Page 23 of In Bed with a Highland Liar

“Our maither used tae sing it tae us when we were bairns,” Lilith said. “Well… I remember it. I dinnae think Freya does, but I taught it tae her a long time ago. I think perhaps she believes she remembers but what she truly remembers is what I told her.”

“Did yer maither pass when Freya was young?” Aaden asked.

Lilith nodded. “I was eight years o’ age. She wasnae even five yet, so she doesnae remember her well.”

“But ye dae,” Aaden said.

Another nod. “I dae. An’ I remember how much it wounded me faither. Even now, he has never once forsaken her, but those first years were unbearable fer him. Losin’ her… it changed him.”

“I understand,” Aaden said. “It isnae far from what happened with me own maither. Though mine is still alive.”

Lilith turned to look at him then, only to find him gritting his teeth as though the mere mention of his mother was enough to flood him with emotion.

“What happened?” she asked.

At first, Aaden hesitated. Several moments of silence passed between them, but just when Lilith thought he would never respond to her, he said, “I was separated from her when I was very young. She is… she’s a lady o’ the night an’ she gave me tae me faither tae raise me an’ now… now he’s dead. An’ all those years, he never stopped lovin’ her, just like yer faither never stopped lovin’ yer maither. I’ve seen that same pain, Lilith. I ken what it does tae people.”

For a few seconds, Lilith was too stunned to speak. She would have never guessed Aaden carried so much pain inside him, a pain so similar to her own. She would have never guessed that he would be able to understand her torment so intimately, he too carrying it on his shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Aaden,” she said, reaching over to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. It was the first time she had touched him willingly, her touch one of comfort rather than threat, and though Aaden stiffened at first, as though he wasn’t expecting it, he slowly relaxed under her touch, all but melting into it. “But dinnae blame yer maither if ye can. I’m sure she only did what was best fer ye. She couldnae have raised ye on her own, so she had tae give ye away even if it hurt her.”

“I ken,” Aaden assured her, his own hand coming to rest over hers. “I’m sure she wanted tae keep me. An’ she wanted tae be with me faither, but… love isnae easy. It wasnae easy fer them, it wasnae easy fer yer faither, an’ I doubt it is easy fer anyone.”

All Lilith could do then was nod silently in agreement. The shock of seeing this side of Aaden had rendered her speechless. It was difficult to be combative towards him when he was being so honest with her, his vulnerabilities exposed willingly for her to see.

Was I too quick tae judge him?

Perhaps Aaden was truly regretful of the way he had treated her all those months prior, and he was indeed now putting in an effort to fix what he had almost ruined back then. But where did that leave her? How could she even entertain this idea when she had promised herself she would never fall in love?

“Why are ye so insistent?” she asked. It was a question that had been plaguing her ever since she had seen that Aaden had no intention to give up like her other suitors. “Why me? I’m sure there are many other lasses ye could wed instead.”

“Is it so bad that I wish it tae be ye?” Aaden asked. They were drifting closer to each other, Lilith realized, leaning into each other’s space, but this time, she didn’t try to pull back and neither did he. “Why are ye so insistent ye dinnae wish tae wed?”

Lilith hesitated. She had never spoken her reasons aloud before, knowing that everyone would try to change her mind. Her father surely knew the true reason, but he was merciful enough to never bring it up with her. She didn’t speak; she only let the silence gather around them as she couldn’t put her thoughts into the right words. Perhaps Aaden was the right person to talk to about all this—the only right person—since he had gone through a similar thing with his family, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to discuss this. She had kept it hidden for too long and now anything else seemed impossible.

“I suppose I cannae blame ye fer it when I gave ye such a terrible first impression,” Aaden said with a humorless chuckle when it became evident Lilith wouldn’t speak. “I’m hardly the right person tae ask ye this.”

It helped ease the tension between them. Laughing, Lilith gave Aaden a nudge with her shoulder. “At least yer tryin’ tae make up fer it now. There have been countless suitors at our doors, askin’ fer me hand relentlessly, who were naething but rude an’ presumptuous towards me an’ me family an’ the servants. They didnae even want me. They wanted me faither’s power an’ his gold. They want the lairdship o’ the clan.”

It was convenient to them, of course, that Lilith was pretty, but what they were truly after was her status, all of them trying to clamber over each other to get to the top. Lilith had no use for men like them, nor any regard.

“Which is why I wonder what it is ye seek from this,” she continued, eyes narrowing as she regarded him closely. “What is it that ye want from me?”

There was hesitation in Aaden, no matter how momentary, a flash of something akin to guilt that was gone just as quickly as it appeared, but then he said, “Ye bewitched me from the first moment I saw ye. It isnae only that yer bonnie. Ye are, ye’re very bonnie, but ye’re also… interestin’. I’ve never met anyone like ye.”

His words stunned Lilith into silence. Would she be a fool if she believed him? What if it was nothing but pretty words, thrown at her to blind her to Aaden’s true intentions? After all, she had no doubts that his cousin didn’t mean half of what he told Freya. Why should Aaden be any different?

But he doesnae seem like his cousin. There is naething false in him.

For the first time in a long while, Lilith’s stomach twisted into a knot. She had only felt like this a few times before, when she was a girl and one of the guards had paid her more attention than he did anyone else, but the feeling had soon faded. Even at nineteen, she had known to keep away from romance, especially because she was aware it would lead nowhere.

But now she couldn’t stop the flood of want that coursed through her. She saw that desire reflected in Aaden, his hungry gaze fixed on her as though she was the only thing in the world. That gaze had her heartbeat turning erratic, like a hummingbird fluttering behind the cage of her ribs.

“Just because ye dinnae wish fer love, it doesnae mean that ye must deny yerself pleasure,” Aaden said in a voice so quiet it was almost drowned out by the light breeze. His breath was warm against her lips, a stark contrast to the air around them, and they had leaned so close to each other that all she had to do to kiss him would be to close that small gap.

As they stared at each other, Aaden’s gaze fell from her eyes to her lips, before dragging it back up. “What dae ye mean?” Lilith asked, chest tight, warmth pooling in her core.

She thought she had a good idea of what Aaden meant, though her knowledge didn’t extend past the most basic of facts. Her cheeks heated at the mere thought of them together and she was glad for the darkness that surrounded them, as it hid her reddened skin.