Page 16 of Scot of Desire
Only this time, he didn’t smile the way he usually did when she said that. He walked away, leaving the corridor empty and suddenly cold without him. Ilyssa shut the door and locked it fast, leaning on the wood.
“What happened?” Catreena asked, standing off the bed. “What did he say?”
Ilyssa couldn’t tell her friend the truth, not when she and Bran had come so close to crossing a boundary they had never encountered before.
“He just reprimanded me.”
Bran rode his horse behind Ilyssa and Catreena, staying close by Tad’s side. The snow was no longer falling as thickly as it had done the day before, but the ground was still cold and frosty in the aftermath. It slowed their journey and made them all shiver beneath the cloaks and wolf furs that covered them.
“I hope yer plan works, Tad,” Bran said as they rode along a road out of town, toward Grant Castle, that was perched at the bottom of a mountain. The tall grey spires reached like a cathedral toward the clouds.
“Aye, me too.” Yet there was little hope in Tad’s voice. The strangeness of the tone made Bran turn to look at his friend in wonder.
Tad had clearly achieved what he had wanted the night before. He had got his distraction in the form of the red-haired barmaid but come the morning, when he had returned to the inn, it was plain to see that he was preoccupied again. He had been serious all day, his expression never once shifting from a frown.
“If I have tae leave sooner than I thought tae make another plan, ye will stay, willnae ye?” Tad asked most determinedly under his breath.
“I have already told ye I will.” Bran had no intention of leaving Ilyssa’s side, especially not after what had happened the night before.
He had come so close to weakness, so close to kissing her. What would she have made of that? He could only presume she would have thrust him off. Despite how close they had stood, she had not once reached out to him, had he?
I crossed a line last night. It cannae happen again, or I might lose her as a friend forever.
“Aye, I ken, but forgive a braither his worries. I need tae hear ye say it again,” Tad pleaded.
“Ye have me word,” Bran assured him. “I will stay and watch both Ilyssa and Catreena. Nay harm will come tae them in the castle.”
“Thank ye.” Tad managed a small sigh of relief, though it did not last.
They had reached the giant gateway to the castle. Two guards carrying pikes opened the gate, clearly expecting their arrival. The heavy scraping of the wood on earth was ominous, making all four of them fall silent.
Ilyssa no longer led the way but had stilled her horse before the gate. Tad steered his horse around her and walked into the compound of the castle. Ahead of them, a long lawn stretched ahead of them, reaching from the curtain wall toward the keep and the courtyard in front of it. Bran rode his horse alongside Ilyssa’s, practically her shadow, as they followed Tad.
More than once Bran glanced at Ilyssa, yet she never looked his way, not once.
As they halted in the courtyard, there was an entire entourage ready to greet them. Grooms took hold of the horses so they could all dismount, and maids hurried forward with trays carrying tankard and flagons of mead.
Bran ignored the mead for his eyes were trained on the white-painted doors at the front of the keep. They opened slowly, and two men walked out. He could not mistake the identity of the two for the grandeur of their dress announced their position.The elder had to be Laird Gilroy Grant. His hair was a mixture of white and black. He wore an ermine-fur lined cloak, as if he was even higher in status than a laird. His face, haggard with age, with his hair turned upward, in what Bran supposed was an attempt to look taller than he was.
At his side walked a man that had similar dark eyes, though he was much younger. This had to be Cillian Grant. Frustratingly, the man was no ugly brute to look at. He had handsome lines, strong features that might make a woman swoon. Bran cursed under his breath as he stared at the man with short black hair.
“Ah! Welcome, welcome,” Laird Gilroy declared, his voice rather nasally as he tried to boom the words across the courtyard. “Ye are most welcome indeed. Ah, ye must be Laird Tad, and I see ye have brought… friends with ye.” His eyes passed uncertainly toward Bran, then he shifted his focus completely toward Tad and shook his hand in greeting.
“Aye, I have. Good tae meet ye, Laird Gilroy.” Tad’s words were polite enough though Bran could hear the forced nature of the words. “May I introduce me sister, Lady Ilyssa.”
Bran looked around to see she stood, quite cold and impassive, between the horses, making no move forward to greet the two men. In the end, Tad had to jerk his head at her, and even Catreena subtly stood on her foot to get her moving.
Slowly, Ilyssa walked forward to meet the men.
“Ah, I see yer beauty has been greatly underestimated,” Laird Gilroy said charmingly, as he took her hand and kissed the back.
“Thank ye,” she murmured stiffly. Her hand was passed into Cillian Grant’s hand who lingered far too long kissing it.
Bran balled his hands into fists at his side. He didn’t notice Catreena had moved to his side until he caught sight of her jerking her head toward him in surprise at the sound.
“Come,” she whispered, threading her arm through his and dragging him toward the group.
“Charmed,” Cillian said smoothly to Ilyssa, who had rather hurriedly removed her hand from his.
