She shook her head. “Aye. I am certain that is what ye will see for the rest of the month.”
“If it is,” he said, “then it suits me.”
“It doesnae matter if it’s nae real. Do ye nae hear me? We havenae even started, and I am already tired of lying.”
“It can be as real as we make it,” he said. “Or as false. Choose.”
She lifted her chin. “If I choose real, what then? Do ye kiss me in there when Grandmamma watches? Do ye let the girls think they are getting a maither? Do ye ask me to play Lady to the guards and servants around the castle?”
“Ye can pick and choose what duties ye would like to fulfill. To everyone in the castle, ye are to be me wife. Ye daenae have to worry about anything else,” he said. “In public, we make it clean. In private, we keep clear.”
She blew out a breath that shook a little. “It willnae be easy.”
“Nothing worth holding is easy,” he said.
She tried to laugh and failed. “Listen to us. Ye sound like a priest.”
He did not smile. “I sound like a man trying to keep ye safe without insulting ye.”
“And I sound like a woman who cannae stand needing anyone,” she said.
“Aye,” he agreed. “Ye do.”
They were too close now. The torch bracket at the bend threw a low light that lit one side of his face and left the other in shadow.
Erica felt the pull of him, unwelcome and undeniable. He looked at her mouth for the briefest breath, then back at her eyes, as if he had caught himself at a drop.
Her arms were still folded. She could feel the strain in her shoulders. She let them drop because holding so tight made her shake. She felt Alex’s gaze as he watched the motion.
“Ye are a hard man,” she said.
“Aye,” he said. “And fair.”
She tried to smile. “Fair is worse. It leaves me with less to hate.”
He moved then. Not suddenly or out of roughness. He lifted his hand, and his knuckles traced the side of her face, featherlight, as if testing if she would flinch. She did not. He slid his fingers to the back of her head and drew her in.
“Is this what ye want?” he asked, so close that she felt the words.
She did not step back. “Alex…”
She hated and loved the word at once.
“Ye want this to be sure we are doing the right thing?”
He leaned in even further, and his breath fanned her face. Her knees weakened.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
“Alex—”
“Ye want to be certain, do ye nae?” he cut her off. His voice was lower now. Softer too.
They weren’t in public. They didn’t have to do this.
Erica told herself that over and over until he closed the space between them and sealed his mouth over hers.
The kiss was not rough, but it was not soft either. It was the kind of kiss that said,This is the ground, and this is how we stand on it.Her hands rose to his chest, but she did not push him back. When he lifted his head an inch, neither of them moved.
