Vivien nodded, turning to the soldiers posted on either side of the door.
“You may leave us,” she said, as sternly as possible – hoping that it would brook no retort from the men and that they would not say a thing to Reginald about it. As improper as it was, she hoped that her standing as Lady Stone would stay their mouths from saying a thing about it.
The soldiers hesitated, looking at each other briefly before exiting the room, closely followed by Kieran’s companions. Each of them gave her a once-over as they passed her, their glances ranging from curiosity to disinterest. It was all Vivien could do to keep her spine straight as she waited for the doors to be closed behind them. She sighed in relief; she was finally alone with Kieran.
Vivien turned to face him, her hands clasped in front of her, chin held up high again. No matter what he did to her emotionally or physically, she was still a Lady, and nothing would strip her of her dignity at that moment. She waited, with bated breath, for Kieran to say something.
The silence that stretched out between them was nothing short of torture. Vivien felt herself buckling under his gaze, torn between running into his arms and demanding that he speak his mind so that she could return to her miserable life.
“You wished to speak to me alone, Sir Kieran. Please, speak,” she said, when she could no longer bear the silence.
* * *
Kieran thought his heart would stop beating in his chest at the sight of Vivien walking through the door to the parlor.
With all the wisdom he felt he had accumulated in all his years, he would never have guessed that she was Lady Stone.
His first reaction was one of utter joy – there she was, his Sassenach – standing in front of him, looking as glorious as she had the day that he had found her in the forest. He had found her without trying. Fate had brought them together again, he thought for a brief second. It was a sign, surely? To stumble upon her in the least likely place he had thought he would.
His heart rate picked up the pace, quickening to a rhythm he felt was surely too fast for his body to handle. Kieran’s palms grew sweaty the longer he looked at her face, drinking her in as much as he possibly could.
He had been convinced he would never see Vivien again.
Her lips looked just as kissable as they had that day; her constant worrying at her lower lip with her teeth caused her lips to appear pinker than they ordinarily would have been. Kieran had to fight the urge to grab her up in his embrace, to taste her again. Hair wavy tresses softened her smooth skin even further; her porcelain skin glowed as she lit up at the sight of Kieran.
Her reaction caused a reaction within his own body – he could feel his loins tightening with need. The Sassenach was truly bewitching, those big green eyes meeting his with an intensity he felt everyone in the room would be able to feel.
That no one seemed to pick up on his overwhelming attraction to her was a blessing. She was a lady of standing; she could hardly afford for the guards behind her to realize that they knew each other.
And with that, the feeling of bliss faded like a flower in drought.
It was replaced by nothing less than the feeling of a deep betrayal, followed swiftly by anger.
She had lied to him. The woman who had been dancing through his dreams for nights on end was a married woman. And not just married to any man – no, she was married to the one man Kieran knew in his gut was there to do nothing but cause trouble for his clan.
Lives had been lost to these Englishmen, men who were surely under Lord Stone’s command.
Kieran’s heart plummeted into his stomach at the thought that his Sassenach – the Lady Vivien Stone, he corrected himself – was a married woman of noble status. He didn’t think he could feel any more pain than he did at that moment; it was as if someone was twisting a knife in his heart, digging deeper and deeper into his core.
Her calm demeanor only served to fuel his anger. He was struggling to hold himself in check, not only from bursting out in rage but also on a much more physical level. Kieran still could not deny that the only thing he wanted to do was hold Vivien close to him, heartbroken or not.
He managed to reign his rage in, calming himself down as much as he could, his breathing slow and steady as he forced himself to focus on the here and now.
The only thing he could think to do was to ask for a private audience with Vivien. He knew that he would give away the fact that he had met her before if they stayed in the presence of her guards and his men. That was something he was not prepared to have to explain to Bailey and his men. Of course, that would mean his sister would get involved as well, thanks to Bailey’s lack of control when it came to telling her anything and everything that was none of her business. Kieran certainly couldn’t bear to have to deal with Tilly’s judgment on top of the conundrum he now found himself in.
“Yer married to Lord Stone,” Kieran said, a few moments after the door had closed behind the men. It was not a question. Saying it out loud only served to make him feel even worse – the lie she had told him was eating at his bones like acid.
“I am,” she said, turning to face the large window, seeming to lose her focus as she stared out of it.
“Why didn’t ye tell me?” Kieran found that his anger was tinged with despair, a completely unfamiliar feeling to him. He could not understand it – how could he be furious, heartbroken, and excited all the same time?
He wiped his hands on his trousers, trying to wipe the sweat off them. His hands were shaking, he noticed, but whether it was from anger or desire, he couldn’t be sure.
“I don’t know,” she said softly, turning to look at him. “I’ve asked myself the same question every day since we…” her voice trailed off as though she were lost in thought. Vivien shook her head as though to dislodge whatever had settled like a mantle on her shoulders.
“Since we kissed, ye mean?” Kieran couldn’t help himself. He wanted Vivien to know – to realize – that what she had done was incredibly unfair to him. To her husband.
Kieran found he could not understand why she had lied. But he knew that if she had told him who she truly was, that he would never have kissed her in the first place. It was not only improper, but it also went against everything he believed in as a man of honor.
