The inconvenient attraction he felt for her, however, he could do something about. Ignore, distract, and be rid of her as soon as possible—that was his plan.
But securing a quick betrothal had taken on a new urgency.
Cate’s heart caught when she saw him across the room. This was it. This was the moment for which she’d been dreaming. She waited for lightning to strike. For him to see her for the first time as a woman—adesirablewoman.
She waited. And waited. But his gaze skimmed over her without the barest flicker before returning to his brother.
And just like that, the moment passed.
She blinked, stunned. She’d been so certain that this time he would notice her, it seemed impossible that he hadn’t.
She tried not to be disappointed, but Gregor’s lack of reaction to her appearance crushed her newfound confidence in her femininity like the bud of a flower under a boot.
Maybe there was something wrong with her? Maybe she didn’t have what other women had that made them attractive to men—sensually attracted, not “you’re a great friend” attracted.
Wait. Perhaps he hadn’t recognized her or couldn’t see her from the distance across the Hall?
Sadly not. He crossed the Hall, greeted them both, and didn’t make one comment about her dress or hair. She might as well have been wearing a sackcloth, for all that he noticed. Indeed, his notice seemed to have been diverted elsewhere. Namely to the bodice of the gown of the prior seneschal’s widow, Màiri, whom Cate knew had shared his bed on more than one occasion in the past.
Cate’s mouth tightened. Perhaps the change in her appearance had not been as dramatic as John’s reaction had led her to believe, and Gregor needed a little help to see it?
The moment the widow walked away, Cate diverted Gregor’s attention from the other woman’s sashaying hips back to her by stepping slightly in front of him to block his view. “I’m wearing a new dress,” she pointed out.
His jaw appeared to tighten before he turned his gaze to meet hers. The quick once-over he did of the gown was hardly longer than the passing glance he’d given her earlier. “It’s nice.”
It’snice? Not even a “youlook nice”? Good gracious, the man handed out compliments to every other woman like they were sweets to bairns, and all he could manage for her wasnice?
She glared at him. “Do you think the color flattering? Your mother thought so when she bought it for me, but I wasn’t sure.”
She saw the telltale tic of annoyance appear on his jaw, but as she was rather annoyed herself, she paid it no mind.
“It’s certainly an improvement over the brown you were wearing earlier.”
Cate gasped in outrage. The beast! He meant the mud!
Her eyes narrowed, anger replacing her earlier disappointment. Was he purposefully being dense? Didn’t he realize that she was practically banging him over the head to get him to notice her?
Apparently, her banging was too subtle. She straightened, sticking her chest out the way Seonaid did whenever she came within fifty yards of him. “You do not think it’s too tight? I’ve grown quite a bit in the past two years.”
For one long heartbeat his eyes dropped. She sucked in her breath, feeling singed, as if a slow-moving wildfire were sweeping across her chest. Yet, oddly, her nipples hardened the way they did in a cold bath. The heat and hardness were a heady sensation, making her skin flush with a heavy tingle. It was as if her body were the string of aclàrsachthat had just been strummed.
She felt her knees grow weak. Something hot and powerful fired between them. Something that made the air feel thick with tension. She knew she would see heat reflected in his gaze—the desire that she’d longed for.
But his eyes when they returned to hers weren’t hot at all—they were cool and distant.
“If the gown is uncomfortable, you can go change,” he said indifferently. “We will wait to start the meal. But don’t take too long—I’m hungry.”
He turned back to John, who’d been listening to the conversation with an odd expression on his face, and Cate didn’t know whether to cry or kick the handsome clod in his leather-clad backside.
She was saved from making the decision by the appearance of Ete, who stepped out from the wooden partition behind the dais that separated the Hall from the corridor leading to the kitchens and the small room that served as the laird’s solar. Cate gave her a questioning look and the other woman nodded. The children were ready.
Anticipating that Gregor would not want this meeting to take place in public, Cate had asked Ete to bring the children to the laird’s solar.
She put her hand on Gregor’s arm, startling him from his conversation with his brother. He stiffened, the muscles in his arm turned as rigid as steel. Moss-green eyes fixed on hers with an intensity that made her shiver.
She dropped her hand, the tension emanating from him startling her. Good gracious, what was the matter with him? He acted like she had the plague.
“They are waiting for us,” she said hastily.
