Page 44 of Beguiled By the Highlander
“She’s here.” Roisin shot her a bemused glance before indicating where their maid stood, just behind Roisin. “Why do ye want me?”
She didn’t, but could hardly admit that while Hugh Campbell still stood there, apparently oblivious to the fact he was blatantly overstepping his welcome. She gave him a tight smile, and belatedly he turned his attention to her and offered her a swift bow.
“Lady Isolde,” he said. He glanced at Roisin, and then the obvious appeared to strike him as he took a hasty step back and took his leave.
She expelled an exasperated breath before turning to her sister. “Are ye all right?”
“Aye.” Roisin sounded decidedlynotall right. “Hugh is most charming, Izzie.”
“He’s a Campbell,” she hissed. “So be wary. And don’t be afraid to tell him to stop bothering ye, either.”
“He wasn’t bothering me. I was telling him about my illustrated histories of the Tuatha De Danann.”
Momentarily speechless, she stared at Roisin. Her sister rarely spoke to anyone she didn’t know well, and as for sharing anything about her precious work with someone outside the family, well. It was unheard of.
Obviously, Hugh possessed the same charm as his cousin, and look where that had got them.
“Just...” she hesitated, biting back the warning that hovered on her tongue. Just be careful? The way she had been so careful with Njord before she’d discovered who he really was? “Just remember who he is, that’s all.”
“I will,” her sister promised. “Don’t worry about me.”
Thatwould only happen when Hugh Campbell left Eigg. Except he’d only leave when William did. And unless the elusive miracle she hoped for appeared, when William sailed, she’d also be leaving her beloved Isle.
And she’d be leaving her sisters.
It seemed like a lifetime ago when she’d so foolishly wished that she’d give anything if only he decided not to board the ship and sail away from her. But the fates had heard and granted her wish, in the twisted way wishes were always granted.
He wasn’t sailing away from her. And the price she had to pay would scar her heart forever.
Her stomach churned, and she gripped the edges of her shawl as Roisin and Grear left the hall. For ten years the shadow of this impending marriage had hung over her. But until now, she hadn’t allowed herself to think of everything she’d lose.
The Isle was her strength. But her sisters were her blood. Would she ever see them again if she wed William?
William, damn him, was waiting for her outside her grandmother’s chamber. How dare he look so dashing? If only she’d had the good sense to tidy up her windswept appearance before this meeting. Not that she cared what he thought of her anymore. That had long passed.
What a pity she could see through her own lies so easily.
“Good morn, my lady.” He appeared uncommonly pleased with himself, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Clearly, his early visit to the kirk had not thrown any obstacles in his committedpath of undertaking an irregular ceremony at the end of the week.
“That depends on a satisfactory resolution to the negotiations,” she shot back, irked that he was so damncheerfulabout everything.
“Rest assured, ye’ll have no cause to be dissatisfied, Isolde.” His voice dropped to an intimate whisper which caused contemptible desire to ripple through her, momentarily paralyzing her good sense. “Tis not yer fortune I want in my bed.”
Instantly, the vision of them clasped together in the box bed the other night thundered through her mind, and to her intense irritation, her cheeks heated. She refused to recall all the foolish things she’d said to him when she’d imagined him so noble, since she couldn’t take any of it back, and the last thing she was going to do was wilt in front of him.
“I cannot fathom why ye want an unwilling bride in yer bed.”
“I don’t.” His grin was utterly infuriating. “And I won’t, either.”
How ignoble of him to throw that in her face. Even worse, she feared he wasn’t wrong, and it stung her pride. Aye, that was all. Simply her pride. “Then what do ye call this?”
He sighed, and for a fleeting moment it wasn’t William Campbell who stood before her but Njord, a man without a past, and sorrow pierced through her for the loss of something that had never truly been real.
“I don’t know, Isolde. Can ye honestly tell me ye feel nothing for me anymore?”
How she wished she could tell him she felt nothing but contempt for him. But despite how he’d tricked her, she still wanted him. It was demeaning, but that didn’t make it untrue.
“I feel a great many things about ye. And every one of them vexes me greatly.”
