Page 50 of Hard-Hearted Highlander
“I, ah...” She swallowed. She looked wildly about, as if she was seeking an escape. The lass was utterly shocked and Rabbie felt a twinge of guilt for it. He didn’t mean to harm her. He’d fully expected she would tell him she wouldn’t stand for that arrangement.
“Aye, what then?” he asked impatiently. “Does this displease you?”
Avaline slowly shook her head, which was not what Rabbie expected.
“Of course it displeases you,” he said, annoyed that she didn’t understand what her role was in this. “You may tell your father what I’ve said, I donna care.”
“That—that is not necessary,” she said carefully.
Had she lost her bloody mind? “Aye, itis,” he insisted.
“No, really,” she said. “This news is not...it’s not completely unexpected.”
Now it was Rabbie’s turn to look shocked. He felt almost a brotherly duty to explain to this chit that itwasunexpected, and she really ought to expect the exact opposite of him. She ought to expect fidelity above all else. What in God’s name was wrong with the English?
“If that’s what you desire, then as your wife—yourfuturewife—I will do what I must.”
“Diah,Avaline,” he said, and sighed with resignation for what seemed the hundredth time that day. “You should end this engagement for it. I donna care if you do, do you understand? You should no’ accept such rules.”
“Oh, you mustn’t worry over it, Mr. Mackenzie. Or may I call you Rabbie? You may trust me. That is one of my best attributes, really—I am quite loyal and I can be trusted.”
She was making this difficult. “Verra well. If that is your wish,” he said. He moved away from her, eager to be gone.
“What’s her name?”
He paused. He turned back. “Pardon?”
“Your mistress. Have I met her?”
He stared at her, unable to comprehend this conversation. “No,” he said, and opened the door. “Go back, then,” he said, gesturing for her to precede him. “Run back to your ma.”
She hesitated, clearly debating it. But at last she moved and walked out of the salon.
He escorted her back to the great hall, at which point she scurried away from him to her mother’s side. She sat on the dais and pressed a hand to her heart as if she’d sprinted all the way from Killeaven.
It was ridiculous to have believed, if only for a few hopeful moments, there was a way to escape his fate. He should never have listened to Miss Holly, damn her.
Rabbie turned away from the great hall. He’d had his fill of this so-called celebration and began to stride for the corridor that would lead up to the family’s private rooms. But as he neared the staircase, he saw Miss Holly in the shadows, standing by an open window.
He came to an abrupt halt. He looked around them, searching for her companion.
“There is no one here,” she said, reading his thoughts. She placed her hands on the windowsill and leaned out, breathing deeply of the night air.
Rabbie’s frustration boiled over; he grabbed her by the shoulder and whirled her around. “Youradvice,” he said bitterly, “was for naugh’.”
“What?” She gaped at him with surprise. “But surely—”
“Why did you kiss me?” he blurted, suddenly unconcerned with his fiancée.
Miss Holly stared.
“Why?”he demanded. “Did you desire me, lass? Or did youpityme?”
“It wasn’tpity—”
Rabbie caught her head between his hands and kissed her, pushing her up against the wall. It was not the tender kiss she had given him, but one blistering with desire. He nipped at her bottom lip, swept his tongue inside her mouth, moved his lips across hers as he titled her head so that he could kiss her more thoroughly.
She gave a soft whimper—either from pleasure or pain, he wasn’t certain—but it was enough to arouse the beast in him, and it pressed against his ribs and his heart. He in turn pressed his body against hers, his arousal against her belly.
