Page 85 of The Highlander's Virgin Widow
Keira swallowed and turned in the direction of the sound. Arthur stood a few yards before them, still slapping his hands. Then, she noticed it—the group of people standing right behind him.
She felt her blood run cold.
“What the—” She tensed up, words immediately failing her.
“I suppose congratulations are in order,” Arthur drawled, a mischievous smile spreading across his face.
Evander exchanged a confused look with Keira as more people joined them in the courtyard.
“Congratulations on what?” he asked
“Yer betrothal, of course,” Arthur responded.
Keira felt her breath hitch.
Nay.
“We all must congratulate LadyBlythe on getting engaged to the Laird,” Arthur added, before turning around to the growing crowd behind him. “Do we nae?”
“Congratulations.”
The word spread through the crowd like ants on a hill. Keira watched them all, at first reluctant with their congratulations. Then, slowly, the mild murmursturned into loud cheers and then a flurry of claps all around.
She stared at the crowd, feeling her skin crawl and her heart pound in her chest. As the claps went on, so did the dread that had seized her chest.
Nay. Nay. This isnae happening.
She turned to Evander, who had the same shocked look on his face, and she could see it beneath the shock and the frustration—anger.
Pure, unadulterated anger.
“Exactly,” he started to say, his voice rising above the din. “We held this cèilidh to announce our wedding. It shall be tomorrow.”
Another resounding cheer rippled through the crowd, but Keira felt like she was dying. Her eyes flitted from Evander to Arthur—who was still clapping, a victorious smile on his face—to the faces behind him, and then back to Evander.
It took everything in her not to claw at her throat. She was unable to breathe.
Evander seemed to notice her panic a little too late. “Keira?—”
Before he could reach for her, she turned on her heels, her eyes trained on the ground as she ran toward the castle. She blinked back tears as she burst through the crowd and their incessant cheers.
“Keira!” she could hear Evander call behind her again, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.
Not when she had just been dealt the worst blow of her life.
29
She could feel him coming right behind her as she made her way to her room.
“Dinnae come after me.”
“Keira, wait! I can explain.”
“Explain,” she echoed, as if the word sounded eerily strange to her. “Ye announced our wedding to the crowd. The only explanation ye should give is that ye had a moment of complete madness!”
“Keira!” Evander called, quickening his pace. “If ye just let me speak, ye will see why?—”
“I dinnae want to hear ye speak ever again, do ye hear me?! Leave me alone! Go away!”
