Page 35 of The Highlander Steals a Virgin
“Nae if they have tree scouts.”
Rhys exhaled through his nose, but kept studying the parchment.
William continued, outlining a different tactic which involved skirmishing from three sides, baiting them into false retreat, which sounded like a better plan, but Rhys had stopped listening.
His mind betrayed him. Again.
Flashes of Amara’s face flickered in the quiet spaces between William’s words. Her lips parted when he had asked her to. The tension in her shoulders when she squared up in defiance. The soft pink flush on her cheeks when Myles had flirted with her.
Rhys’s jaw clenched painfully.
Called her a guest.
He’d meant to make it clear. Set the boundary before it blurred into something messier. But that blush that crept up her neck and flushed her cheeks hadn’t left his mind all morning. She wore it like it was a mark that he’d put here.
Rhys pressed a hand against the edge of the table, grounding himself in the grain of the wood.
William adjusted another marker, still strategizing, “If we go through the old riverbed, we’ll need at least six more carts. Mayhap more if the siege lasts.”
Rhys gave a slow nod. “Aye. Put together a list, Billy.”
William didn’t say a word about his lack of focus, but Rhys certainly felt it. The silence was heavy. Knowing.
He turned back to the window, needing to reset his mind.
Battle. War. Steel —
Instead, he heard pealing laughter.
High-pitched. Familiar.
He stepped closer to the window and looked down into the courtyard.
Daisy.
She was running after a ball, her curls bouncing, her face alight with unfettered joy. Nina stood nearby, next to Daisy’s nurse, both clapping and calling out encouragement. Myles lounged on the low wall, shouting playful instructions.
And then he saw her. Amara.
She was laughing the hardest he’s ever seen a lady laugh in his life. Her skirts hiked slightly as she chased after the ball that Nina had tossed, her bare calves flashing in the sun, golden hair loose and wild. She moved like sunlight.
It was soft and good and something he hadn’t asked for but couldn’t look away from.
She scooped up the ball and spun with it, holding it out toward Daisy, her smile wide and full.
His gut twisted.
She wasn’t supposed to be there. She was supposed to be in the library, not prancing around his courtyard with his child. Not laughing like she belonged.
What the bleedin’ hell is this?
He stared harder.
The way her legs moved. The lines of muscle in her arms and along her legs as they flashed. The freedom in her body movements.
He could almost feel the press of her against him, the weight of her in his arms, the taste of her mouth. His hands flexed at his sides and Rhys cursed under his breath.
“What is it?” William asked, already moving toward the window.
