Page 35 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

“Yer inquisitiveness…” He matched her playfully angry tone and they glared at one another. Eloise was the first to crack as she picked up one of the pieces off the chessboard, gazing at it.

“Have ye been playing fer many years?”

“Aye. My father taught me when I was young,” he said, steepling his hands once more as he stared at the board. “Nae dissimilar tae battle. It is all about tactics, about drawing the enemy into one way of thinking, when ye are actually doing something else entirely. It is the best way tae win.” He moved another piece on the board and removed a piece.

“Well, at least it’s less bloody than battle,” she said with a wrinkled nose.

“Aye, that I cannae deny.” He moved another piece, as if he was now his own opponent.

“Would ye teach me?”

“What? Nay.” He shook his head, not even pausing for a moment to consider the answer before he gave it. Disappointed, she stared at him, her body falling still.

“Why nae?” she asked, her voice high pitched.

“It is a complicated thing tae explain. Many who try tae learn soon give up.”

“Oh, I see.” She sat tall, folding her arms. “Ye think me too much of a fool tae learn this game. I am nae fool, Murdoch.”

“I have never called ye a fool,” he said rather sharply before his face softened. “But I could argue that the rather feeble dirk ye used tae carry around is a foolish thing tae take with ye tae protect yerself.”

“It has saved me. More than once.” She glared at the board, not in any humor to tell him of her most recent experience, where she’d had to use it to force Stewart away from her.

“Remind me tae give ye a better weapon some time. At least ye’ll be more protected then.”

She couldn’t settle. His insinuation that she had done something foolish made matters worse.

So much was wrong now with her connection to Murdoch. Their agreement to marry, yet they persistently argued. Her attraction to him, and yet his plain resistance to her. It didn’t seem to matter that he had kissed her more than once, could dance with her and cause a thrill, or even carry her as if she weighed no more than a feather, for it was all an act. She knew that.

Reluctant to return to the bedchamber and deciding she could put up with Murdoch’s company for a little longer, she gestured to the stack of books beside him on the table.

“Could ye pass me Robinson Crusoe, please?” She waited as he lifted his head from his steepled hands, looking away from the chessboard and toward the books. He halted, not responding to her or moving. “Murdoch?”

“Ye have hands. Ye can reach for it yerself.”

“Murdoch!” She sat forward in alarm. It was so much closer to him than to her, it would have been an easy thing to do. “Dae ye dislike me company so much that ye wish tae get rid of me in this manner?”

“I never said I disliked ye.”

“Then why are ye so rude? It is a simple favor.”

“I…” He looked away from her, down at the books again. “It doesnae matter.”

“Clearly, it does.” She stood up and rounded the chessboard, picking up the stack of books and choosing the second in the stack. “Och, how difficult that was, aye!” she declared with vigor.

“Ye are truly annoyed.”

“Of course I am!” Deciding she’d rather sit alone in the chamber and read, than put up with his company, she flounced toward the door, hurrying back when she realized she had forgotten the rushlight. She reached for the brass holder, but another hand found her wrist.

Murdoch held her hand still, clearly urging her not to rush away just yet.

“Dinnae go like this,” he whispered, his eyes on the flames. “I didnae mean tae offend ye, it is just…” He looked away, shaking his head.

“Just what?” They both stayed very still, with her standing beside the table, her hand still on the candle, and his fingers over her wrist.

“I cannae read, Eloise.” He shifted back in the chair abruptly. He looked down at the chessboard, his face set like thunder as his hands gripped the arms of his chair tight. A muscle twitched in his cheek, one so subtle that had Eloise not been staring at him so openly, she might have missed it. “Aye, feel free for the jests tae begin.”

“I beg yer pardon?”