Page 30 of Highlander of Steel
Nay! Nay, daenae start… swoonin’! Stop that, at once!
If she gave in and let him kiss her again, then her resolve to leave would shatter. Skye was counting on her to fix this mess; Ailis wouldn’t let her down.
“Do ye really want to find out?” Killian murmured.
Aye.
“Nay,” she replied. “But I want to be treated like a guest. I want freedom to roam where I please until Ifeellike retirin’ to me chambers.”
Killian’s clenched fists had whitened at the knuckles, as if it was taking all of his willpower not to throw her over his shoulder again. She was getting under his skin; she could see it in his tight jaw.
Would a kiss soothe ye?
Her mind flashed back to that moment. If she were to grab his shirt and rise on her tiptoes, would he kiss her? Would he pull away, as he had done before? If she asked him to come to her chambers, would he follow?
She shook her head as if getting rid of an irksome insect. She had no time to be thinking of such things when it would come to naught. She couldn’t indulge such dangerous desires when there were others in need.
“Actually,” she said, feigning a sarcastic yawn, “Iamtired now. This conversation has exhausted me.”
His eyes flashed.
“Good night.”
Turning on her heel, she walked as casually as she could in the direction of her room, keenly aware of his gaze burning into her back.
Beneath the crackle of the torches and the whistle of the wind down the corridor and the ever-present whisper of the sea, she could have sworn she heard him say, “It willnae be.”
11
Curse him for sayin’ that.
Ailis had not slept well, lying awake half the night, expecting to hear her door creak open. When she had managed to doze off, the merest sound had woken her again, her mind overly alert.
All because of Killian. Killian and his parting words.
Shehad assumed he would visit her, as he had done the night before. Now, rubbing her tired eyes, she wondered if he had been talking about himself. Or maybe he had known that saying such a thing would ensure that she didn’thave a good night.
Either way, she was exhausted.
I daenae haveto leave me room. I could just go back to sleep.
She considered it for a moment, tempted, but a polite knock at the door put an end to the notion of a lazy day in bed.
The maid, Rachel, entered with an uncharacteristic smile. “I thought I heard ye stirrin’,” she said brightly.
Ailis frowned, squinting at her with bleary eyes. “How long were ye out there?”
“An hour,” Rachel replied, absent the usual breakfast tray.
Indeed, she was strangely empty-handed.
“Ye should have woken me up instead of waitin’ out there,” Ailis said, a little short. Shehadjust woken up, after all. “I wouldnae have minded much.”
The maid waved a dismissive hand. “I couldnae do that, me Lady. A bride needs all the beauty sleep she can get.” She bustled over to the wardrobe and threw the doors wide. “Now, I’ve already asked Paisley to make ye some concoctions to brighten yer skin and make yer hair even glossier, and to soften yer hands. But we still have the matter of yer weddin’ gown to discuss, and there’s nae much time to have it made. Is there a color ye prefer?”
Ailis didn’t know where to begin. For starters, she wasn’t aware that her skin needed brightening or that her hair needed glossing or that her hands were particularly rough. Most of all, she wasn’t aware that she had agreed to beKillian’s bride, unlessshe had sleepwalked to his chambers in the night and given her enthusiastic consent.
“I daenae need a weddin’ gown,” she said firmly. “There willnae be a weddin’.”
