Page 18 of Tempting the Highland Devil
“Nay,” Arran answered.
“Then I dinnae need to discuss this with ye, sir. I shall win the lady’s hand and win her heart too. It’s only fair because she has stolen mine.”
Yvaine’s face brightened up as she stared at Laird Loughty. Her eyes showed her smile, and she even touched Laird Loughty’s hand once Arran released him.
Seeing her fingers curl over the Laird’s bare hand made Arran reel with a hot flash of anger. His vision blurred down on their joined hands, and his temples pounded.
“If ye will excuse us, Arran,” she said, turning to face him again, “Laird Loughty was tellin’ me about his travels to the Americas. I should like to join him for a walk.”
“Alone?” Arran lifted a brow. “I willnae allow that.”
“Allow it? It is nay yer place too…”
He twirled around before she finished her statement. “I shall be there at every meetin’ with any eligible suitor henceforth. If ye have a problem with that, then discuss it with yer braither. I am sure he will see reason with me.”
Arran’s ears burned with the heat of his jealousy as he saw her frown deepen on her forehead before she huffed and spun around to walk away from him with Laird Loughty.
The laird moved his hand to Yvaine’s lower back, and anger shot through him again. Arran drew his sword before he realized that he did. Yvaine and Laird Loughty turned to him at the same time.
“What are ye doin’?” Yvaine thundered in shock, her eyes widening as she flushed, too. “Arran!”
He marched towards them, but she stepped between him and Laird Loughty. “Ye touch her disrespectfully one more time, and I assure ye that ye will nay return home with yer hand, Laird Loughty.”
Laird Loughty only smiled as he stepped back from Yvaine, and she shot him a heated glare.
“It is nay yer concern,” Yvaine warned.
“He is disrespectin’ ye and…”
“I can handle the laird. Now, if ye insist on being here, then ye must stay quiet the entire time, or I assure ye, ye willnae be anywhere near me until I am married.”
Arran’s grip on the hilt of his sword tightened as he clenched his jaw hard. “All right!” he agreed in a stony tone.
Yvaine kept her chin up, eyed him one last time, then resumed her walk with Laird Loughty.
He walked the entire distance of the garden with them and tried to keep himself from interrupting each time Laird Loughty stroked her cheek or offered her a compliment. It was the hardest thing he had done in his life.
And I have fought many battles.The cut on his arm bled while he stood there and watched her. Arran tried to ignore the prick in his heart as he watched her get swayed by another man.
* * *
Later that evening, Amelia helped dress Arran’s wound in the healing chamber then offered him a vial of tonic for strength. He hated the taste of her herbs, so he declined.
“Drink it!” she ordered sternly just like Yvaine would if she was around to watch.
Arran frowned. “Why do ye women enjoy orderin’ us around?”
“Because you lot would never know what to do without us,” Amelia replied easily. Arran gulped down the herbs with a deep frown then groaned as the knots in his stomach squeezed hard.
He left Yvaine after she finished her walk with Laird Loughty. Remembering the laird’s hand on her body still made him tense with anger, but losing his mind and threatening to cut the man’s hand off was definitely not the proper way to react.
“What has you all tensed up?” Amelia asked as she began squashing some leaves in her hand.
“What makes ye think I am tense?”
She could see nothing but shadows, but Arran had learned that his friend’s wife was always sensitive to everything around her.
“Your aura,” she replied. “The sound of your breathing and also the clipped silence in the air between us right now,” Amelia explained slowly. “Earlier, when I treated your arm, your muscles were tense. You are a very skilled swordsman, and there have been no battles recently, so that tells me you hurt your arm while training. Why did you do that?”
