Page 40 of A Bride for the Kilted Beast

Seeing them like that, conversing so intimately, was bad enough, but when he heard them laughing and saw the smiles they exchanged, a fierce rage suddenly gripped him.

What the hell is she doing in there with him?!

His fists tightened at his sides as he strode over to Lillie’s escort, the three guards, who were now standing to attention a few yards away.

“What’s she doing in there?” he demanded in a low growl through gritted teeth.

“We dinnae ken, m’laird, but she’s been in there for a couple of hours now,” one of them told him.

“Has she now?” Diarmaid muttered, adding a few curses under his breath. His jaw clenched, he stalked off down the hallway, carrying on around the corner at the end before stopping on the landing, where no one could see him.

He gripped the banister tightly in both hands, his body shaking with a fury he had never before experienced. It took his breath away with its sudden violence, leaving his heart pounding loudly in his ears.

What does she think she’s doing, spending time in there with him, sittin’ so close to him, laughing and smiling like a wee whore? She’s no business flirting with the healer like that, or any man, not after all that’s passed between us. ’Tis clear she likes him better than me!

The thought was like an arrow in his heart, and it made him seethe with boiling anger and hurt.

Ye’re a fool nae tae have seen it before, Diarmaid. Ye’ve been taken in by all that nonsense about how she’s so afraid o’ ye beddin’ her, givin’ intae her pleas nae tae take her when she’s yer wife. She’s makin’ a fool out of ye, that’s what she’s been doin’ all along! How dare she?! Well, she’ll nae get away with it any longer, fer I’m gonnae teach her a lesson she’ll nae forget!

Quivering with rage, he practically flew down the stairs two at a time, and when he reached his study and found Andrew inside patiently waiting for him, he made an excuse and told the councilman to come back later.

As soon as Lillie left Finian, with the vial containing the special potion concealed in her pocket and out of view of her escort, she went straight to the chambers she now shared with Diarmaid. She concealed the vial among the underthings in the wardrobe along with the other clothing she had stored there.

Then, at a loose end and seeking some distraction from her teeming thoughts, she decided to go and try to find the children and spend some time playing with them again.

She found them on the castle green, playing a spirited game of tag. As soon as she came up to them, they greeted her with excitement and immediately invited her to join them. Infected at once by their carefree playfulness, she willingly plunged into the game, chasing the shrieking children around, pretending they were too quick for her.

So engrossed in the game was she that she failed to notice one of her guard escorts trying to attract her attention from the sidelines. At last, having just tagged Shona, she was taking a breather, panting and laughing at the same time, when the guard caught up with her.

“Me lady,” he shouted over the noisy laughter coming from the children, “the laird is asking to see ye immediately in his study.”

“Is he?” she asked, bristling a little at being summoned so formally. And “immediately” did not sit well with her either.

“Very well,” she told the guard. “I’ll be there directly.” He nodded and returned to his colleagues, who stood by ready to dog her footsteps all the way to the study.

“I have tae go, I’m afraid,” she said to Rufus regretfully when the game was paused. The children gathered around her, begging her to stay a little longer. “I cannae,” she explained to them, “but I’ve had so much fun playing with ye, and I promise I’ll come see ye all again as soon as I can.”

“Aye, ye’ll always find us here, or sometimes in the servants’ hall when it’s raining,” Rufus told her. They gave her a chorus of disappointed goodbyes as she waved to them and headed back into the keep, for her appointment with the laird.

“Which way is it?” she asked the guards, for she had never been to the study before and did not know the way. They guided her down the main hallway. She followed them, confused as to why Diarmaid should request her presence in a such a formal, summary fashion. What could be so urgent for him to demand that she attend him immediately in his study?

One answer sprang to her mind: Aiden had replied to his letter!

By the time they arrived at a set of impressive, carved double doors and stopped, she was gripped by excitement. She smirked to imagine how satisfying it would be to see her husband’s face when he had to admit she had been telling the truth all along.

But when she knocked and heard the terse command to enter in reply, she frowned, and her excitement vanished along with the smirk. It cannae be a letter from Aiden, she concluded, feeling deflated, for the gruff tone of Diarmaid’s voice alone told her that his mood was dark.

When she entered the study, she saw he was talking with Ciarán. They both looked around as she came in. Ciarán smiled and nodded at her in greeting, and she returned the favor. However, when she saw how Diarmaid merely cast her a cursory glance, it ruffled her feathers even more.

Still, she waited patiently while they pair concluded their conversation, looking around the predictably masculine space, curious to see her husband’s den for herself.

“Ye can report back tae me later,” Diarmaid told Ciarán after a few moments.

“All right, Braither,” Ciarán said. “I’ll be up on the battlements with the men if ye need me.” He headed for the door, sending Lillie a cheeky wink before he left, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as they were alone, he glared at her from across the room, his expression hard, the tension in his body obvious. Her heart began thumping in her chest in worried anticipation, for she had never seen him look so angry, and it was clear to her at once that she was the object and cause of his displeasure.

Meeting his glare with one of her own, she raised her chin and asked, “Why have ye summoned me?”