CHAPTER FOUR
“Kai!”
Yet Kai couldn’t listen to Ava anymore. He turned away from her, moving in a wild circle as he thought over everything she had just said. It was like a rain of crossbow bolts had struck him all at once.
Ava wanted to get married? She wished to marry a man like Laird Blair Grant, and worst of all, he was to be her teacher in seduction?
“Have ye lost all yer good sense?” He whipped back to face her, marching toward her. She was so alarmed that she backed up, in danger of colliding with her mare. He reached out sharply, looping an arm across her waist and pulling her forward into safety. “Ye’re going tae marry a man fer yer family’s fortune? Ye’re going tae sell yer soul, bind it to a man, bind yer body tae him–”
“Kai!” She shoved into his chest, but he didn’t let go.
“That’s what marriage is, Ava. Husbands and wives share their bodies. Dinnae tell me ye need me tae go through the mechanics of what happens between men and women.”
“I dinnae bloody need ye tae dae that,” she said venomously, planting both of her palms against his chest.
That touch did something to him. Kai looked down at what she was doing.
He’d made a decision long ago that he would never try to get Ava into his bed, out of fear of losing her. The more he resisted her, the more his attraction had turned into something far deeper. These days, he knew what to call it.
Aye, it’s love.
The thought of seeing the woman he loved marry another, even if he knew she was far beyond his own reach, was like being gutted by a blunted dirk.
“I ken what happens in a marriage,” she insisted swiftly. “I am nae doing this just fer fortune. I am doing this tae protect me sister. Laird Blair Grant’s reputation is nae as bad as Lyla’s suitor. Out of the two, which marriage is preferable?”
Ava pushed away from him, and he suddenly felt the coldness of the wind bristling in through the open doorway of the stable.He wanted Ava back in his arms, where she was warm and safe. “Ye and I both ken it’s a good plan. Better I’m married tae Blair Grant than Lyla is married tae that demon.”
Kai ran a hand over his face for a second, trying to buy some time before he had to answer her.
“Ye ken his reputation,” she pushed on, clearly not intending to give him much time to think. “How dae ye think he would treat Lyla? At least with Blair Grant, there is nay inkling he would be so cruel to his wife.”
Kai didn’t want to agree with her, though the wise voice somewhere in the back of his mind did indeed agree. Lyla’s suitor was known for his sadistic nature. If the rumors were true, he’d taken more than one woman by force. The mere thought made Kai not only physically sick but tempted to rip out the man’s throat with his bare hands.
“Laird Grant may be a good husband,” Ava whispered, her voice much closer than Kai had been prepared for. He lowered his hand from his face, angling his neck around so he could catch a glimpse of her at his side. She was deadly serious now, looking up at him with those hazel eyes, those perfect lips parted a little.
Blair Grant will be the man who gets tae kiss those lips. He’ll be the man she smiles at. He’ll be the one she loves.
Kai hadn’t known this feeling before. For a second, he thought he might fall over with dizziness, then he thought such an idea was foolish, and he was much more likely to ride out into thesnow until the cold made his whole body numb. Then, he had a better idea.
“I need a drink,” he muttered, marching for the door.
“What?” She must have abandoned the mare and followed him, for the next thing Kai knew, as he marched through the falling snow back toward the tavern, she was on his tail again. “Ye need a drink now?”
“Me dearest friend has just told me she’s going tae sacrifice herself tae help her sister. Aye, I need a drink.” He jerked open the door, hearing the usual chorus of curses from the drinkers inside who hated the sudden draught. He and Ava scuttled inside.
Ava looked tempted to run again, rethinking her actions to follow him, but he didn’t let her. He caught her hand instead and dragged her back toward his earlier table, urging her next to him.
“Ye’re going tae have tae stop touching me so much,” she hissed under her breath. “Men here really will think I’m selling meself.”
“They’d have tae kill me tae get tae ye,” he said with sudden fierceness. She looked at him, wide eyed, and her emotions rolled off her in apparent waves.
Shock.
He was a little disappointed that after all this time, the fact he was so protective of her would be a shock at all.
The barmaid came past the two of them, asking for their order with nothing more than a jerk of her chin.
“Two whiskies. None of that watered down beer ye’re passing around,” he added, to which she colored pink before she ran off.
