He arched a brow. “Where else would they be?”
“And ye expectmetae stay here as well?”
He leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, clearly enjoying himself. “Me wife is expected tae share me chamber. It is tradition.”
“Tradition,” she echoed faintly.
“Aye.”
Her brain chose that exact moment to stop functioning. Before she could even form a proper objection, her body acted for her and she turned to bolt.
She barely made it two steps.
Baird moved faster than she thought a man of his size capable of, stepping in front of her just as she spun toward the hall. She collided with him full force, with her palms smacking against the firm breadth of his chest and her breath catching in her throat. His hands came up on instinct: one was bracing her back, and the other closed around her upper arm to steady her.
“Davina,” he asked sounding both surprised and amused. “What dae ye think ye’re daeing?”
She stared up at him, feeling her cheeks blazing. “I was simply?—”
“Fleeing?” he supplied.
“Nay!”
“Aye, ye were.”
His eyes were very close, sharp and unbearably steady. Her heart thudded so loudly she wondered if he could also hear it. For onesuspended moment, the world narrowed to the heat of his hands on her and the rasp of his breath mingling with hers.
It wasimproper. It was wildly inappropriate. And it made her feel lightheaded.
“I was nae fleeing,” she whispered, though it sounded unconvincing, even to her own ears.
The edge of his mouth curved. “Then what were ye daeing?”
Her reply tangled in her throat.
He leaned just a fraction closer, enough that she felt the warmth of him everywhere. “Tell me.”
Her lips parted. Her pulse pounded. She couldn’t breathe.
She barely managed a response. “Ye startled me.”
“Did I now?” he murmured.
“Aye,” she said, far too quickly.
His thumb brushed her arm before he released her, slow enough to make her skin burn in the place his touch had lingered.
He stepped back just enough to give her space, though his gaze remained fixed on hers. “Nay need tae run, lass,” he said quietly. “I dinnae bite.”
Her face flamed even hotter, and she blurted the first words that came to mind.
“Ye should stop trying tae unsettle me.”
“Why?” he asked, voice threaded with dangerous amusement. “Is it working?”
“Nay,” she lied.
He smiled. She looked away, flustered and furious with herself. The moment stretched, warm and breathless and far too intimate for a pair of practical strangers. A moment later, she drew a steadying breath and crossed her arms, as though firmness might help her regain control over her own racing pulse.
