She skidded to a halt, and Struan accidentally loped on for a stride or two before he managed to stop himself.
“Don’t speak like that,” she hissed, waving a finger in his face. “I never?—”
He strode up to her, coming almost nose to nose. Her eyes widened, pupils blowing darkly.
“I kissed ye,” he murmured softly. “And ye let me. That says something about us both, doesn’t it?”
She stared up at him, her breath coming hard. Then she clenched her jaw and neatly stepped past him, breaking into a run again. He followed her.
“I’m a man living on borrowed time, ye see,” Struan continued. “This could be my final night on earth. Or tomorrow, or the day after. We should look straight at our feelings and work out where they’re going to lead us, dinnae ye think?”
“Oh, for God’s sake!”
“Come on, Una,” he whispered, his voice dropping. “Were ye never curious?”
She didn’t bother to ask aboutwhat, so he pressed on. There was no going back now, after all.
“And as for ye,” he continued, speeding up so that he could get in front of her, neatly jogging backwards to look her in the eye. “A clever, active woman like ye must be bored out of her mind here. Ye have to fight to be seen, to be obeyed. Think of it, all that energy burning inside ye, with nowhere to go. Ye have to fight to get yer own brother and sister-in-law to see ye as anything other than a victim.”
“Fortunately, I like fighting.” she snapped.
Struan grinned. “That I believe. But another thing I know for sure is that ye, lassie, are no victim.”
“The answer to whatever ye are asking—and I am deliberately not thinking too hard aboutwhatye are asking—is no.”
There was weight in her voice. Struan nodded, pursing his lips, and turned to face forward again. For a moment, he simply ran alongside her, easily matching her pace. He sensed her glancing up at him.
She’s worried that she’s offended me,Struan thought.And then she’s angry at herself for caring whether I’m offended.
He drew in a breath.
“I spoke to yer brother last night.”
She glanced sharply up at him. “What? Why?”
“He has questions. Questions about my father, about the Dickson warriors…” Struan trailed off, shaking his head. “I answered them all. Ye can ask him if ye don’t believe me.”
He could feel Una’s gaze on him but fought to keep his eyes straight ahead.
“Really?” she whispered, her voice suddenly soft. “Ye told him the truth.”
A muscle jumped in Struan’s cheek. “I was useful, Una. Just like ye said I should be.”
She let out a long, slow breath.
“I’m glad,” she said at last, turning her gaze forward as well. “I’m glad, Struan. Thank ye.”
They ran on in silence.
Chapter 11
Blood Like Metal
“We should look straight at our feelings, and work out where they’re going to lead us, don’t ye think?”Struan’s words ran around and round in Una’s head. How could he have had the gall to say them to her?
Because he can see in my eyes that I’m attracted to him,she thought angrily, stabbing at her bowl of tasteless gruel with her spoon.I cannot seem to hide it.
It was ridiculous. It was infuriating. Why should she find him attractive? He was the worst man in Scotland.
