“Are you incapable of sitting still?” she asked, sounding more irritated than she intended.
Diarmid turned to give her a brooding look. Except, Diarmid couldn’t really look brooding, and Cara found it was more adorable than anything. “Alright, no games for now,” he conceded. “But instead, we’ll be talking.”
Something in his tone told Cara that she wouldn’t like the topic of discussion. “About?”
“Feelings.” He grinned at her, that same, devious grin that normally caused a slight tightening in her belly. She didn’t know whether it was the fact that she held his hand or sat so near to him, but this time a swarm of butterflies materialized somewhere in her middle. A feeling she’d not had since Torna. A feeling she’d not wanted again after. But here, next to Diarmidin the warm, quiet hall, Cara thought it wasn’t as bad as she remembered.
“Have you always had trouble getting close to people?” he asked.
“Why should that matter?”
Diarmid squeezed her hand as he explained. “Look, you don’t have to tell me all your darkest secrets, but I’m wholly invested in making this alliance work. And there is clearly something that made you averse to things like this.” He gave her hand a jiggle for emphasis.
He was right, though she wasn’t about to tell him that. Cara realized not long after Torna left that something inside her had broken, and she’d not had any interest in repairing it. She had far more important duties to tend to than forcing herself through her discomfort. “I haven’t always had trouble withthis,” she replied, shaking his hand in return. “But I don’t care to talk about it any more than that.”
Diarmid’s eyes narrowed. Cara could see that he desperately wanted to press her on the matter, that he deliberated doing just that. She was grateful when he changed the topic instead.
“My father is a stubborn ass,” he said, his voice colder than she’d ever heard it. “He had no interest in us as children, and expected blind obedience the day we were old enough to carry a sword. That’s why it was so easy for the three of us—Cormac, Conan, and I—to walk away. We respect Brian, and so we follow him.”
Cara gave his strong hand a gentle squeeze. “My father was much the same,” she admitted. “And my mother and I were never terribly close either.”
“What of your sister?”
“Catrin and I were close when we were young.” But once Cara withdrew into herself, they’d grown further and further apart. “I still love her dearly, of course.”
“I know.” Diarmid looked at her, his expression unreadable. “You’d not be here otherwise.”
Cara wondered if perhaps she’d misjudged Diarmid. Not entirely, for there was no denying his roguish tendencies. But he did seem capable of takingsomethings seriously.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, his gold-flecked eyes staring straight through her.
“That perhaps you’re not as irritating as I thought.”
That grin again, as her insides fluttered and her heart picked up its pace. “I shall have to try harder, then.” Keeping his eyes fixed on hers, he slowly lifted her hand.
She jerked hers but managed not to pull it away entirely. “What are you doing?”
“You said he attempted to kiss your hand, did you not?” He resumed lifting her hand, his eyes lit like the hearth glowing from the center of the room. When Diarmid’s full attention fell on her, it felt as though the sun itself shone down, hot and bright and blinding. For an instant, Cara was put in mind of Torna. He wasn’t anywhere near as charismatic as Diarmid, but his attention had made her glow all the same.
But as Diarmid’s lips brushed the inside of her hand, any thoughts of Torna fell right out of her head. The man in front of her demanded all of her attention. His lips, firm and silky smooth, pressed a hot kiss in the center of her palm. A shiver coursed through her, one she knew he’d noticed.
“Do you know what I think, princess?” he purred.
Cara’s core melted into a puddle of heat every time he called her that, a sensation she wasnotprepared to revisit.
“I think that behind that icy fortress you’ve built around yourself, is a fire that you can’t quite contain. And it terrifies you.” He spoke into her hand, his hot breath igniting the sensitive spot where his lips had been.
“And I think you’re terribly full of yourself,” she shot back, hating how defensive she sounded.
He kissed her hand again, her treacherous body preening at his attention even as her heart warned her to stay far away. “One does not preclude the other, princess.” His hooded eyes issued a silent dare.
He knew what he was doing.Of course,he knew what he was doing. This man had bedded more women than Cara had owned dresses, she’d wager her life on it. He recognized the reactions he was getting from her.
“Why are you doing that?” she whispered.
“So you admit, it’s doing something.” He lowered her hand in his, resting them on the bench between them. “How do you feel about Sitric holding your hand now?”
She felt a lot better about Diarmid holding her hand, though she wasn’t entirely certain that was a good thing. “Better,” she decided quietly. “But that’s not…I don’t think that’s how he was trying to kiss me.”
