Page 39 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“Aye, maybe.” Kyven bit her lip as she walked out of the room.

Silently, she wandered past the torches in the corridors flaming brightly to guide her. She ambled, in no great rush to reach the feasting chamber, though when she did arrive, she found Laird Shay waiting for her, quite alone.

The only people there to keep them company, to act as some sort of chaperone, were the guards at the door and the maids attending to the table.

“Ah, me lady.” Laird Shay stepped toward her, his charming smile back in place as he took her hand. “Ye look quite breathtaking,” he whispered against her skin, pressing his lips in a deep kiss.

Kyven waited for some quickening of her heartbeat, but nothing came.

“Thank ye. Ye are kind indeed. Shall we eat? I ken we havenae had much chance tae talk over these last few days, but I am eager fer that tae change. Tell me everything there is tae ken about yerself, me laird. I am eager tae ken ye well.”

He tucked her arm through his and guided her to the table, a vast smile upon his lips.

“Then I shall tell ye everything ye wish tae ken,” he said in a deep tone.

As he pulled her chair back for her, he guided her into the seat, the flat of his palm on the lower part of her back. It was an intimate touch, suggestive, though in her mind, she only saw Gilchrist when she thought of that touch.

Damn me foolish heart. Tonight is the last time I think of him in such a way. From tonight, I shall consider Laird Shay instead.

“Where are ye going now?” Gilchrist called after the kitten as it scampered down the corridor. “Come!” The cat halted, turned to look at him in a mischievous way, then sat perfectly still and licked her paws. “Ye will be the death of me, little one.” He caught up to her, bent down, and lifted her to his shoulder. She took her now customary place there, nuzzling down into the neckline of his shirt. “Now, nae more running around,” he warned the cat who meowed at him in response. “This is a conversation that must be had, and I’ve spent enough of today running around after ye as it is.”

The kitten showed no intention of going anywhere else now as she nuzzled the side of his neck. He was finding it very hard to stay angry at the little thing.

He headed to the castle and walked through the corridors, searching every turning as he looked for Aaden. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Aaden had not been in the mess hall in the barracks for dinner. Gilchrist rather suspected Aaden had taken the chance to spend the evening with one of his lovers, though he had so many, Gilchrist had no idea which maid or staff member to look for first in search of him.

He hovered at the top of a staircase, trying to decide where to go next, when voices reached him. Those muffled voices were familiar to him, though he couldn’t distinguish what they were saying. He pressed himself to the stone archway at the top of the staircase and blew out the candle placed in the nearest sconce by his head, casting himself into darkness.

He strained, listening as the voices got closer.

“Listen tae me, Larry,” Laird Shay insisted firmly. His voice fell quiet, and Gilchrist peered around the stone arch to see part way down the stairs, that Laird Shay and Larry had stopped, talking together in low tones. Whatever Shay was asking for could be no good thing, for Larry repeatedly shook his head. He didn’t want to do something. Shay took Larry’s shoulder and said something tart indeed. It made Larry breathe in deeply, then all of a sudden, nod his head.

The conversation was suspicious and strange indeed. Gilchrist knew Larry of old. He knew the way the small man liked to hide behind others that were bigger and more powerful than himself. If he did not wish to do something, if he was actually turning Shay down for some reason, then whatever Shay was asking had to be bad.

Yet clearly, Shay had now managed to change Larry’s mind. He put his arm around his shoulder, like they were old friends once again, rather than master and companion.

The two left the staircase through the nearest doorway off the stairs, leaving Gilchrist to step out from his hiding place into the dusky light. He peered down at the empty space the two men had left behind.

“They are up tae something,” he whispered knowingly to himself. The cat purred on his shoulder, as if in agreement.

He knew the way Shay and Larry worked, and whatever they were trying to do, he would not let it happen. He moved down the staircase, intent on discovering what was afoot when he heard a door open behind him. Swinging his head around, he saw Aaden step out of the door with a dreamy, satisfied smile on his face and his collar somewhat misaligned.

Envy shot through Gilchrist, and he halted. He liked Aaden, they were true friends, but he couldn’t help being envious of the way Aaden managed to get any woman into bed with him, when Gilchrist couldn’t help running away from the one woman he wanted.

“Captain?” Aaden called to him from the doorway. He closed the door sharply behind him and ran to meet Gilchrist on the staircase, still adjusting the loose waistcoat on his shoulders as he went. “Is everything all right? Why are ye standing in the dark?”

“It doesnae matter.” Gilchrist took one candle from a sconce in the wall nearby and lit the other he had just blown out. “There’s something ye need tae ken.”

“What’s that?”

“I am nae going through with any more of yer plans,” he said sharply. The cat meowed on his shoulder, as if agreeing Aaden was a fool for suggesting them in the first place. “All I accomplished today was tae make a fool of meself.”

“I ken it cannae have gone well. Yer appearance in the training ground today made that plain, but ye were in that room fer a while. Something must have happened.”

“Aye, something did happen. I…” Gilchrist turned on the spot, coming close to falling down the staircase though he managed to steady himself quickly. He also raised a hand to keep the kitten in place, who purred briefly at his touch. “I touched her in a way I wasnae intending tae.”

“Surely that is a good thing,” Aaden said, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Nae if she laughed at me fer it, nay,” Gilchrist muttered sharply.