Page 80 of Bride of Mist
Mistaking the reason for his flinch, she demanded, “Youaregiving them back, aye?” She rose to her feet, giving him a menacing glare that would frighten a wolf. “Those weapons are precious. They came from the Orient and cost me a fortune. If you don’t return them—”
“Aye! Aye,” he interjected before she could raise her voice any more. “I’ll be givin’ them back to ye.”
“Includin’ myyan zi fei dao?”
“Your what?”
“My swallow tail darts. The ones you left in the forest.”
There was no hope of finding those. Not in the hundred miles of forest between Creagor and Darragh. Just as there was no hope of recovering the armor he’d ditched in the bushes.
“Sure,” he lied.
“Because they’re quite rare.”
He believed her. He also believed she was going to get them both into trouble if they didn’t stop talking about hostages and weaponry and Rivenloch.
“We were discussin’ Laird Morgan,” he said.
“Right. Aye.”
“Ye think he’s trustworthy?”
“Of course!” she scoffed. “Do you think thekingwould have betrothed him to my cousin otherwise?”
Dougal’s eyes went wide. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. Thatkingwas only a wall away.
“I’m telling you hedid,”she insisted, thinking he didn’t credit her. “Malcolm himself signed—”
“Nay!”
“What the devil?” she snarled. “You don’t believe me? I swear it! The King of Scot-”
“Hush!”
She gasped. “Did you just hush me?” she asked in disbelief. Then she did the one thing he didn’t want her to do. She raised her voice and named him. Loud and clear. “Dougal mac Darragh, how dare you—”
He didn’t know what else to do. He had to stop her. Hushing her didn’t work. In fact, it was having the opposite effect. So he cut off her speech in the only other way he knew.
Seizing her by the shoulders, he swooped down and planted a hard kiss on her disparaging mouth.
It worked. Her outburst was muffled by his onslaught. Her words subsided altogether after a moment. But he was well aware that if hushing vexed the lass, she’d be even more furious with this form of silencing.
Kissing her was only a temporary solution. A drastic measure taken in the heat of the moment when he’d had no other choice.
What he’d do next, he didn’t know.
Chapter 21
Feiyan was seething. The infuriating Westland lout had just shut her up in the most belittling manner a man could choose. She was furious.
Nay, she wasn’t. Fury didn’t describe what she was feeling.
Disgust. Aye, that was it. She was disgusted that a man who purported to be honorable would force himself upon her. She was absolutely revolted.
Nay, it was more shock than revulsion. She was shocked by his behavior.
At least at first.
