“What else?” she asked, sounding more curious than ever.
“Rules,” he said simply. “There’s too many of them. They’re suffocatin’ yer spirit.”
“They are?”
“Arenae they?” he asked playfully.
“I’m not much for breaking rules,” she confessed, staring him dead in the eye. “I’m not drawn to danger.”
I cannae believe that.
He wanted to say this out loud. Hewould havesaid it out loud, but only if they were alone, which they were not. He had almost forgotten that there were others around them.
She had drawn him into this conversation with her voice of siren that had lured him right onto the rocky shores. And he wanted to listen to it even more, despite the danger.
“And here I was, thinkin’ ye’re an adventurer,” he teased, much to the delight of the entire group.
“Not all adventurers break rules,” she said, chuckling.
Somehow, he doubted that. And he hoped, against all common sense, that he would get the chance to prove he was right.
3
As the evening drew to a close and the castle quieted down, Keira could feel her heart beating erratically, a mix of excitement and uncertainty swirling within her. Frankly, she couldn’t stop thinking about Raphael. It left her both exhilarated and apprehensive about whether or not she should do something about it.
She found herself more and more drawn to this man she knew nothing about, and yet, at the same time, she wanted to know everything there was to know about him. It was something she had never felt before.
Neither had she felt that erratic beating of her heart. Or the constant blushing. Wait, she had blushed on other occasions, too. A man she had just met couldn’t have such command of her body and her reactions. Could he?
Maybe. That would explain why she wanted to push herself closer to him still, not even knowing what it meant. Was that thedesire her friends had talked about? And she was feeling it for a laird she hardly knew?
As Avery’s last story came to an end, Keira seized this opportunity to bid everyone goodnight. She could not keep fighting her own swirling emotions.
She needed to withdraw into the solitude of her chamber and sleep on everything that had happened. Maybe the morning would bring some clarity, and she would realize that she was simply being a silly London girl.
“I had such a lovely time.” She smiled. “But I think I shall call it a night. It is getting rather late.” She immediately stood up as she spoke, ready to head out.
“I believe it is time for us to do the same,” Joan agreed, and everyone else nodded in unison.
Keira felt relieved that she did not interrupt everyone’s good time.
She wished everyone a good night, the need to collect her thoughts and make sense of her budding feelings overwhelming her. The grand corridors of the castle felt both familiar and foreign as she wandered back to her chamber, lost in her thoughts.
There was something about the way those same corridors absorbed the sound of her footsteps, making her feel as if shewasn’t walking at all, but rather floating a few inches above the ground, like a ghost that did not belong here at all.
Keira entered her chamber, the soft glow of a lamp illuminating the room in a warm, comforting light. She closed the door, hoping to leave all that commotion outside. But that was easier said than done. She changed into her nightgown quickly and then lay down on the cozy bed, but her mind was far from sleepy.
Thoughts of Raphael danced in her head, and her heart fluttered with excitement and nervousness. She couldn’t get his deep, dark eyes out of her mind, the way he would look at her, the way he would make her blush with only the sound of his voice.
She wondered what he would sound like whispering in her ear, telling her that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. His warm breath would fan across her neck, and it would awaken all of her senses just before—
Keira!
She scolded herself silently, feeling her heart beat just a little faster. She tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position, but each time she closed her eyes, his image would appear in her mind. His laughter, his insightful words, and the way he had looked at her—it all played in a loop, a delightful memory that kept coming back to haunt her over and over again.
As the night wore on and sleep continued to elude her, Keira grappled with her swirling thoughts and emotions.
It is just a momentary infatuation.
