Page 32 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Ciara found herself unable to sleep that night.

She sighed tiredly and rolled onto her back. She had been tossing and turning for an hour, trying to force herself to sleep with no luck at all, only growing anxious. Of course, she did not know what he thought about her, and her fears returned with a vengeance. He had said that he would take responsibility for her after they made love for the first time. She had assumed that he enjoyed being with her, but what if he had not liked it? What if he was having second thoughts about marrying her because of her performance?

She had never been with a man before, so everything had been new to her. Did that put him off? She thought he had been enjoying himself, but maybe she was wrong. She had no way of knowing anyway.

Unable to take it anymore, Ciara threw her covers off. If I think any longer, I will simply drive myself mad! I need to take a break from my thoughts. With this in mind, she went over to her table and lit her candle on the torch on the wall. Running down to the kitchens to make herself some tea was the best idea she could think of.

She opened the door to find the guard assigned to watch her, curled up on the ground beside the door, snoring softly. She doubted that the floor was comfortable and winced, thinking of how sore he would be when he woke up the next day. Quietly, she ducked back into her room and took one of the blankets from the bed.

The torches that lit the outside of her room were only there to give some warmth to the spot, since the guards stood out there all through the cold night. It was, however, not enough. She slowly draped the blanket over him, careful not to disturb his sleep.

Satisfied that he now looked warm enough, Ciara shut her door and continued down the hallway, which got darker and colder as she left the front of her room. The candle was her only source of light and heat by the time she got to the lower floors, since the rest of the hallways were not lit.

She reached the kitchens and was happy to find them empty. A torch still burned in the corner, and the room was warm from the last time the hearth was used. The servants must have just finished their dinner and gone to bed. Blowing her candle out and relying on the torch in the room for light, Ciara put a pot on the dying fire, working as quietly as she could, and started to boil herself some tea. She was surprised when she heard footsteps and turned around to see Darragh come into the kitchen, looking just as surprised to see her there.

They both stood for a few seconds, staring at each other, before Ciara pointed to the pot she had on the fire. “Tea,” she said as an explanation for what she was doing awake and out of her room.

Darragh picked up a cup from the counter and tapped it. “Likewise.”

She nodded her understanding, and they both stood there again, awkwardly, the only sound being the tea boiling. Ciara noted how different Darragh was to Aidan. Although he really did look similar to his brother, the two had vastly different auras. More importantly, the way that Darragh looked at her was completely different. His gaze lacked any sort of heat.

He cocked his head to the side as though he had just thought of something, and he turned to her, a bit of humor in his eyes as he asked, “Wait, were ye the one who wrapped yer guard in a blanket at yer door?”

Ciara blushed. “Aye, that was me.”

Darragh chuckled. “I had gone to my brother’s study to drop off some reports I had been working on late into the night. Imagine my surprise when I found a guard sleeping on duty so comfortably that he even had a blanket. I had nae idea that ye were nae in the room, so I just let him sleep, but seeing ye here now, that is just hilarious. Imagine a prisoner slipping out under her guard’s watch, and then having the balls to wrap him in a blanket as well before making her escape!”

When he put it like that, Ciara saw the humor in the situation as well, and she chuckled along with him. “Now that I think about it that way, I see how it is funny.”

Darragh stopped laughing, but a calm smile remained on his face. “Ye are a very lovely person,” he said, surprising her. Her wide eyes must have shown her shock because he nodded as though convincing her. “I am being truthful. I was surprised already to hear of how ye had been the one who helped us when we saved our sister, but then Aidan also told me of how ye nearly got yerself killed trying to keep the stable keeper’s son from being kicked by a horse. Now this? It was funny, but ye must be quite compassionate to take a blanket from yer own bed to cover a guard, lass. Especially, since he was nae put there for yer protection but to keep ye from escape. Ye must have a heart of gold.”

Ciara felt a blush of embarrassment cover her cheeks. “Thank ye. Ye are the same, I presume,” she said, turning away to stir the pot of tea, avoiding his eyes.

Darragh snorted a laugh. “Goodness, I am? Why would ye say that? To my knowledge, ye are nae in a position to be able to speak on my character. I dinnae believe that we have interacted before now. All ye should ken of me is that I am one of the people keeping ye hostage.”

He had explained their relationship perfectly. It was true that she had no personal experiences that would let her know if he was a kind person or not. “It is true that we have nae spoken before now, and I admittedly dinnae ken ye at all, but just like ye heard of me from others, it is the same for me.”

She took the pot off the fire and strained the liquid into the teapot, careful to keep the leaves out. As she finished the preparations, Darragh came over with his cup, holding it out for her to fill. “Och, is that so? I doubt my brother has been singing praises of my character to ye, so ye must mean Lillie.”

“Aye, Hannah too,” she responded, keeping her eyes fixed on him to observe his reaction.

Darragh only raised his eyebrows. “I didnae ken that ye were speaking with Hannah. Certainly, nae about me.”

“We were nae talking about ye. Well, nae exactly. Hannah mentioned her childhood.”

“Her childhood? Is Hannah nae still a bairn?” he asked the question absently, but Ciara frowned at him.

Och, nay! That poor lass! She is head over heels in love with him, but the man daenae even acknowledge that she has grown yet! He probably sees her as a little sister the way that Lillie daes.

“Hannah isnae a bairn! She is only a year younger than I am! Ye should take a good look at her the next time ye see her, Darragh!”

Darragh waved her words away. “Alright, alright, fine,” he said, not seeming like he took her seriously. “What did Hannah tell ye then?”

“She told me about the time she stole yer horse,” Ciara confessed.

A knowing look came down on Darragh’s face as he seemed to remember the moment as well as Hannah did. “Ach . . . that feels like such a long time ago.”