Killian looked up when she opened the door to his study and entered.
“Are you busy?”
“Lily, come, please,” he said the moment he saw her come in.
Killian got up from his chair in a rush and nearly knocked off some scrolls from it as he hurried around it to walk towards her. His strides were quick, and he reached her as she closed the door.
“Did ye need somethin’? Are ye all right?” He touched her shoulder and gently turned her around to face him. “How are yer wounds?”
“I am all right,” Lily answered in a light tone. “Niamh is asleep in my chamber. She did not want to be alone, so I could not leave her till she fell asleep. She is all right, though—just shaken from the fire.”
Killian sighed. “She is young and fragile. It is my duty to protect her and everyone else in this clan. I seem to be failin’ at both, at the moment. Even my councilmen think I am weak.”
“You are not weak,” Lily quickly asserted, shaking her head as she put her hands on his. “There is nothing weak about restraint.”
Her blue eyes sang with sincerity as he stared deep into their depths. The first time Killian had seen her, he had wondered how she had such lovely eyes. Her hair was a bit longer than when they had first met.
He itched to touch her strands and nearly gave in to the urge while she stood close and held his hands, her warmth seeping into his bones.
“You are trying to protect the men who would risk their lives for your cause. It should be for the right cause.”
“What if ye’re wrong?”
Lily had known this question would come up soon. She had asked him to trust her words against Fletcher’s and believe in Laird McLennan’s innocence.
“What if Laird McLennan did kill my brother?”
“Then I shall fight with you to the very end,” Lily said in a hushed tone. “I believe in Laird McLennan’s innocence just as ye trust yer man-at-arms who has saved yer life countless times.”
She dislodged herself from Killian and walked over to a settee. She lowered herself onto it and brushed her hair away. “I grew up on a wealthy earl’s estate, in a small town called Lavenham. My parents worked as servants in his household their entire lives, and when they died, he cast me aside. I had no one to care for me. I lived on the streets for a few nights until a duke found me.”
Lily’s heart grew heavy as she told him her story. “The Duke was kind to me. He took me into his home, made me his daughter’s maid, and we grew up together.”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes as she thought of Amelia and her friends. She missed them so much already that her heart felt sick because of it.
“Lady Amelia was kind to me, even though she had no reason to be. I learned to read, to play the pianoforte and also some court games… She lost her sight when she was very young and has lived in the darkness ever since.
“I was her eyes and ears. When she fell in love with Duncan, I was wary of him at first, but he turned out to be a good man… He, too, is a man of restraint, and he has never been one to go to war without just reason… I know him well. There is no way he is behind all of this.”
Lily did not realize tears slid down her cheeks till Killian wiped them away with his thumb. His hands stayed on her cheeks, and he gently cupped them, tilting her chin high so he could look her in the eye.
“It will be over soon,” he promised.
His hands remained on her cheeks, and she closed her eyes, enjoying his touch and his nearness. Lily did not want him to move away. Not when she melted for him already.
She found herself leaning closer to him, throwing all her inhibitions aside. “Killian,” she whispered after a while, then angled her head to the side when he dipped his head to press a kiss to the side of her neck.
“Lily,” he responded in the same deliciously-light, shaky tone.
Her entire body quaked because of it, and he groaned before he combed his fingers through his hair.
“I want to kiss ye again,” he said to her while he cupped the nape of her neck and drew her closer to him. “But I’m afraid, Lily… afraid that I wouldnae want to stop.”
His raspy words ended with a rough, stuttering breath when he inhaled her scent. “Lilies,” he whispered. This time, his voice was in her ear, and he nibbled on her earlobe. “Do ye ken the things I can do to ye right here in my study? Do ye ken…”
Lily felt his hand on the nape of her neck tremble when he groaned again and shifted closer to her. She felt his other hand on her thigh. If she were wearing a dress and chemise under, he would have been able to push her clothes up. But tonight, she was wearing a riding habit—she had been practicing her swordsmanship earlier.
Killian blew air through his lips, and it fell on her face. His hand fell from her neck in the next second, and he got to his feet, walking away to put some distance between them.
