Page 16 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“Ha!” Laird Shay laughed loudly and leaned toward Kyven. He came so close that she jolted once more but tried to lean toward him too, encouragingly.

This is what I should be doing, is it nae? Encouraging him?

Yet as they came near to one another, she felt cold rather than warm. She fought the urge to look toward Gilchrist, though out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed he was close to breaking his goblet once more.

“Ye have devoted men around ye, me lady. Clearly it is a great woman indeed who can inspire such devotion.”

“Devotion?” She laughed at the idea, sitting back and shaking her head. “I believe more and more that Captain Gilchrist takes his responsibilities seriously, aye, but he takes them seriously because he believes in what is right. It has little tae dae with the woman who sits in this chair.”

Gilchrist jerked his head toward her. She stared back, trying to read something in his eyes, to get a rise out of him and make him speak to her, but he remained silent as before.

Say something, ye eejit!

Calmly, he raised the goblet to his lips and took another sip. She stared at his lips, thinking of the way those lips could kiss a woman, what they would feel like upon her skin, on her lips… the thrill, the excitement... Then Laird Shay’s hand rested tenderly over hers once more, and she suddenly leapt to her feet.

In danger of knocking over her chair, one of the guards jumped forward and barely managed to catch it before it collided with the floor.

How dare Gilchrist dae this? How can he drive me mad with silence, saying nothing at all, and yet I still think of him much more than the man who is sitting here and who actually wishes tae marry me?

“Is all well, me lady?” Shay asked with concern as the pair of them stared up at her.

“If ye’ll forgive me, I have a sudden headache,” she said, struggling for an excuse. “I think I will retire early fer the night. Me apologies, me laird.” She nodded her head at Laird Shay. “Perhaps we could spend some more time together on the morrow, tae ken one another better.”

“I look forward tae it.” He stood slowly and offered his arm. “But at least let me be of use tae ye now. Come, I shall escort ye tae yer chamber.”

Captain Gilchrist’s knife toppled to the table with a clatter though he said nothing.

She and Laird Shay were not yet married. It was perhaps improper for him to come as far as her chamber, and she certainly had no intention of letting him into it. An errant idea entered her mind too. Perhaps if she could see Laird Shay without Captain Gilchrist nearby, then maybe she could at least think of him more as a lover than an acquaintance. As Helen had described, some loves took time.

“Aye, thank ye.” Kyven took his arm.

Together, they walked from the room. As they neared the door, Laird Shay’s other hand came up and rested over hers, a soft and warm touch to her fingertips. She smiled at him, grateful for the kind touch.

“It has been a long day, I expect,” he said comfortingly as he led her through the castle. They walked through torchlit corridors, the flames burning brightly in their sconces, and under stone archways. At this time of night, the shadows beneath those flames seemed longer still. Despite the fact it was her home, Kyven was thankful for the company.

After so much had happened in the castle over the years, she never felt completely safe within its walls.

“I presume the tension of me arrival was nay easy thing,” Laird Shay went on with a smile. “Please permit me tae talk freely, Lady Kyven. I ken it cannae have been a welcome thing, tae have a council tell ye of me betrothal proposal and encourage ye tae accept it when we had never met.”

“Well, at least ye are proving tae be sensitive tae the situation I am in,” she said with a sigh. “Many a man might have presumed I would have accepted the betrothal without question.”

“Nay. Ye have a strong heart. I saw that from the moment I arrived.”

She jerked her head toward him as their pace slowed. How could he possibly know that? How could he judge such a thing from their momentary meeting on the doorstep?

“I wish ye tae ken something,” he spoke gently as they turned a corner and she gestured to her bedchamber door up ahead. “I make ye this proposal as I wish fer a companion.” His words made her stall, she hesitated by the door, staring up into the pale and handsome face in wonder.

Is he in earnest?

“I’d heard much of ye, and I ken very well what it is like tae have a council urging ye tae wed. I was resolved tae find a wife who understood me struggles. Having met ye now, I believe I may have made the right choice.” He smiled sweetly then took her hand from his arm and raised it to his lips.

He was but an inch from kissing her hand. Any second now, she would feel those lips upon her skin. She stared up at him, waiting for that contact, admiring the handsome smile in the firelight of the torches when –

“Is it nae time ye returned tae the dinner, me laird?”

The voice from the shadows made Kyven retract her hand sharply. Something flashed in Laird Shay’s eyes, there for but a moment before disappearing as he flicked his head around.

Both Kyven and Laird Shay stared as Captain Gilchrist emerged from the darkness between the torches. He seemed more dangerous in that moment than Kyven could remember ever seeing him before. Tall, ominous, his hands looped on his weapon’s belt, the glare he offered the laird was so cutting, she nearly backed up.