Page 57 of Tempting the Highland Devil
Yvaine was feeling a little bit more relaxed now that she was back in the castle. Jane and the children all scurried away to get about their duties, and she followed Arran to his study with James, who seemed to have more information about Laird Macmicking.
“Then what do ye think this is about?” Arran questioned once James closed the study door behind them. “Does he derive pleasure in threatenin’ to harm my wife? Me clan?”
“Laird Macmicking’s wife was murdered by yer faither’s men,” James announced grimly, and Yvaine drew in a deep breath.His father’s crimes are unending.Yvaine wondered how long Arran would have to keep working to right all of his wrongs.
“Laird Macmicking wants revenge for his first wife’s death, and he will stop at naythin’ to get it. This is a time when we need allies, me laird.”
“I will discuss this with Duncan and Killian. In the meantime, I will assign a guard to ye at all times, and ye arenae allowed to leave the castle.”
“What?” Yvaine gasped, and her eyes widened. “Ye will make me a prisoner?” she disagreed and matched towards him. “I can care for meself, Arran. I dinnae need to be locked up in here like some…”
“This is nay up for discussion, Yvaine,” he stopped her harshly. “Ye arenae prisoner. This is to protect ye, and that is all I care about.”
She saw his stony expression harden even further, and the urge to scream at him clawed at her chest. Yvaine, however, pressed her lips together.
She knew Arran was trying to protect her, and after last night when he snuck into her chamber, she knew he wanted her too, even though he had to keep himself from her for now. However, she still hated that they had to be this way.
James excused himself while she glared hard at Arran, not bothering to hide the burn of her displeasure.
“I hate this,” Yvaine complained in a soft tone.
Shockingly, Arran closed the distance between them and brushed a hand over her hair to push a strand behind her ear. She loved his touch. It made her tingle inside, and she felt the renewed tides of warmth sweep through all of her.
“I hate it too, but this is how it has to be. I cannae risk losin’ ye, Yvaine…. Ye dinnae ken what that would do to me. Ye are my light, the reason I do all of this. The reason I am tryin’ to be a better man.”
She gasped, and his lips formed a slow smile that vanished just as soon as it appeared. Arran’s fingers fell from her face, and he stepped back, leaving the longing ache in her heart heavier than before.
Yvaine retired to her bedchamber that night with thoughts of him occupying her mind. The bliss of sleep enveloped her in its darkness, and it was not long before she was roused awake by the thick stench shrouding the air.
She sighed and clutched her sheets tighter over her body, trying to fall back asleep and ignore the smell lingering around her. Yvaine’s pulse suddenly quickened when she heard a low sigh in the dark chamber.
Who is that?
Her eyes snapped open to see a man peering down at her in her chamber. The stranger’s hand clamped over her mouth before she could scream. She struggled while he muffled her screams and jerked her off her bed with ease.
Yvaine’s head lolled to one side once the stink of the valerian root smeared on the man’s hand hit her nostrils. She was unconscious as he carried her out of her chamber and headed down the dark hallway.
29
Arran was restless in his bed that night. He kept thinking of Yvaine, her lips and scent. The sweet look in her eyes that always melted his insides and made it difficult for him to hold onto his control.
And the longing she stirs in me.He wished more than anything to be in her arms. As the first roll of rumbling thunder slashed across the castle’s thatched roof, he turned to the left side of his bed and groaned.
He thought of her kisses and the sound of her breathless moans each time he touched her. Every second he spent thinking of Yvaine drew him precariously closer towards losing his control with her.
He had vowed to protect her from his selfish desires and give her a well-provided life in every possible way, but that wasn’t enough, so he had vowed to keep her safe from himself until he became a man more worthy of her affections.
Arran knew this was the right thing.But why does every minute without her feel like torture.
“I cannae stop thinkin’ of her,” he muttered to himself as he sat up in bed and threw the sheets off his body. Arran sighed, rose to his feet, and walked to the window where he could stare out into the night skies and enjoy the windy rain coming his way.
He didn’t know how long he stood there till the nagging in the pit of his stomach took over. Arran draped a coat over his bare chest, tightened the sash, and made his way out of his chamber with a burning lamp in one hand.
The castle was always dead silent at night. Besides the guards on night watch, no other soul dared to roam the grounds at this ungodly hour. When he arrived at Yvaine’s door and found it slightly open, his instincts kicked up with lightning speed, and he barged into the chamber.
“Yvaine?” Arran called in his loudest voice. Her bed was empty, and he looked around to find that there was no one in there. “Yvaine!”
Warning bells rang in his head as he turned around and marched towards the closest guard post on the first landing where her chamber lay.
