He thought of how wet and hot she’d been, how her sweet little hips had pressed against his hand, how preciously close she’d been to release.
He cursed the sudden rush of heat to his groin, his cock brought to quick life by the memories. His body still throbbed from the abrupt curtailment of their passion.
Damn Hector.
His heart skipped a beat at the sound of the door opening, thinking foolishly that it might be Flora coming back. But it was only his sister.
“What happened?” Gilly asked anxiously. “I saw Flora rush out of here, looking close to tears.”
“There’s nothing to worry about, Gilly. Go back to your chamber.”
“Does it have something to do with the messenger I saw arriving earlier?”
He frowned. It wasn’t like Gilly to ignore his instructions. Flora was having more of an influence over his sisters than he realized. And he didn’t like it. He was about to repeat his directive when Gilly placed her hand on his arm, an affectionate sisterly gesture—and also, he realized, a rare one. When had his sisters stopped touching him? As girls, they always climbed all over him, giggling with some jest or prank.
“Please, I’m not a child. I only want to help.”
He gave her a long look, seeing the adorable face—no longer of a child, but of a young woman almost six and ten—and felt a sharp pang of melancholy. Of longing. How had it happened? How had his sisters grown up without his realizing it? He knew there was nothing he could have done to change it; he’d been consumed with fighting and protecting his clan. But that didn’t mean he did not regret that circumstances were not different. That he’d not had more time for his brother and sisters. Regret made all the more poignant by his brother’s imprisonment. But he would get him back.
“Please,” Gilly repeated.
Lachlan didn’t discuss clan business with his sisters, partially out of consideration for their innocence. He thought he was protecting them by keeping his troubles from them. But this time, he relented. A wry smile turned his mouth. His sisters, it seemed, weren’t the only ones affected by Flora MacLeod. “It was a message from Duart.”
“Flora’s brother? But I didn’t think youreallyintended to write to him and propose the exchange?”
“I didn’t.” He hadn’t sent Hector a letter at all. It had all been a ruse to buy him precious time for wooing his recalcitrant bride.
“Then how did he find out so quickly that Flora was here?”
He’d been wondering the same thing. He could only hope that Hector wouldn’t alert Rory. There would be hell to pay if the MacLeod discovered what Lachlan had done before he secured her agreement.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “But I intend to find out.” He didn’t want to consider that one of his own people could betray him. But who else would know? He’d have to think on it.
“What did the note say?”
He felt the anger flare inside him again. Hector’s jabs were petty but struck hard nonetheless. He pulled it out and handed it to her. Gilly unfolded it and handed it right back to him, her brows furrowed. “It’s in Scots.”
“Exactly.”
She thought for a minute, before a look of disgust appeared on her face. “I see.”
“Yes, wasn’t it fortunate that the only person in the castle who could read it happened to be standing right beside me?” he said bitterly, unable to hide his sarcasm. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Normally, he didn’t react to Hector’s barbs, but Flora’s presence had caused him to lash out. Without intending it, she had a way of making him feel somehow lacking.
“You let Flora read it?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t have much choice.”
“What did it say?”
“Hector’s typical threats, nothing more. No doubt the main purpose was to shame me in front of his sister.” Hector never wasted an opportunity to prod Lachlan for his so-called barbarity. “I’m sure he’d be pleased to know how well it worked.” He would pay for that. As if Lachlan needed any more reason for revenge. He’d been looking forward to the day he would destroy Hector since he was nine years old.
Gilly scrunched up her nose. “That doesn’t sound like Flora.”
He hadn’t thought so, either. But why else would she ask to leave right after she’d discovered that he hadn’t been educated? Even after what had happened between them.
“Flora was raised in the Lowlands,” he said tensely. “With their biases.”
Gilly shook her head. “She’s not like that. She would not ill judge you for something that could not be helped. You forget, she’s been giving Mary and me daily instruction in Scots and Latin. Not once have I ever felt her pity or scorn. I don’t think your lack of education would in any way change her opinion of you.”
