewer. As he drank down a cup of stale ale he found on the table, he looked out the window.
Through the hills, he had a narrow view of the bay and the sea beyond. Something caught his eye—a dark red sail small as his thumbnail from this distance, disappearing over the horizon.
The Spaniard’s ship.He remembered Lily and the Spaniard talking with their heads together during supper. Damn it, he knew it in his gut that she was on that ship. If she was, he would sail after it and fetch her.
He was strapping on his sword when a fist pounded at the door loud enough to make him wince. He swung open the door to find one of Alexander’s personal guards.
“The Lord of Isles wants you,” the guard said. “Now.”
“There’s something I must do first.” Roderick was desperate to go to Lily’s chamber in the hope of proving his instincts wrong. And if his instincts were right, he was going after her.
“Nay, ye must come at once,” the guard said, shaking his head. “The chieftain is in a fury.”
A few moments later, Roderick strode into Alexander’s solar, fuming with impatience.
“Your Sassenach disappeared,” Alexander greeted him.
