“Calm yerself, lass.” He forced her to sit before taking a seat at her side. “I ken this castle as well as I ken me own. I will sneak ye back in through the back door, naebody has to ken what nearly happened here.” His jaw clenched as he thought of the man. “Do ye ken who he was?”
Melissa shook her head again, pulling his jacket back over her chest as the shoulder slipped past her arm. Daniel was a great deal bigger than her, making his jacket an ill-fitting garment to cover herself. “He never said where he was from, only that his name was Ethan McGregor. I hadn’t spoken to him until my mother introduced us.”
“Yer maither needs to do a better job with the men she chooses for her daughter,” he said almost angrily, remembering the hand Daphne had played in bringing the man to Melissa.
Melissa was quick to come to her mother’s defense. “Don’t blame her, she means well.”
Daniel furrowed his brow as he racked his brain for a family name. He’d never seen the man at any of the gatherings before, yet he had to have come from somewhere if he had been invited. That was if he had been invited at all, there was still every chance that the man had wandered in by chance.
“I’ll ask Darragh if he kens who the man was. We can deal with him in the morning.”
“No!” Melissa’s eyes filled with panic once again as she reached for his hand. “You must promise me that what happened here tonight will stay between the two of us,” she pleaded, squeezing his fingers in an attempt to convey the urgency she felt.
“I ken that yer worried, lass, but we will have to deal with the bastard…” he trailed off as he saw the fear in her eyes.
Behind the feisty rule breaker and the thorn in his side for all those years hid a woman who was deeply afraid for her reputation. He took pity on her for that, not wanting to ruin her chances of finding a suitable match.
“Please keep this between the two of us… I don’t even want Avery or my mother to know.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“Aye,” he relented against his better judgment. “I willnae say anything to anyone.” He took a deep breath, biting back the anger he felt toward a man that would take advantage of a woman on her own.
“Thank you.” Relief flooded her face as she shut her eyes, sinking back into the bench. “I owe you a great deal for coming to my aid.” She took a deep breath. “And now for keeping my secret like this.”
“Will ye watch where yer going from now on?” he asked seriously, a mischievous glint in his eyes betraying the jest underneath. A trait they seemed to share despite the hatred they both seemed to harbor toward one another.
Looking down, Melissa spotted the section on his coat where the ale had left a fist-sized stain. She rolled her eyes before smiling at him. “Don’t you think that’s asking a bit much? I mean younearlysaved my life.” She gave him a fake glare. “It’s not as if he had done anything yet. I would say yes to your request if you had actually earned that much.”
Mumbling under his breath, Daniel shook his head at the irritation she managed to arouse in him once again. The woman was more insufferable than anyone he had ever met in his life. Even in her current state, she managed to bring the worst out in him. Her only saving grace was the fact that his anger was focused on the man who was probably far away by now, that was if he hadn’t passed out from the amount of blood he had lost.
Daniel had a very strict code that he lived by when it came to women: he never wanted to marry or sire an heir, so he would lie with one whenever he pleased and continue on with his life. Yet, that didn’t mean he agreed with men taking advantage as they pleased, despite his reputation for being a rake. He clenched his jaw once again in anger at the memory of what had taken place.
“I am truly thankful. What made you come after me?” Melissa said gently, placing her hand on his knee.
Looking up again, he saw the sincerity in her beautiful brown eyes. Melissa was a truly beautiful woman, despite the fact that she drove him up the wall on a regular basis.
Searching her face and the honesty in her eyes, he asked himself why he had noticed that she’d left the room without a chaperone. He could reason with himself that he’d heard the scream, but why had he been paying such close attention to her in the first place? It wasn’t as if she had been close enough for him to hear her conversations, yet he’d kept an eye on her from the moment she’d set foot in the hall.
“I had to keep an eye on ye to ensure that ye werenae assaulting any of the other guests,” he said a little more gruffly, his failure to find a reason grating on his nerves and rousing his anger.
Sighing heavily, she shook her head and looked away from him. “Of course, you were. At least you’re acting normal now.” She stood in an attempt to walk away from him, allowing the shoulder of his jacket to slip down her arm once again. “I will endeavor to never get into a situation like that again.” She glared earnestly this time. “If you promise to never try and save me again.”
They both seemed to lapse back into their usual state of bickering.
Reaching for the part of the fabric that had once again slipped from her shoulder, he attempted to cover her breasts as he stood. Wanting to save some of her modesty for the unlucky soul that would one day become her husband.
Whoever the poor bastard may be.
“Ye have a deal, may ye never need me help again,” he snapped.
“I’ll do that myself,” she answered hotly, yanking the lapels of the coat from his hands, and further exposing her chest before she could cover herself again.
“Melissa!” someone suddenly gasped, causing them both to look up.
A small crowd of people stood at the now open doors, looking from one to the other as Melissa quickly folded his coat over her chest. She and Daniel blushed a bright red as they both realized how it would seem to their audience.
Avery and Daphne stood at the front of the crowd with shocked looks on their faces as the guests whispered to one another in hushed tones. The thing that bothered Daniel the most wasn’t the fact that everyone had now seen him in a compromised state with a woman he despised, but the look on his best friend’s face.
Right beside Avery and her mother stood the irate figure of Darragh Ramsay, the accusation clearly written across his face as he held his friend’s gaze. His blue eyes were cool beneath the single scar on his eyebrow and his neat black hair.
