“No,” Charlie agreed, eyes locked on Niall’s. “Sometimes it’s about those we find along the way.”
Irene MacAskill’s words echoed in her head.Will ye stay on this path, the one of cynicism and loneliness, or will ye take a chance and walk the path that will lead ye to the one who will help ye open yer heart and heal.
“Aye,” Niall murmured. “It is.”
Charlie suddenly felt like she was falling. His eyes, such a bright, vivid green, seemed so deep that she could drown in them. Her gaze fell to his lips. Those, full, smooth lips that had felt so good against her own. Her skin tingled where his fingers brushed hers and all of a sudden she wanted to kiss him more than she wanted anything in the world. All she had to do was lower her guard, give in to the crazy emotions that were swirling through her, and allow them to sweep away all her caution. All she had to do was lean down and press her lips to his...
But she would lose herself if she did. Instinctively she knew that right here, right now, she stood at the edge of a precipice and that if she took one more step, she would fall. She would fall into him and there would be no coming back. And that thought terrified her. What had happened to her cynicism? What had happened to her common sense?
So instead, she rose from the desk and walked around the other side of it, putting some space between herself and Niall. She could feel his eyes tracking her movements as she walked but she dare not look at him. She didn’t know what she would do if she saw the same desire in his eyes that was rampaging through her right now.
“I...I’d better go,” she said softly.
He rose from his chair. “Stay.”
The word hung heavy in the air between them. Charlie did look at him then and found his eyes dark and filled with longing. Heat curled up through her stomach.
Stay.
It took all of Charlie’s willpower to say the words she spoke next. “I can’t. The kiln will be up to temperature by now and I can’t leave it.”
It was, perhaps, the poorest excuse she’d ever come up with. But it was all she had and she clung to it like a drowning woman clinging to a piece of driftwood.
“I...um...I’ll see you later.”
He said nothing as she turned and hurried to the door.
Stay.
Oh God, how she wished she could. But she forced her feet through the doorway, pulled the door shut behind her, and fled through the house before she had the chance to change her mind.
***
NIALL WAS WOKEN BYsomebody pounding on his chamber door. He blinked his eyes open and then wished he hadn’t. The events of yesterday came flooding back. The fire at the mill. Confronting Boyd MacAllister. Finding his brother, Bryce, there. The tender moment he’d shared with Charlotte and then her fleeing from him.
Black despair washed over him. He rolled over in bed.
“Go away,” he mumbled.
“Niall?” Flora’s muffled voice came from the other side. “Niall Campbell, are ye going to lounge in bed all day?”
Aye, he said to himself.That’s exactly what I’m going to do.
What point was there in getting up?
But his housekeeper was having none of it. The door opened and she burst into the room like a hurricane, bringing a cold draft of morning air in with her. She crossed to the window and pulled the drapes, and the sunlight all but blinded him.
“Flora,” he growled. “Last I looked,Iwas the laird around here and ye were my employee. And last I looked, employees did as they were bloody well told.”
“Humph,” Flora said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. “Well this employee will be damned if she’s going to let ye wallow in here all day like a sulking child. Yer people need ye, my laird.”
No they don’t, Niall thought.Everything I touch goes wrong. They’d be better off without me.
Ugh. Self-pity did not suit him. It sat in his gut like a stone.
“All right,” he groaned. “Ye win.” He threw back the covers and swung his feet out of bed. “Look, I’m up. See?”
Flora’s scowl did not let up but she gave a tiny nod. “Ye’ve missed breakfast so ye’ll have to make do with whatever’s left over.”
