Page 34 of The Highlander's Virgin Widow
“They’re on their way,” Rory’s voice called behind him, jolting him back to the present.
He turned around and came face to face with his man-at-arms again.
A confused frown creased Rory’s brow. “Is everything all right, M’Laird?”
Evander swallowed, staring at him, a million thoughts crossing his mind at once.
“Nay,” he finally responded.
He looked down at his shirt, which now clung to his chest, and turned in the direction of his room.
“I need a bath.”
12
Before Keira and Lesley returned to the castle, they headed to the village.
“So, ye will nae tell me?” Lesley asked as they made their way across the dirt paths leading to the various settlements in the village.
Keira decided to eschew the carriage this time around, as there was only so much she could take. She needed to think, and the best way to do that was on foot.
“Tell ye what?”
“Exactly what happened between ye and the Laird.”
Keira swallowed. She was not particularly ready to think about that again. Not ever, but particularly not now.
Fornow, she wanted to think about anything but the taste of Evander’s lips and the way he had gained control of her waking thoughts and desires. For now, she wanted to think about her servants and the best way to provide for them, not linger on frivolities like her first kiss and Evander’s chest.
Och! I’m doing it again.
“Ye keep stomping on the soil like that and we might just have an earthquake, M’Lady,” Lesley drawled.
Keira only huffed and tried to soften her footsteps. Her friend was right. She was thinking about this harder than she ought to.
Perhaps she should shove the thoughts somewhere in the back of her mind she would not be able to reach. Evander was a laird anyway; there was a great chance he was already married, and unless his wife was?—
Was she dead? Keira hadn’t seen her around. Maybe he was widowed.
Something about that thought made the corners of her lips quirk up for the briefest of moments.
Then, like flowers in the spring and a hot drought, her smile withered just as quickly. Evander may not be widowed. Maybe his wife was on the way with the rest of his people. He did mention that more of them were to arrive a few days later.
“Did he ask ye to leave the Great Hall for him? Did he want the chairs changed because he couldnae sit in the same place ye did?”
“Dinnae be ridiculous, Lesley.”
“Me mind will keep entertaining different scenarios if ye tell me nothing. Should I be afraid? Angry? I dinnae ken.”
Keira swallowed as they walked through a copse of trees and were temporarily shielded from the setting sun.
Now would be the time.
The fragmented rays of the setting sun danced across their faces as they walked, the thought echoing louder in Keira’s head.
She could tell Lesley all about the kiss now and seek her advice. They could both talk about it, and her friend would advise her on what to do and what not to do. And at the very least, she would not have to carry this burden with her anymore.
“I need to speak with Harold,” she ended up saying instead.
