He wouldn’t put it beyond her, since she couldn’t leave well enough alone.
“Why are ye here, Talia?” he asked, turning back to his correspondence. He tried to ignore how his heart started racing at the sight of her. “Have ye finished attending to yer suitors?”
“I have,” she answered, and he sensed the anger in her words.
He quirked an eyebrow, but he didn’t look at her, and it annoyed him that it was increasingly hard to.
“Have I angered ye, me Laird?”
He lifted his eyes to hers and noticed that her face had darkened with ire. She did not take well to being ignored.
“Have ye, Talia?” he asked.
A muscle ticked in her jaw, and it only drew his eyes to her jaw and the stray curl that had escaped her bun.
His fingers itched with the need to loosen her hair, and he curled them into fists. Her hand rose to tuck that curl behind her ear, and he frowned, remembering how she had blushed when Hayden had touched her, how she had smiled when they had talked.
Now she was frowning at him.
“How may I help ye, Talia?” he asked irritably. “I am too busy to play games with ye this afternoon.”
“I am nae here to play games, but if any of us should heed those words, ‘tis ye,” she snapped. “I came here to ask if I could set up a room where I can practice, but ye daenae seem inclined to listen to me, so I will come back later.”
She turned to storm off, and he did not want her to leave. Not when he did not have the last word.
“Why do ye want a workroom, Talia?” he asked. “We have a healer in the village. And might I remind ye that ye wouldnae be staying long here, since ye will be married soon?”
She turned to him, fury evident in her eyes, but she took a deep breath to steady herself and placed her hands on her round hips.
“I could treat yer maither and others in the castle,” she answered, looking him in the eyes. “They wouldnae need to wait for the healer.”
She was staring at him, but he couldn’t help but notice how her hands fisted on her hips. He swallowed, shifting as his cock stirred in his breeches.
Was she that unaware of what she was doing to him?
He rose from his seat, unable to ignore the need to see if she didn’t feel the same way. She swallowed and met his eyes, but continued her tirade.
“Yer maither was weakened after a short turn about the gardens this morning. I can make medicines to ease her pain.”
“Is that so?” he asked, stepping closer to her.
“What… what are ye doin’?” She stepped backward until her back hit a bookshelf.
Even Darragh didn’t know, but he wanted to be nearer to her. Nearer than damned Hayden had been just to see if she would react the same way.
“I want to hear ye better,” he answered. “Ye said ye wanted a workroom and ye were tellin’ me why. Have I missed anything?”
He looked down at her as he stepped closer until he was nearly pressed up against her. She was beautiful, her skin flushed in a way that flooded him with unholy thoughts of stripping her just to see if she was flushed everywhere.
“Nay,” she breathed.
Her breathing quickened, matching the pounding of his heart in his chest, and her tongue darted out to wet her lip.
Devils!
Her scent drifted up to him, floral and sweet, and it made him want to close his eyes and breathe in deeper.
This woman was a temptation he was too weak to resist. He should never have come so close to her, but still…
