Page 13 of Highlander’s Vengeful Seduction

Vanora couldn’t argue with that. She knew that if she didn’t feel as strongly about Donal, she would agree with her sister, but while the incident was fresh in her mind, she couldn’t help but think that Donal was the worst man in the world.

“He was sent tae this world to torture me, Vika,” Vanora said. “There canna be any other explanation. Everything he does is tae hurt me.”

“Lachie Flachnan?” Vika asked with a frown.

“What? No!” Vanora put the pillow that covered her face aside, looking at her sister instead. “Donal! I just saw him, and…and we…well, we kissed.”

Vika clamped her mouth shut with her hand at that, but a gasp managed to escape her regardless. She looked at her sister with wide, disbelieving eyes before she began to shake her head.

“I canna believe ye let him do that after what happened the other day,” Vika said. “Ye said yerself that ye didnae want him.”

“Aye,” Vanora replied, “but I was the one who kissed him. I canna help it, Vika. I love him! I really do, I love him with all my heart, and I dinnae ken what tae do tae stop loving him.”

“Why should ye stop loving him?” Vika asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. “He kissed ye, ye kissed him. What is the problem?”

“He ran.”

“What?”

“He ran!” Vanora exclaimed. “I kissed him, and at first he kissed me back, but then he stopped and left. I dinnae ken why, but he didnae want to kiss me anymore, and suddenly, he was gone.”

Vika stayed silent for a long time, her gaze pinned to the wall. She seemed deep in thought, Vanora thought, so she didn’t interrupt her.

Eventually, when Vika spoke, she said, “I dinnae ken.”

It wasn’t very helpful, but Vanora wasn’t expecting anything different. Vika wasn’t very good at giving advice, especially since she was so inexperienced herself.

“I ken nothing about men,” Vika continued. “I dinnae understand half of the things they say or do, so I canna help ye with that. I dinnae ken if anyone can help ye with that. Perhaps ye should talk to Donal directly…if there is anyone who can answer yer questions, then tis him.”

With that, Vika stood up, leaving Vanora alone on the bed and heading for the door.

“I canna talk to Donal,” Vanora said, just before Vika opened the door. “I dinnae ken what to tell him. What if he doesnae want to talk to me? What if he doesnae even want to hear what I have to say to him? I have been avoiding him for two days, but for all I ken, he will be the one avoiding me now.”

All Vika did was to give Vanora a small shrug. “As I said, I dinnae ken.”

Vika closed the door behind her, and once again, Vanora was suddenly alone. Her sister was as little help as ever, but then again, Vanora herself didn’t know what to do, and she was older and more experienced.

Knowing Donal, he would not want to speak to her, at least not for a long time. Perhaps he would even leave Castle Sween before that time came, and everything between the two of them would be left unsaid.

That was something that Vanora couldn’t allow to happen, though. Even if she would end up heartbroken once more, she wanted to know the truth and the reasoning behind Donal’s actions; she wanted some closure, and once she would get it, she would only double her efforts to shield herself from men and their affections.

Deciding to do something was one thing, of course, and actually doing it was another. Vanora didn’t even know if she could muster the courage that she would need to confront Donal. She could confront anyone else, she could always stand her ground, but Donal was the one weak link in her armor, the one man who could break her over and over again.

She simply had to gather the courage, though. She had no choice other than to find Donal and make him listen to her and give her the answers that she needed. If she didn’t, then she knew that she would never be able to stop thinking about what could have been. That would be worse than any other fate.

She only had to brace herself for what was going to happen.

Chapter Seven

Donal had spent the day sweating through his clothes. He had never been as agitated about something as he was then, worried sick that he had made a mistake by judging Vanora too soon.

He had treated her terribly once more, and it seemed as though he couldn’t stop doing it. Sure, Vanora was a beautiful woman, and that was bound to attract the attention of the men around her, but he had never seen her be cruel to any of them. If anything, she was always kind and polite, never refusing a dance or a conversation.

What if Donal had been wrong from the very start? There was really no way of knowing if Vanora was the one who was responsible for Ronald’s sudden death. Yet it was unlikely that the culprit was Vika. She was a sweet lass, and she was little more than a child, being the youngest of all of them. Donal had a hard time suspecting someone like her.

Could it be that there was another woman in Castle Sween with the same initials as them? Donal went through every single woman in the MacMillan clan in his mind, trying to remember everyone’s names, and by the end of it, he was almost certain that there was no one else.

He had no plan anymore, now that he was unconvinced about Vanora’s involvement, so he had to come up with one.