Page 21 of Captured By the Highland Devil
“Nera,” Etna said. “She’s the daughter of a young lass who had an unfortunate dalliance with another young man. The birthin’ took her away from us.”
Pressing her hand to her chest, Paige rubbed the sudden painful spot aching in her breastbone. “That’s very unfortunate. I cannae—I cannae think of what it would be like to have nay family to help me. These poor children.”
“Aye,” Etna said, smiling softly, sympathetically. “But we will give the best life we can give them. If ye will excuse me, I need to get back to the lesson now.”
“I willnae keep ye.” Paige said as the housekeeper went on with her lesson. As she kept looking on the children learning how to spell, she was close enough to hear Sarah and Ruben speak. Well, Sarah was talking; Ruben was sternly silent.
Sarah inched closer to him, batting her eyelashes as she glanced up at him. Her cheeks were pink, and her brown eyes glowed with admiration. “I like to see ye smile, me laird. It does me heart good.”
Prickles of awkward warning broke out down Paige’s back. But she kept her head straight and listened.
“I remember when yer sister was here,” Sarah turned to the doorway. “How she was so certain ye would never find love and we tried to tell her she was wrong. That one day, ye would have the admiration of a lovely woman and we were right.
“Nay one is happier than we are to ken ye have found some joy,” Sarah said respectfully. “I hope yer marriage bring yer the peace ye keep lookin’ for.”
That drew Ruben’s attention. His left brow ticked up, “The peace I’ve been lookin’ for? Why do ye say that?”
“Ye havenae been happy for years,” Sarah said. “Since yer da got sick and the burden of the lairdship fell on yer shoulders.”
She pretended not to hear them then turned. “I think we should return to the castle and start the preparations of what they want,” she smiled at Sarah. “Thank ye for showin’ us around.”
The caretaker bowed her head. “Ye are most welcome.”
As the left the orphanage and stepped into the sunlight, they headed to the tied horses. She shot an eye to him. “I dinnae think a brute like ye would have a sensitive side.”
In seconds, Paige found her eyes pinned by Ruben’s dark gaze Her breath hitched as shiver ran up her spine. “Stop callin’ me a brute, lass. Ye daenae ken what a true brute is.”
She swallowed. “And if I daenae?”
“Believe me, if ye want a brute, I will show ye one,” he growled.
The fire in his eyes made her tremble; it felt as if he wanted to either shake her senseless or cower her into submission. His eyes—cold, piercing, and intent— held her own in a moment that seemed both too short and endless.
“I—I apologize,” Paige said.
A flood of emotions washed over her as she clenched her fists at her sides, drawing in a deep, steady breath. She felt a strange pulsing, fluttering sensation at her core.
“Come,” he demanded as he jerked his chin towards his horse. “T’is time we return.”
CHAPTER NINE
With ease, he lifted her into the saddle and quickly swung up behind her. The lass was shivering, perhaps from the wind, perhaps from that intense encounter they had had. Either way, it unsettled him.
He unpinned the length of plaid, unwound it from his hip and then draped it over her shoulder. She reached up to tighten the wrap before craning her head over her shoulder. “Thank ye.”
Nodding curtly, he reached around her body to grasp the reins and to his surprise, she leaned back against him.
Ruben tried to ignore their closeness and forced himself to disregard the soft scent wafting from her golden curls. He sat rigid.
She smells like a meadow of wildflowers.
The ride to his castle had felt endless, and it had been mostly spent in silence. He felt that, more than anything, she hated riding with him because she still saw him as a beast.
He wanted to give her a distraction so he purposely rode along the shoreline, down a beaten path to the sea.
He rode dangerously close to the rush of the water; Goliath had been this way hundreds of times and was sure-footed enough that he could navigate the terrain.
“What—” she grabbed at him, eyes wide with fright, “What are ye doing?”
