Page 14 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

CHAPTERSEVEN

Her hands flew up to cover her eyes instinctively as he turned around, but she could still see him through her fingers.

Unlike her, Aidan had turned with a questioning expression rather than one of shock. Even seeing her standing there, he did not try to cover himself, nor react with shame at all. He only seemed to assess the situation with an almost bored countenance, as if wondering how she got to his room, and what she wanted, and definitely not thinking about the fact that he was naked.

Even though he seemed to think his nakedness was nothing, Ciara was still horrified that she had intruded on such a private moment. She hurriedly turned around and closed the door just in case there was someone in the hallway. As soon as the door shut, she began to wonder if her actions made any sense at all. Would it not have been better if she left? Now she was standing with her back to him, facing the door like a complete idiot.

Should I just open the door again and leave? Nay, it would be even more embarrassing to try and leave now. The deed is already done.

She could hear Aidan behind the door, starting to laugh! She blushed even more profusely, thinking about his bare body so close to hers. What she had seen had been a tantalizing view. Although she wanted to tell herself that her shortness of breath was due to shock, she knew it was a lie. It had more to do with the perfectly chiseled body she had just seen.

“I... I... Ye—” she stuttered, trying to gather herself.

“Och, my! Dae forgive me. I wasnae expecting a visitor tonight, so I apologize for my unclad state,” Aidan said. His deep voice vibrated through her, adding to her discomfort.

Ciara was trying hard to stay standing. She could hear the water in the tub still rippling, and her face got even warmer if that were possible.

“Hm, I suppose ye dinnae actually deserve an apology, as it is ye who barged in here without even knocking,” Aidan continued, his tone sarcastic.

Ciara frowned despite her red face, remembering why she had barged in. “I did knock! And I wouldnae have done that in the first place if ye didnae make me upset! I came here because I was dissatisfied!”

“Dissatisfied, ye say? Och, my lady, ye ken I live to please. In this castle there isnae a thing that was nae curated to satisfy ye.” This time the sarcasm was practically dripping from his words. “Alright, then. Tell me what dissatisfaction was great enough to warrant the rudeness ye have shown me this evening.”

Ciara balled her hand into a fist and shook it at him angrily. “Rudeness? Rudeness, ye say? It is ye who is rude! How dare ye expect me to sleep in a room with a man I dinnae ken! I am a lady above all else, my laird! I willnae have ye disrespect my virtue like that!”

“A man… My lady, he is a guard, and that is all he will dae. Guard ye,” Aidan said, sounding like he did not see the problem.

“Ha! Guard me from what exactly? Myself? How dae ye think I am going to escape from a room with nae windows in a keep this large? Ye left the room so bare that I couldnae even think to escape!”

“Och, so ye have been checking for exits. I see it was nae unnecessary to make sure that yer sheets and covers were short and that yer curtains were small. There isnae trick ye can use to try to escape through the window without immediately dying, and there isnae a thing in the room that ye can use to escape through the door. Truly, ye should give up,” Aidan retorted, sounding bored.

Ciara seethed. “If ye ken that then why are ye stationing a guard inside my room? If ye wanted to give me a guard, why can he nae just stand in the hallway? Why must it be inside the room?!” she cried.

“Och, what’s this? Where is all this entitlement coming from? I didnae realize that ye were so pretentious, Lady Ciara. To think that ye would expect me to have my soldier stand guard out in the cold hallway without a fire, while ye, my captive, gets to sleep with a warm hearth in a warm bed. Of course he should stay inside where it is warm! Just because he is guarding ye daesnae mean the man should freeze to death. How cruel…”

Aidan’s words made her falter. “What? I never said I wanted him to freeze to death!” She felt embarrassed once again after realizing how entitled and selfish she had sounded. She needed to act like a scared prisoner, not like a brattish lady too far from home.

She bit her lip. Even though she did not actually want to keep the soldier out in the cold, she could not agree to share the room with him either. That was madness!

“Still… It is unacceptable to have him in the same room with me. Ye have to find another way. I am nae going anywhere until ye agree, ye ken that.”

Aidan sighed as if she was being a nuisance. She did not like the way it made her skin prickle. “Now ye are just making unreasonable demands. How can I trust what ye say? How dae I ken ye are nae just waiting for an opportunity to dae something? I have been kind enough to ye. That daesnae mean that I am going to bend over backward just to please ye.”

“If ye were going to be like this, it would have been better to just put me in yer dungeons instead of trying to act as though ye meant to make me comfortable. I would much rather be in the dungeons and ken that my place is that of a prisoner,” she muttered angrily.

Of course, she did not truly want to stay in the dungeons, but she did not like the way he was calling her ‘entitled’ when her request was perfectly reasonable.

“How could ye think it is alright to make a young woman sleep in a room with a man? In the dead of night, too. If something happened to me, how would ye take responsibility?”

Aidan scoffed from behind her. “Are ye questioning the integrity of my men? He is there as a guard. That is his job. He isnae an animal who cannae control himself. Even if ye tried to seduce him, he would just ignore ye, on my order. None of my men would take a woman who didnae want them. I dinnae ken what kind of men ye have back in yer clan, but my men are nae monsters like that.” He spat the last sentence.

Ciara lowered her eyes to the ground. He was not wrong. Her clan’s soldiers would probably have forced themselves on Lillie if her father had not made it clear that she was to remain untouched.

She decided to stay quiet. She had already said everything she needed to.