Page 13 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

“I enjoyed yer company as well. May I come to see ye from now on?” Lillie asked, to which Ciara nodded, sharing the other woman’s enthusiasm. After the two said their goodbyes, Lillie turned to the guard. “Alright, we can leave now, I’m sorry for taking up yer time.”

She walked to the door, and stepped out, but paused in confusion when the guard did not follow her out. Ciara, who had begun trying to fist her hair up into a ponytail, stopped as well and turned to the guard, confused.

Why is he just standing there?

“Er… Are ye nae leaving with me, sir?” Lillie asked.

“Nay, my lady. I was asked to guard the… lady… from inside the room,” the guard replied.

Ciara’s jaw dropped at the same time as Lillie’s, the two sporting similar expressions of horror. “What? Och, my goodness! My brother must be— This has to be a joke of some sort!”

“I dinnae think so, my lady,” the guard said.

Ciara balled her hands into fists at her sides. She had been pretending to be upset before so that Aidan would not realize that she was happy to be his prisoner. But now she was truly furious!

“This is impossible. How can my brother expect a lady to sleep in the same room as a man? This is too improper!” Lillie was clearly upset as well. As a lady, she could understand the concerns plaguing Ciara. Lillie turned to her with apology in her eyes. “I will talk to my brother, Ciara. I am sure I can make him see reason. This is too unreasonable.”

Lillie seemed able to tell that Ciara was upset and was trying to appease her. Ciara did not want to be appeased. She would deal with this herself. She was going to give Laird Aidan MacDonald a piece of her mind!

“Nay. I would like to go by myself. Can ye take me to yer brother, my lady?” Ciara ground out.

Lillie exchanged a glance with the guard. It seemed they both could tell trouble was brewing. The man stepped outside, and Lillie nodded tentatively in Ciara’s direction, obviously too ashamed of the situation to deny her request. “Alright. I will lead ye to his chambers. Ye may stay here until we return,” she said to the guard.

Ciara stepped out of the room to follow Lillie through the hallway, grinding her teeth. Was the laird doing this just to get a rise out of her? Or was he truly so insensitive that he would try to put a male guard in her room? She knew that she was a captive, but if he wanted to be a gentleman, then he had to be consistent and not act like a brute intermittently.

It was not long until they arrived at Aidan’s chambers. Ciara had been stewing in her anger, but it still seemed as though her room was too close to his for comfort. Had that been done on purpose? Perhaps he wanted to keep her close so that he could react if a rescue party came for her, or if she tried to escape.

“Here we are,” Lillie said nervously. “I will leave the two of ye to talk. Goodnight.”

“I appreciate this, my lady. I wish ye a pleasant evening,” Ciara responded, watching the woman go back the way they had come.

She turned back to the door and took a deep breath to steady herself before knocking. She made two quick raps on the door and waited for a response. She waited a while and was met with… nothing. Her eyebrows fell in annoyance, and she knocked again, harder. Was he ignoring the knocks? In her anger, she pushed open the door, not bothering to knock a third time.

“Laird Aidan MacDonald, how dare ye—” she began hotly. However, her words dried on her tongue.

Aidan was standing in a wide tub, his hands over his head, dousing himself with steaming water from a bowl. Her eyes then followed the water, flowing in rivulets down the wide expanse of his muscular back, to his strong, perfectly shaped buttocks which were, to her horror, also bare.

Ciara’s face reddened, her mouth dropped open, and she let out a surprised gasp.