Page 54 of Bewitching her Highland Savior

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

As much as Muriel wanted to forget Liam and everything that had happened between them, she couldn’t get him out of her head. He inhabited every part of her, the ghost of his touch still lingered on her skin as she lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. It was almost as though he were there with her but the memory of him wasn’t enough.

She would be the property of another man in a matter of days. But she was still Liam's that night. Her desire overcame her, causing her to get out of bed wearing her nightshift and stumble through the corridors until she arrived at his door.

She was taken aback to discover that no one was stationed outside. Muriel frowned as she looked up and down the corridor, trying to figure out if anyone else was watching from the shadows but there was no one to be seen.

Did me faither move him from this room?

Cautiously, she stepped up to the door and knocked twice; waiting to see if anyone would open it.

When the door opened, there stood Liam. Muriel blinked in surprise, looking up and down the corridor once more and seeing no one. Liam appeared as perplexed as she was, his eyes widening slightly when he saw her.

“What are ye doin’ here?” he asked.

“Why is there nae guards outside yer door?” Muriel asked instead of answering him.

Liam checked the corridor himself, and once he was sure it was just the two of them, he dragged her inside quickly, closing the door firmly behind her. Muriel thought he was going to lean in and kiss her, but Liam walked away from her, keeping his distance.

“What are ye doin’ here, Muriel?” he asked again, and this time, Muriel didn’t hesitate.

“I came to see ye,” she said. She was surprised to see him still wearing clothes – his shirt a little askew but still looking decent as though he hadn’t even considered going to sleep. “I ken that I said I had made me choice, but I couldnae keep meself away. I kept thinkin’ that I would be marryin’ another man soon and I couldnae stop wishin’ that it would be ye instead. If ye want me to leave, I understand. I will. I will leave and I will never speak to ye again. But if ye want me to stay, just for tonight, then I will stay with ye.”

Liam seemed almost pained by those words. He approached Muriel once more; pressing her against the wall with his body, his hands coming up to cup her face gently.

“Yer faither offered me gold to leave ye alone,” he said. “I told him I accept and I suppose he made the guards leave as a show of good faith.”

Muriel could hardly process what Liam had said. After all the promises he had made, in the end, it was so easy for him to agree to step back just because her father had offered him some gold.

Why am I so bitter about this? I was the one who told him to stay away in the first place.

“Oh… I see,” she said, voice low. Her disappointment was palpable and no matter how much she had tried to hide it, she was certain Liam had heard it in her tone.

“Oh! I didnae accept!” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I mean I did. I told him I did, but I didnae, nae really.”

Now Muriel was even more confused than before, pressing her head against the wall to look up at Liam with furrowed eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

“It means I thought that if I pretended to go along with what he wanted, he would let me go,” Liam said. “And then, once I could, I would come take ye and yer maither out of here. But ye came to me first.”

Muriel’s mouth fell open at that. It wasn’t what she wanted; it wasn’t something that Liam could do. An attempt to escape would be the death of all three of them.

“I thought that we already spoke about this,” she said, breath hitching as she began to panic. “I thought… I thought we agreed that ye’d let me go.”

“Ye were the one who said that,” Liam pointed out. “I never agreed to it. I never wanted to let ye go.”

“Ye must!” Muriel said. “Please, Liam, promise me ye willnae attempt to come back. Take the gold me faither is offerin’ ye and leave for good. That’s the best thing ye can do for me and for me maither.”

One look at Liam’s face told Muriel that he wasn’t convinced. For someone who so often called her stubborn, he sure was a lot more stubborn than her. She had told him time and time again to forget her and yet there he still was – insisting that he wanted to save her.

Muriel wanted it, too. She wanted nothing more than to leave that keep with Liam. But she'd learned to be a realist in the last few weeks.

“Ye have nae faith in me,” Liam said with a small sigh. “How many times have I saved yer life up to this moment? I even helped ye escape Macleod’s keep. What’s stoppin’ me from doin’ it again?”

“Me faither is wiser than Macleod,” Muriel said. “And if ye’ve done it once, it means ye’ll be caught the second time. He already kens that ye escaped from Lewis. Do ye think he’d be so careless as to let ye roam around the keep free? Even noo, he must have someone watchin’ ye.”

“There is nae one outside,” Liam reminded her. “And even if they are watchin’ me, they’re nae watchin’ me like before. Yer faither believes that every man is like him because he doesnae see the error of his ways. He doesnae see why he’s wrong or why anyone would think he’s wrong. I’ve told him that I’ll take the gold, so noo he thinks that everythin’ is resolved.”

“Ye underestimate him,” Muriel insisted.

Or perhaps she was the one who was overestimating her father. She had always viewed him as an intelligent man, and he certainly was, but maybe Liam was right. Wealth could have blinded him to the realities of others.

“I dinnae wish to argue with ye, lass,” Liam said as he brushed a lock of stray hair out of Muriel’s eyes. His gentle touch drew a gasp out of her despite her anger at his foolishness and it reminded her of the reason why she had gone to his chambers in the first place.

But how could she give in when Liam was putting himself and everyone else in danger?

“Promise me ye willnae try to help,” she whispered as Liam’s lips hovered over her own, barely touching them. “Please, Liam. Promise me.”

“I promise,” Liam mumbled. Muriel knew he was lying but when he kissed her, any objections she had vanished. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close and leaning into the kiss, with a soft sigh. It was enough to clear her mind of all thoughts, even those that had lingered there for days, keeping her awake night after night.

Liam’s hands were solid heat everywhere they touched her. She melted into his touch, baring her neck for him as he began to trail kisses down her jaw, teeth scraping over her skin. Sensations exploded inside her as Liam pinned her against the wall once more, his hands grabbing her wrists to bring her arms above her head, holding them there. She could feel every ripple of his muscles as he moved and his scent was everywhere around her – enveloping her – to the point where Liam was the only thing on her mind.

One last time willnae do any harm. Just this once.