She turned that name over in her head. Kiernan. It seemed to suit him, somehow, as though that name belonged to him, as though nobody else could ever have called it theirs.
She rubbed her thumb along her knuckles, where he had touched her, so lightly that she could almost have told herself she’d imagined it. But she knew it had been real. She knew she could never have invented the wash of excitement that pulsed through her body when he had caressed her, the draw to him, her body craving more, aching for something she’d never ached for in her life.
Peering into the crowd, she suddenly realized that she had lost sight of him—was he dancing with someone else again?
A twinge of jealousy nagged inside her again. Was he with someone else, already? Was he spending the night dancing with another woman, like the one she had seen him with earlier, just as he had danced with her all those months ago? Had he thought of that night as often as she had, or was she just another in a long line of women he’d flirted with and then abandoned?
She had no idea, but she knew that there was a part of her that craved answers, a part of her that was even more fascinatedthan she had been before Arran had told her to keep her distance.
And she knew, deep down, that she was not going to be able to shake the memory of him any better than she already had. No, his hooks were even deeper into her than they had been before—and, much as she knew it was wrong to admit it, she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
3
His hands in her hair, the soft touch of his breath on her skin, her body so close to his she could feel the heat rushing from it. Those eyes, as blue as a crystalline river on a spring day, gazing down at her, the corners of his lips turned up, the expression on his face…
She is dancing with him again. The music pulses around them, though she can barely pay attention to it. No, the only thing that matters to her right now is the way that he feels, the closeness between the two of them. She is sure, somewhere, at the back of her mind, Arran is telling her to stay away from this man, but she can’t imagine even trying to do such a thing now, not when this feels so right.
He leans down to her, his mouth just an inch or two from her own, and she cranes her neck like an animal trying to take a long sip of water, but, instead of meeting her lips, he lets go of her, and she stumbles forward.
All at once, as her eyes snap open, she realizes she is not in a room surrounded with other people now. No, she is somewhere else, somewhere… different. Her heart thrums in her chest as she looks around, trying to remember how she found herselfhere. The air is cold, the music dropping away suddenly, her skin prickling as goosebumps appear up and down her arms. She reaches out into the darkness, searching for him, trying to find him, but her fingers come up against nothing but the damp moss growing in the wall.
“Hello?” she calls out, but her voice just echoes in the small space around her. Tears prick her eyes. Where is he? Where has he gone? Why has he left her like this? It doesn’t make sense…
Then, all at once, she senses something. Something behind her, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, as her instincts warn her there is something wrong, something terribly, terribly wrong.
When she whips around, there he is, standing behind her, but this time not with the soft eyes of a lover. No, all she can see are his teeth, gleaming in the darkness, the smile on his face like a wolf in the dark…
Mary’s head snapped up from the pillow, her chest rising and falling fast as she came back to the real world. The dream was still fresh in her mind, so much so that she could almost smell his scent clinging to her. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked around, reminding herself that she was safe, that there was nothing here for her to worry about. She was in her chambers, at the Aitken Keep, just a few rooms down from her sister and her new baby.
But she could not shake the weight of the dream as it pressed down on her mind once more. She swung her legs out of bed, planting them on the ground below and trying to focus on the coolness of the flagstone beneath her feet. Putting her head into her hands, she realized that she was still trembling slightly, and she inhaled deeply once more.
There’s nothing to be worried about.With all the stress of the day, it was no wonder that her mind had invented something so strange and so disturbing. Seeing Kiernan again, and thenbeing met by Arran’s warnings about him, it had caused a confusion in her mind, drawing together her desire for him and her fear of him to create something she could not parse.
Straightening up, she heard a sound down outside the door. For a moment, she stiffened in worry, but then she realized it was her sister. Amelia’s voice, soft and low as she soothed the baby. Mary made her way to the door, and, as she poked her head out, sure enough, there was Amelia, cradling Robert in her arms and gazing down at him with the loving eyes of a new mother.
“Milly?” Mary whispered to her sister. She had not used that old nickname for her in a long time, but there was something about the way she felt in that moment that practically demanded it of her. She felt… vulnerable, almost, as though she might have been exposed at any second.
Amelia glanced up and smiled when she saw Mary. She must have been too exhausted to see the look on Mary’s face, the truth of her feelings in that moment.
She made her way into Mary’s room, Robert still swaddled in her arms. He let out a little grunt and a groan as he nestled against her, and Amelia beamed down at him.
“Can you believe how perfect he is?” she remarked. “I scarcely can.”
“He’s wonderful,” Mary agreed, her voice a little shaky. “Is Arran…?”
“He’s asleep,” Amelia replied. “When Robert woke, I wanted him to get some rest, so I stepped out into the corridor to rock him. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No, I was already awake,” Mary assured her, as Amelia sank down onto the edge of Mary’s bed, still holding Robert close as he started to drift back off to sleep.
Mary watched her sister for a long moment, and found a smile curling up the corners of her lips. Truth be told, she hadnever seen her sister glowing with such life in all the time she had known her, as though having this baby had drawn out a new side of her she had never seen before. She could hardly wait for Lily to see their nephew, too. She would be amazed, she was sure of it.
In all fairness, she knew Arran had plenty to do with that. He might have been gruff with her tonight, when he had seen her speaking to Kiernan, but he had given her sister such safety, such happiness, such comfort, and such freedom, and now, a family to go with it. She would never have guessed that he would provide her with such a wonderful life.
“Amelia,” she murmured softly, not wanting to wake the baby. “Can I ask you something?”
“If it’s if you can hold him, no, you can’t,” she replied. “I don’t want to wake him again…”
“It’s not that,” Mary replied with a light chuckle. It’s… it’s about Arran.”
