None of that interested him half so much as what he saw now.
She flushed when he looked at her. That was plain enough. But her hands were clenched tight at her sides, knuckles nearly white against the folds of her gown. She looked away, then forced herself still. She didn’t melt or smile. She didn’t shrink either. She looked like a woman enduring an ordeal she had no wish to enjoy.
A smirk curved his lips.
Aye.
Her beauty struck him first, yes. He would have had to be blind not to see it. But beauty was not what drove his choice. It was resistance. The absence of softness turned toward him. The clear lack of eager invitation.
She was affected, which meant she understood the gravity of the occasion. Yet she was unwilling in a way that looked like she couldn’t bear staying in here for long.
Like she couldmanagedistance.
And distance wassafe.
Distance was exactly what he wanted.
He stepped to her without further hesitation.
Her breath seemed to catch. Up close, her eyes were finer than he had expected. Clear and startled and far too easy to read in that moment. He lifted her chin with two fingers so he could look at her properly, felt the brief heat of her skin.
“This one will do.”
The room shifted around the words as though settling into place. He released her and began to turn, expecting the natural flow of acceptance to follow.
Two hands caught him.
“Please daenae do this, me Laird.”
The whisper was low and urgent, but there was no mistaking it. It struck him as amusement at first, for the sheer impropriety, then as irritation, then as something far sharper.
He turned back.
Ava was clutching him with both hands. Her face had gone pale, and the look in her eyes was the farthest thing from composure. She wasn’t just reluctant. She wasalarmed.
“Are ye questioning me decision, me Lady?” he asked.
To his surprise, she nodded at once.
A faint stir rippled through the hall.
“Ye should choose another,” she added in a rush. “Any of them would make a better wife for ye.”
A wave of shocked murmurs swept through the crowd.
It was clear the other women were shocked that a woman like her had the gall to challenge the Laird’s choice. It was also clear they were all waiting to see how he would punish her.
He held her gaze a moment longer, and then, at the periphery of his vision, he saw Isobel duck her head with a guilty look.
Uh-oh.
He knew immediately that something was gravely wrong.
“Come with me,” he suddenly said, tugging at Ava’s hands.
“What?” she sputtered, resisting.
“I said, come with me.”
