Page 26 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

The next time Ciara opened her eyes, she found herself looking at a familiar ceiling. The smell of herbs filled her nostrils, and a familiar bed was beneath her. She immediately recognized Maria’s private healing chamber.

Och, here I am again.

She groaned slightly as she reached her senses through her pain, accessing what hurt and what did not. Her shoulder and chest ached quite a bit, but that was all. She supposed she was lucky.

It seemed the blow had only affected her shoulder, with her chest dully aching. The pain she felt before she passed out must have been the feeling of the shoulder popping out of place, and it seemed Maria had popped it back in while she was unconscious.

Ciara touched some salve on the spot, although she imagined not much could be done to alleviate her pain. She tried moving slightly and regretted it immediately.

“Ye should stay still,” a voice suddenly said from beside her, startling her.

She turned her head to look so quickly that she almost hurt her neck. She was stunned to see Aidan sitting beside the bed, looking down at her with a bemused expression. How long had he been there? He was so quiet that she had not even noticed his presence.

“Dinnae scare me like that!” she stammered.

Aidan narrowed his eyes. “I think I should be the one saying that to ye, lass. I would prefer it if ye managed to stay out of the healer’s chambers for at least a day or two.”

Ciara did not know what it was about his words that she found funny. Even though she was in pain, she could not help but chuckle. Her laughter garnered a small glare from Aidan, but that only made her laugh again. After all, it was true.

“Ye seem nae to care much for yer life,” Aidan grumbled. “The two times ye have been here, it is because ye almost died. Dae ye enjoy the dance with death that much?”

Ciara smiled wryly. It really was a bit scary how close she had come to death twice now. Still, she could not have helped it this time. “What was I supposed to dae? It wasnae a situation that gave me many choices. That child was much weaker than me. Imagine what would have happened to the wee bairn! He would have died if I had done naething,” she argued.

Aidan, however, seemed upset. “That horse could have kicked yer head in, or yer neck, and nae yer shoulder. A bit higher and ye wouldnae have been so lucky. Then we wouldnae be having this conversation, ye ken. Ye would have died!”

“I ken. But still, I willnae regret what I did,” she said, her voice small.

Aidan sighed tiredly, having seemingly given up. “I am nae happy that ye put yerself in harm’s way like that but thank ye for saving that bairn.”

“I dinnae remember anything after the horse kicked me. The bairn didnae get injured anywhere, did he?”

“Nay, he is perfectly fine. He is the son of the groom. The man got the horse under control almost immediately after ye were hit, and he rushed to help ye. The bairn was startled, but there was nae harm to him. His father would like to thank ye when ye get better,” he said, putting her mind at ease.

“There is nae need. I was only doing what I thought was right, after all,” she said.

Aidan had a strange look in his eyes as he glared at her. “I really cannae believe that ye are Keir MacNeil’s daughter sometimes,” Aidan said. “How are ye so selfless?”

At the mention of her father, Ciara remembered what she had been thinking about before she had spotted the men in the forest. She needed to plant the idea of marriage in Aidan’s head as soon as possible. It was only a matter of time before those men took the news of her survival.

Her only chance at freedom, selfish or not, was to marry Aidan.

“It is actually very unfortunate for my father, having a daughter like me who disagrees with everything he says,” she said. She looked at the ground, unable to hold Aidan’s intense gaze with the lies coming out of her mouth. “I am his only bairn, so he cannae very well dispose of me, nae matter how much I annoy him. As his only heir, any man I marry will have a portion of his lands, ye ken. So, he has been treating me preciously.” She almost whispered the last words.

Lying physically hurt her. God knew why she felt even worse lying to Aidan.

She watched the information sink into his mind. “That’s why he is so possessive.” She chuckled as if she had made a joke. “The worst thing his biggest enemy could dae is marry me and take everything my father owns, I wager. He would rather die than pass his lands to an enemy,” she concluded, finally lifting her eyes to look at Aidan.

She watched his expression change as the idea was planted in his mind. She fought back a smile, despite knowing that she would hate herself if her dreams came to fruition for manipulating him.

* * *

Aidan’s eyes widened as he realized the truth in her words. Ciara was right: marrying her would be the greatest revenge that he or any enemy could ever exact against Keir MacNeil. Right now, he was holding her captive, but that meant nothing as he would never actually hurt her. Not only had he saved her from dying in the sea, but now she was living in his castle as a guest! Keeping her captive was merely toying with Keir, stoking his anxiety. That would end the instant Laird MacNeil discovered that she was in his clutches. It was not as though Aidan was tying her up and beating her like Keir had done to his sister.

Marrying Ciara was revenge, but it was also profitable. Aidan would expand his domain and gain the favor of the next Laird of Clan MacNeil. How had he not thought about it before? It was brilliant! It was less costly and dangerous than a war but twice as cutting.

MacNeil was old already, and in the next ten years, he would be gone. He would spend the rest of his life in agony, knowing what awaited him beyond the grave; cold eternity.