Page 16 of In Bed with a Highland Liar

The last thing Lilith wanted was to give Aaden another chance, especially since she hadn’t given him one at all to begin with. She didn’t want that man in her home. In fact, she didn’t want any of the suitors.

But what other choice did she have? Her father was determined to find her a husband and despite Freya’s assurance that they could find a way to change his mind, she doubted they ever could. With Aaden there, she could either continue to be as difficult as everyone claimed she was or she could try to at least open up a little; develop a friendship with him, perhaps, if not a romance.

“Fine,” she said, so reluctantly that one may have thought she was being taken to the gallows instead. “I will give him another chance. But that is all I will dae.”

The grin that shone bright on Freya’s face was enough of a reward for Lilith.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Courting Lilith, it turned out, was a nightmare. Though she was a little kinder to Aaden now, she certainly wasn’t at all interested in his advances, something that she made perfectly clear every time Aaden came near her.

It had been two days since his arrival at the castle and Aaden was still where he had started. He had tried talking to her, he had tried cornering her so that they could be alone, only for her to slip away from him at the very last moment, he had even tried to bribe Cameron to help him out, but the man was too noble to be bought like that.

He had also laughed right in Aaden’s face, asking if he was already that desperate, and Aaden didn’t even have it in him to protest. Every single woman he had ever met would have fallen for him by then and he began to realize that perhaps his skills at seducing them were not as legendary as he claimed. Had it only been luck that brought them all to his bed? Had it been his looks? How could Lilith resist him when others couldn’t?

Still, he made it his mission to track her down every single morning and try, at least, to start a conversation with her—anything that would get him even a little bit closer to his goal. That day, he saw her from the window of his guest chambers in the courtyard, firing arrows at a tree, and he hardly managed to dress himself properly before he rushed out of his room, eager to join her. He even skipped breakfast, his plan was more important than any hunger he might feel.

It wasn’t even Ruadh’s plan that he was following now, though that was still something that needed to be done if he were to keep his mother safe and his head on his shoulders. It was a matter of pride, really, as every rejection from Lilith only infuriated him more, until he was practically vibrating with it every time she was near. Aaden couldn’t get her out of his head. He was at her mercy, and he didn’t like that at all.

Once he was in Lilith’s line of sight, after running all the way down the stairs and out into the courtyard, Aaden waved his hand cheerily at her, giving her his biggest smile. Lilith responded with a smile of her own, but it never quite reached her eyes. If anything, it seemed not only forced, but almost hostile, more like a baring of teeth.

“How are ye today, me lady?” Aaden asked as he approached, only to come to a sudden halt when an arrow whizzed past him, barely missing his face and lodging itself on the bark of the tree behind him.

His heart stuttered in his chest, losing its rhythm. He didn’t hold any fear in battle, but now that he had suddenly—out of nowhere, in fact—come so close to a premature death, his knees almost buckled under his weight, and he had to force himself to muster any control he had left to stay upright. He was certain his skin had turned a deathly shade of white, cold sweat covering his forehead with every passing second.

“Did ye just try tae kill me?”

It sounded absurd even as he spoke, but it was all he could say in that moment, his eyes wide open as he looked at Lilith, who didn’t even have the decency to appear remorseful.

“Please… if I wished tae kill ye, ye would be dead already,” she said. “Has nae one taught ye that ye shouldnae walk in front o’ archers?”

“I didnae think ye would shoot yer arrow at me!” What sane person would do such a thing? Even if Lilith was the best archer in the world, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t make a mistake. For all Aaden knew, she could have even missed by accident, when her real goal was to shoot him in the head.

“I ken what I’m doin’,” Lilith said calmly, placing her bow down as if to show him that she was no threat to him—not anymore, at least. “I told ye, if I wanted ye dead, ye would be.”

Exasperated, Aaden turned around to walk away from her and to a safe distance, somewhere where she couldn’t bring her bow and arrow. Before he got too far, though, he turned around and pointed a finger at her, lips curling into a snarl.

“Dinnae dae that again.”

As he headed back inside the castle, the bubbling sound of Lilith’s laughter followed him, making him seethe. He didn’t even see Cameron as he approached him and fell right into the man, an insult ready on his tongue before he saw who it was.

“Aaden?” Cameron asked, taking in his shaken appearance. “What is the matter?”

“What is the matter?” Aaden hissed, looking over his shoulder as if he was expecting Lilith to have followed him inside with her weapons. “Lilith is tryin’ tae kill me, that is the matter. She shot an arrow at me! Right at me head!”

“Ach…” Cameron seemed to want to say more, but no words came past his lips. Aaden couldn’t help but glare at him, incredulous.

“Is that all ye have tae say?”

“It isnae the first time she has shot at a suitor.”

O’ course it isnae. I dinnae ken what I expected.

“Well, someone better control the lass!” Aaden said as he pushed past Cameron, heading to breakfast even though his stomach had tied itself into knots after the sudden attack.

“I thought that was what ye were tryin’ tae dae,” Cameron called after him, laughing.

“She could have killed me!”