Eilidh quickly reviewed everything she’d just saidout loudand blushed anew.
“I sound like an idiot, don’t I?” she asked quietly.
“Nay,” Ailsa said quickly. “Nay, ye are fanciful, Eilidh, and ye sometimes let your imagination get the best of ye, but ye are no idiot. But it’s one thing to daydream and another thing to let your better judgment slip away from ye. So just don’t forget your cautious side, aye? I’ve been corresponding with Graham, and he feels the same. We both think that the best thing to do here is to be cautious—at least until Ciaran has a chance to prove himself.”
Eilidh fought an inner war between recognizing her sister’s wisdom and her ongoing desire to defend Ciaran. Before either side could win, however, the door to the library burst open and Lady Kirsty strode in.
And just like that, the fancy had her in its grip again. Because she would need to learn how to deal with Lady Kirsty if she was thinking of a future with the Gunn Clan.
“Lady Kirsty!” she cried, jumping to her feet so quickly that she nearly toppled Ailsa back in the window seat. She would apologize to her sister in a moment. “How good to see you! I must say, I was hoping to speak with you more closely after the hustle and bustle of the banquet the other night. Would you care to join me for tea?”
There, that had sounded like she was equipped to be a grand lady, didn’t it?
Belatedly, she remembered that someone had tried to poison Ailsa at that banquet. Darn. A grand lady probably wouldn’t have let that detail slip, even for a second. It would be fine, though. She would just make certain that Lady Kirsty tasted everything first. Then, Eilidh could confirm that she wasn’t the poisoner, which would help the lady ofBuchananKeep as well as show her suitability for the position amongst the Gunns.
See? She was getting the hang of this already.
Eilidh blinked, and she realized from the way that Lady Kirsty was looking at her that she had let herself get carried away daydreaming for a little too long.
But instead of looking annoyed or disappointed or exasperated, Kirsty looked intrigued.
“Do you know, Miss Eilidh,” she said, a gleam in her eye, “I think I would like that very much, indeed.”
Kirsty was up to something.
This was, Ciaran reasoned, not ultimately that surprising. Kirsty was always up to something.
But this time, she seemed to have looped Eilidh into her… machinations.
Ciaran did not like it. He took a bite of his food but didn’t taste much of anything.
He also didn’t like that he couldn’t figure out what Kirsty and Eilidh had their heads bent together about, not when he was trying his best not to look her in the eye.
He had not behaved honorably earlier.
It wasn’t even the kiss—well, yes, obviously it was the kiss, but that had been born of desperation. Eilidh had been poised to look in the armory, where Black and his minion would still have been lurking. Ciarancould notallow her to see them. His guts clenched miserably at the mere idea of them seeing Eilidh. He couldn’t bear the idea that she would get any more attention from Gordon than she already had.
So, he had kissed her. That had been a tactical move, albeit something of an unorthodox one.
The dishonorable part had come after. When he’d enjoyed it.
He’d enjoyed it a great deal, had beenconsumedby it. And, just for a little while, he’d let his control slip. He’d almost lost himself in the taste of her, the feel of her in his arms.
But then his control had returned—or some form of it, at least—and he had remembered that he could not be doing this, that he couldn’t let himself get any closer to her.
He’d basicallyshovedher away. And then he’d run.
Like a coward.
Ciaran Gunn had never been a coward a day in his life. He’d faced swords, cannonfire, muskets… He’d stared down a line of red-clad soldiers as far as the eye could see.
But from this slip of a lass with her dreamy expression and her pert, fey features?
He’d run.
And now he could barely even look at her.
Not that she was making it easy on him. He kept finding himself giving in to his ridiculous urge to glance in her direction to make certain that whatever nonsense Kirsty was dipping in her ear, it wasn’t about him.
