Page 22 of In Bed with a Highland Liar

Slowly and quietly, Lilith began to approach him. She wanted to see what he was doing there, if he was simply sitting or working on some nefarious plan of his, and if she were honest, she also wanted to scare him a little. It would be good payback for all the trouble he had caused her. As she was walking, though, she was so distracted by his presence that her foot caught on a rock and she stumbled. One moment, she was standing upright and the next she was sprawled on her stomach on the ground, barely having the time to plant her hands so that she wouldn’t fall right on her face.

The commotion startled Aaden and his hand went to the hilt of his knife, readying himself for a fight. It took him a few moments of frantically looking around to see there was no threat and that it was only Lilith, grunting as she sat up and dusted herself off.

At least the ground is dry here.

“Lilith?” Aaden asked as he approached, frowning at the sight of her. He offered her his hand and helped her up to her feet, chuckling when Lilith furiously wiped off the dust off her arisaid, but at least he had the decency to hold back his laughter. When she straightened, he reached for her but before he could touch her, Lilith pulled back in surprise.

There was a moment when they only stared at each other in silence, Aaden’s hand still outstretched towards her and Lilith frozen on the spot. She glanced between that hand and his eyes, pulling just a little bit farther from him when he didn’t move.

Is he tryin’ tae pull me intae a kiss?

“Ye have some dirt here,” Aaden said softly and closed the distance between them, wiping some soil off her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “There.”

It was a momentary touch, barely more than a brush of his fingers, but Lilith’s mouth was suddenly dry and her heart beat wildly in her chest. With the moon shining on his handsome features, highlighting the high peaks of his cheekbones and the sharp lines of his jaw, it was easy to forget why she kept resisting Aaden’s advances, why she always kept him at a respectable distance. Giving in was not an option, though, and so she shook her head and stepped back, reminding herself that she had decided long ago she would never be this close to a man.

“Are ye alright?” Aaden asked with what sounded to Lilith like genuine concern in his voice.

“Aye,” she said, her chin jutting out proudly. The stumble had hurt her ankle a little, but she wasn’t about to tell Aaden and have him fuss for no reason. “What are ye doin’ here?”

“I only wished tae spend some time alone,” Aaden said. “It seemed like a good place fer that.”

It was, until ye came here.

“It must have been embarrassin’ fer ye tae sing and dance fer me like that,” Lilith said, just so that she could turn the conversation to a topic that would give her the upper hand. “Evander an’ Cameron were very pleased.”

“An’ ye?” Aaden asked. “Were ye pleased?”

Lilith did her best to keep her expression neutral, betraying nothing. A part of her had been pleased, she supposed, but she wasn’t so easy to win ver. “I found it amusin’.”

“Well… then it was worth the embarrassment,” said Aaden. “An’ it made ye accept me courtship efforts, so I suppose I would dae it again if I had tae. After what I said tae ye last year, I will dae anythin’ tae prove tae ye that I am nae that person.”

“Yer nae?” Lilith raised a dubious eyebrow, not quite believing him.

“I was,” Aaden admitted. “An’ perhaps I’m nae much better now, but I want tae be. Fer ye.”

Despite her apprehension, Lilith had to admit that Aaden seemed entirely sincere. She liked to think of herself as a good judge of character and unlike his cousin, Aaden gave her the impression that he was telling her the truth. For all she tried to think of his actions as a performance, it was difficult to do so when he was so open with her.

When Lilith said nothing, Aaden asked, “What are ye doin’ here? Isnae it late?”

“I wanted tae be alone, too,” Lilith said with a sigh as she walked over to the bank, sitting down on the patch of grass that grew there. Aaden followed her and sat down next to her, the two of them gazing at the calm waters of the lake.

“Perhaps we can be alone together,” he said, giving her a grin that was half-hidden in shadow.

Lilith couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of her. It was just like Aaden to take the opportunity to linger near her when all she wanted was some time to herself. “Perhaps. I can hardly send ye away now that ye’ve sat by me, especially as ye were here first.”

“Dae ye want me tae leave?” Aaden asked. “If ye ask me tae leave, I will.”

Lilith considered it for a few moments. On the one hand, she had come out here with the express purpose of clearing her mind, and that would be difficult to do with Aaden there. On the other hand, it seemed rude to send him away and besides, he had put her in a better mood. Perhaps it would be nice to spend some time with him after all and try to figure out why he was so insistent with her.

“Nay,” she said, shaking her head. “Ye can stay.”

If the smile Aaden gave her was any indication, he was very pleased to have permission. For a while, the two of them sat there in a silence broken only by the rustling of the leaves and the critters that roamed the grounds at night. But there was only so much silence Lilith could take before she got so uncomfortable that she feared she would burst.

“That song ye sang… Cameron told ye about it, didnae he?” Lilith asked, though she already knew the answer.

“He did,” Aaden admitted. “He said ye an’ yer sister sing it often.”

At least he admits it.