Page 66 of Sinful Scottish Laird
“Cailean?”
His head jerked up, and for the slender wisp of a moment, he looked incredibly hopeful. But Daisy would show him no mercy—she was too angry, too frustrated. “Will you please show me back to the great room? I want to find my son.”
Something flickered in his blue eyes and the hope disappeared, buried under the insouciance, the casual indifference that took its place. “Aye, of course,” he said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CAILEANHADWANTEDto kiss Daisy—more than wanted, had burned with that desire—but something had shadowed his thoughts, something he couldn’t quite grasp.
Was it duty? No. It wasn’t his duty to protect her. He did not answer to duty.
A resentment of his mother’s never-ending attempts to see him wed? No. He didn’t begrudge his mother that natural desire.
What bloody arse didn’t take a kiss when offered? This was the second time he’d failed to act, and he was a man whoneverfailed when such an opportunity presented itself. Nor had he failed to keep his sensibilities and feelings far above the fray of his physical wants since that day fifteen years ago when Miss Beauly had refused him.
What had happened to that man? And what in damnation was that thought in his head he couldn’t quite drag into consciousness?
Aye, hedidfeel himself under siege with irreconcilable thoughts and feelings. It was troubling—a kiss in his father’s study was certainly not as inflammatory as what he’d done in that potting shed. He’d taken great liberties with Daisy, clearly—and now suddenly he was concerned withwhat,pray tell?
He had no time to study this unexpected alteration to his conscience, thank the saints, for he might have hung himself from the rafters. He might yet. But he was needed to open the games in his father’s stead.
Cailean did not see Daisy that afternoon. He was surrounded by clan and fellow Highland guard members as he joined the caber toss and the stone throw. The physical exertion and camaraderie of men he knew and admired helped him to push down the troubling thoughts of Daisy. The lingering feeling of discomposure was successfully drowned with several tankards of ale.
He didn’t see Daisy, but he did stumble upon Ellis. There was an area in the meadow set aside for children to play games that emulated those in which the adults engaged. Ellis watched from the side in the company of Miss Hainsworth. He was dressed formally in spite of the heat, and was clearly not a participant.
Cailean squatted down beside Ellis. The lad’s face lit with a smile. Cailean clapped him on the shoulder and asked, “Why do you no’ participate, then?”
Ellis’s smile faded. “I don’t...” He looked at the other lads. “I don’t know how,” he said.
“You’ll no’ learn if you donna play. Come,” he said and took Ellis by the hand, walking into the field where boys were lined up to participate in the stone put, whereby they launched a smooth stone from their palm and measured the distance of their throw. He asked the other lads to allow Ellis to participate.
“But he’s aSassenach,” a ruddy-faced ginger-haired lad said in Gaelic. “My dasaid I’m to stay away from them.”
Cailean squatted down before that young man and said quietly, “You may tell your dathat Lord Chatwick is our guest,Sassenachor no’, and if he doesna welcome him as he ought, I will rip him from limb to limb.”
The color drained from the lad’s face. “Aye, laird,” he said.
Cailean stayed to ensure that they did indeed include Ellis. One of them was kind enough to instruct him how to throw the stone. Ellis was wretched at it, but he didn’t seem to care—his face was awash in happiness, and he was eager to please. He congratulated each throw to the point Cailean laughingly told him that their throws couldn’t all be as good as that.
He moved to the other side of the field while keeping a watchful eye on Ellis, and was watching him have another go at the stone put when he saw the flash of light blond hair. He turned and saw Daisy standing between her uncle and Spivey, watching the men at their stone toss. Spivey rested his hand on the small of her back, and he leaned over her shoulder and said something that made her smile brightly. Maybe she even laughed.
Cailean felt a strange constriction in his chest. He turned away from the sight of her. He had no right to feel anything. Cailean walked in the opposite direction and away from her, in search of something that could silence his thoughts.
He found himself at the games once again and noticed that the backhold wrestling event was about to commence.Wrestling.That was it, that was exactly what he needed. Let him release his frustrations by slamming a man or two into the ground. All in good fun, of course, or at least he’d tell the unlucky lads he beat that was so.
He joined the men lining up to compete. There were ten in all, vying for the prize of a kiss from Aileen Ramsey, a bonny young woman. The last man standing would have the pleasure of receiving her kiss. Aileen stood on a platform, swinging her skirts this way and that, calling out encouragement to the men who stepped in line to wrestle.
Cailean was pitted against men he’d trained—all of them quite good if he was allowed that bit of self-commendation. As he waited for the game to begin, another man entered the competition—the one they called the Mountain. He was a head taller than Cailean and a good bit wider. Cailean almost smiled when he saw him. His mood was not precisely competitive—it was more lethal than that.
The first matches went quickly; Cailean pinned his opponents in a matter of seconds. Round they went, winnowing the number of contestants down to the last few men who consistently managed to keep their feet. Each round, Cailean brought his opponent to the ground with a roar, but with each successful win, the roots of his agitation only sank deeper.
The competition finally came down to two men—Cailean and the Mountain, who had dispatched his opponents like small children. A large crowd had gathered around them now, and someone had thrown a hat onto the ground to collect the wagers.
They were called to the center of the ring. Cailean moved to take his position, and he happened to catch sight of Daisy with Spivey standing apart from the crowd, watching. Her gaze, cool and distant, met his. Unaffected.English.
Cailean ignored her and turned to his opponent. “I mean to win,” Cailean said to the Mountain.
“Aye, but you will no’,” the Mountain said, grinning.
