Page 36 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

CHAPTERTWENTY

Aidan sat on a barrel in front of the castle, feeling worn. Laird Keir MacNeil and his band of soldiers had retreated some minutes ago, having failed to rescue Ciara. He still felt disoriented by the series of events, by the entire day.

First, the raucous meeting with the councilmen, followed by his sleepwalking in the hallways of the castle. Finally, the battle with Ciara’s father.

Of all the events, the one that chaffed at him the most, now that the fighting was over, was the sleepwalking. Ciara had seen him. Even worse, he had no clue what had happened. All he remembered was waking up to see her beautiful eyes staring at him, wide with shock.

He remembered the sinking feeling he had experienced when he had realized what had happened. He had wanted the ground to swallow him whole. Worse, he could see the pity and sympathy in her expression. It did not help that he woke up on the floor, for he had no idea if he had hurt her, or what had led to them being there in the first place.

Ach! Of all the people in the world to catch me sleepwalking, why did it have to be her?

Fortunately, the sounds of the fight had given him a chance to remove himself from the awkwardness in the hallway. Who would have thought that Aidan would be thankful to Kier for attacking when he did? Either way, Aidan knew he could not avoid the situation for very long.

He rubbed his temples and stretched out his legs, still standing. He was sore and bruised, but thankfully, none the worse for wear.

He moved toward the corner of the courtyard where he had stowed Ciara away for her own safety. As he walked, a thought nagged at him. The same one that had been nagging at him from the moment he had seen Ciara being protected from her father and his men. He had not been able to place it during the fight, and he did not know why he was bothered. But now, the thought had formed fully.

Ciara is a captive in the MacDonald castle. She has been held here against her own wishes for a long time. Why, then, would she run away from her own father and his men who had attacked the castle to save her? Why would she attack her father’s men, and allow me, her captor to keep her hidden from her own kin?

The strangeness of that action pushed every other thought away, and he walked with purpose to where Ciara was hidden so that she could explain why she had acted so strangely. Try as he might, he could not find any logical explanation for her actions, and that unsettled him deeply.

Darragh joined him a few moments later for damage report, and together they walked toward the overturned cart at the base of the tower. Fortunately this time, Ciara was where he had left her. Safe.

She must have heard him and his brother approaching, as she looked up as they got close. Aidan’s initial impulse was to question Ciara about her actions during the battle, but as he drew close, he saw her visibly shaken up, terrified. All his questions died on his lips, and nothing else mattered to him in that moment but making her feel safe.

He bent down to take her in his arms, and hugged her deeply.

“I am taking ye back up to bed now,” Aidan informed her quietly. “Darragh will speak with the men.” He could feel her trembling as she clutched his stained nightshirt tightly, her head buried in his chest.

He picked her up gently, and she made no protests. Instead, she snuggled tightly into the crook of his arms. On his way back up the tower, Aidan nodded to Darragh, signaling for him to handle things in his absence. His brother nodded back as he continued speaking to the castle guard, who he must have been receiving a report from.

Good man, brother.

Aidan carried Ciara gently all the way to the top of the tower and shutting the door quietly behind them, he sat down beside her on the edge of the mattress.

She looked like she had regained some of her color, but he could tell she was still shaken up by all that had happened.

“Are ye alright?” Aidan asked softly.

“I am alright,” she replied, staring into his eyes. “How about ye? Are ye alright?”

“Mostly but I cannae deny that I am still bothered that ye saw me sleepwalking.” Aidan glanced to the side, not wanting to see the sympathy he was sure would be in her eyes, but also not desiring to avoid the subject. It was for the best to get his embarrassment out of the way. “I ken it seems such a small thing after the battle, but I cannae control my guilt, Ciara. We will speak of yer father’s attack in the morn. For now, I must ken I didnae…”

He cut himself off and the silence stretched for a moment before he managed to speak again.

“Did I hurt ye? I dinnae remember what happened..” This time he looked into her eyes. Whatever the truth was, he needed to know.

He took her hand in his and nodded encouragingly for her to tell him.

“I couldnae sleep,” Ciara said softly, squeezing Aidan’s hand as if for support, “so I went down to the kitchens to get some tea. When I got back up, I saw ye walking down the hallway, all by yerself. To my surprise, ye walked right to the window and almost fell out of it…” Ciara trailed off.

Aidan deflated, slumping his shoulders. He rubbed his head with his free hand and looked away, her voice shaking as she recounted what she had witnessed.

Och, of course... I forgot to lock the door when I went to bed. I cannae imagine what would have happened if Ciara didnae run into me.

“I hate to think what could have happened to ye if I hadnae been there when I was.” Ciara’s words broke the silence, eerily echoing the thoughts that had been going through his mind. “Why didnae ye tell me about it?” Ciara asked, her voice regaining some strength.

“Wel,” Aidan started, turning to look at Ciara, ”it’s nae exactly the first thing I tell people about myself, lass.”