Page 32 of Craved By a Highland Beast

“Very well,” Evan said, chuckling as he leaned closer to cradle her cheek in his hand. For a moment, he only looked at her, before he captured her lips in a soft kiss, feeling her sigh against his mouth.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor before coming to a sudden halt. Ada, frightened by them, wrenched herself free of Evan and turned around to look at the intruder with wide eyes.

Evan’s were just as wide when he saw who it was: Bonnie, standing there, at the end of the hallway, her delicate features contorted into a mask of betrayal.

Dinner was once again a tense affair. Bonnie and Evan sat across from each other, with Laird Ruthven at the head of the table and Alaric next to Evan, but they had exchanged no words so far. They only glared at each other every chance they got, over their forks and the rims of their cups, uncaring of what Alaric and Laird Ruthven would think of it.

Bonnie pushed the piece of rabbit around her plate, her appetite gone from the moment she had stepped foot in that corridor earlier that day and seen Evan kissing one of the maids. The sight had made the blood in her veins run cold, a chill running through her as though she had been doused with cold water. Her stomach had turned into a knot since and she couldn’t stomach any food that was placed in front of her.

The worst part was that she shouldn’t care. Why should she care what Evan did? Why should she care if he kissed other women? What had happened between them was nothing more than a mistake, nothing more than a few moments of weakness, and besides, it meant nothing. They hadn’t kissed. They owed each other nothing.

Still, the mere sight of Evan was enough to stoke the fires of her rage, her fury threatening to bubble over. She couldn’t stand being at the same table as him. She couldn’t stand the memory of him kissing that maid.

“Yer very quiet today, Miss MacLaren,” Laird Ruthven said and Bonnie’s grip tightened around her fork, a wave of fury coursing through her. “Is somethin’ the matter?”

“Nay, me laird,” said Bonnie with a reassuring smile—as reassuring as she could muster, at least. “I simply dinnae have an appetite.”

“Is the food nae tae yer likin’?” Ruthven asked. “The cooks could prepare somethin’ different fer ye. Anythin’ ye wish.”

“Thank ye, yer very kind, but I truly am fine,” Bonnie said, before she turned her gaze back to Evan, eyes narrowing. “Perhaps I will eat later, in me rooms. Alone.”

Silence stretched over the table for several moments. Even the sounds of scraping cutlery stopped entirely, and Bonnie could hear nothing but the ringing in her ears as her rage grew.

“If I am affectin’ yer appetite,cousin, perhaps I should leave the table,” Evan said through gritted teeth. “We wouldnae want ye tae waste away because o’ me.”

The nerve o’ him tae be angry with me!

Ruthven and Alaric both looked back and forth between them, wearing identical looks of confusion. Though she had thought that Evan and Alaric said everything to each other, it seemed the kiss with the maid was something Evan hadn’t shared with his brother.

“Or perhaps it is time fer ye tae head back home,” Bonnie said. From the corner of her eye, she could see the panicked look on Alaric’s face, but she continued to speak before he could interrupt her and try to salvage the situation. “I’m sure there are plenty o’ maids there who are tae yer likin’.”

“Perhaps there are,” Evan said with a shrug. “What does it matter tae ye?”

It was a good question, Bonnie thought—one that she couldn’t answer, of course, especially not in front of Ruthven. Instead of the truth, she said, “It is hardly proper an’ ye are well aware o’ that. It doesnae become ye.”

“An’ this doesnae become ye,” Evan shot right back, his tone taking on a sharp edge. “Ye speak o’ things ye dinnae ken.”

“I think I ken enough.”

“Ye ken naething.”

“Alright!”

Alaric’s booming voice cut through the argument, silencing both Evan and Bonnie immediately. Sheepishly, Bonnie looked at him and then at Ruthven, color rushing to her cheeks when she realized how much the argument sounded like a lovers’ spat. She shouldn’t have lost her temper like this, especially in front of Ruthven, but then again, Evan hadn’t been any better than her.

“We will discuss this later,” said Alaric with a tight, forced smile on his lips. “As a . . . family.”

Bonnie drew in a shaky breath. Distantly, she heard Alaric explain to Ruthven that she had always been protective of her family, her sister and her cousins alike, the excuse coming to him with practiced ease. She hardly heard anything Alaric and Ruthven had to say, though. She could only hear the rush of blood to her head, the rabbit-fast, erratic beat of her heart.

Though she could hardly call what Evan had done a betrayal, it still hurt; it hurt more than she ever thought it would, as though an arrow had pierced through her, leaving her to bleed out in agony. After a few seconds of her and Evan staring at each other, she couldn’t take it anymore, and so she stood, the chair’s legs scraping loudly against the stone floor.

“Excuse me,” she mumbled. “I require some fresh air.”

Before anyone could stop her, before anyone could even offer to accompany her, Bonnie was gone, spilling out into the darkness of the courtyard where she could finally be alone.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Arelentless wind blew through the training grounds of Castle Ruthven that morning and the sky was a dark grey, reminding Evan of the steel of his blade. After that disastrous dinner the previous night, he had come there to train with the Ruthven men, eager to get some of his frustrations out before he would have to see Bonnie again later that day, but none of them posed a real challenge to him.

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