Page 13 of Scot of Desire
Out in the snow, as the door closed behind them, Bran threw the poker into the snow nearby and pointed down the road. Catreena ran ahead, but Ilyssa walked much slower, her face as red as the flames had been back in the tavern.
“Bran, I’m so sorry,” Catreena said repeatedly, running ahead and slipping in the snow. She kept glancing back at him, her face pleading in the moonlight to be forgiven. “We didnae think it would end up like that.”
Bran stayed silent. He glanced at Ilyssa again, unsure which emotion rose in him more. Was it anger that she had put herself in such danger? Or fury that another man had tried to touch her in that way?
God damn it, I cannae stand another man being near her.
He was now in no doubt of what it was he was feeling for her. It was as plain as day as she walked alongside him in the snow, and it was damn shame that he needed her to be betrothed to another man to finally have clarity and understand his feelings.
When they reached the inn and clambered in together, Catreena was still pleading for forgiveness. Bran ignored her, climbing to the top of the stairs and halting on the landing.
“Please, Bran, I’m so –”
“Go tae yer room, Catreena.” It was the first thing he had yet said. It made both Catreena and Ilyssa flinch in surprise.“Go.” He pointed again. This time, Catreena didn’t hesitate. She nodded, her face flushing red, and hurried off toward the bedchamber door.
Ilyssa tried to follow but Bran held up his hand.
“Yeare talking with me,” he said, his voice deep and gravely. He reached for the key to his own room, turning to open it. “In here.”
She showed no surprise at being asked into his bedchamber, but flushed beetroot purple now.
He led the way inside, then kicked the door shut behind him.
She stood in the very middle of the darkened room, her silhouette the only thing that was visible. For a minute, neither of them said anything. Bran’s heart raced and his lower gut trembled.
We are alone…
Such imaginations filled his head of what they could do alone that it was suddenly overwhelming. He pictured kissing Ilyssa, of having her hands upon him, of trailing his fingers through her long dark hair until it was wild about her. He pictured the two of them toppling down onto the bed together, reaching beneath her skirt, and showing her exactly what it was like to be adored. His imagination let him get as far as entering her with his fingers, hearing her gasp, when her words startled him.
“If ye are tae reprimand me, get it over and done with.”
He turned away from her, the thrilling daydream leaving him in an instant. He reached for the mantelpiece and lit a candle from a tinder box, then he made up a fire. He shrugged off both his cloak and jerkin, so he was in nothing but his shirt and trews as he turned to look at her. Now in the growing firelight, he could see her animated gaze. Her eyes darted up and down him, as if she was searching him for something, but what, he did not know.
“Dae ye nae realize what ye did tonight?” he said at last. She flinched. “The danger ye put yerself in.”
“I couldnae stay in that room.” She waved a hand toward the door, as if that explained everything. “Ye expect me tae lay peacefully in a room when me mind is running this mad? How can ye expect that of me? I needed… distraction.”
“Ye are starting tae sound like yer braither.”
“Hey!” she barked, stepping forward. She no longer flinched but looked furious as she came near him.
Dinnae come that near.
He was thinking of her eyes flashing in this same way, but with passion rather than anger, as she looked up at him.
“I am nae me braither. I dinnae distract meself from the woes of life with an hour in another’s bed. I went fer a drink, Bran. Aye, a drink, that was all.”
“A drink?” he spluttered, stepping toward her too. They were so close, there was barely a strip of air between them, though the thought of stepping back was an impossibility to him now. “What if that man had tried tae force ye tonight?”
“He wouldnae –”
“He looked seconds from it,” he countered fast. She blinked for the first time, a momentary acceptance of the danger she had been in. “Ye wouldnae have been strong enough tae fight him off. What if I had nae been there tae stop him? It was reckless.”
“What dae ye care?” She waved both of her hands at him. “Ye are nae me faither, Bran. Ye are nae even me braither.”
“What are ye saying?! That doesnae mean I dinnae care about ye.” He suddenly marched forward. The words had tumbled out of him. She backed up with the movement, going all the way to the wall beside the fire. She reached the wall, and he stopped in front of her, his hand on the wall either side of her. He hadn’t thought this through – he had just thought it would somehow help her see the strength of his words. “What if ye had been taken against yer will?”
There was sudden silence. Her eyes were raking up and down him and he sensed something that hadn’t been there before.They were so close that the air practically crackled, just like the fire in the hearth nearby.
