Page 10 of Kilty Until Proven Innocent
“I’m foul, lass. Ye dinnae want me in yer bed right now.” He tossed the helm atop his cleared desk, the sight making him angry all over again.
The noise she made was somewhere between a laugh and a snort. “Who said aught aboutmybed? I’ve never kenned ye to be picky.”
She’d really come to him for sex? He twisted to send her a quirked brow. He must’ve been right to question her, because her cheeky grin eased into something more natural looking as she chuckled and lifted one hand, palm out. “Aright, aright. Ye’re no’ in the mood to make me scream yer name, I understand.”
Christ, she was tempting him on purpose, was she not? “Lass…” he growled in warning. He was in no mood to play.
“So instead I brought ye a gift,” she declared. With that, Brigit moved her other hand from behind her back.
Drum’s gaze latched on the crossbow bolt she clutched—she’d been hiding it since he’d steppedinto the room?—and instinctively he reached for his dagger.
“Ye dinnae trust easily, do ye, love?” she chuckled, sashaying forward to offer him the bolt.
“Nay,” he rasped, gaze locked on the weapon. “No’ since…”
Rebecca isnae here. Ye dinnae even ken if she’s still alive. Stop allowing her to haunt all yer interactions with women.
His friend and fellow Hunter Barclay had told him that, years ago. But then again, Barclay had never had any trouble with women trustinghim, or getting what he wanted from them. Drummond Kennedy on the other hand…everyone knew he didn’t trust women.
“Here,” Brigit offered quietly, her green gaze sincere. “Ye’ll want this.”
He frowned down at it, torn between pulling her to him and claiming her lips…and urging her out the door so he could drink alone. His chest was a roil of emotions, none of them good, and the sparring hadn’t helped to calm him nearly enough.
“What is it?” he finally growled. “Why should I want it?”
She offered it again. “’Tis the crossbow bolt which nearly killed the King.”
And just like that, the world shifted for Drummond.
With a fierce burst ofjoy, he snatched the thing from her palm, and didn’t bother to hide his excitement when he lifted his gaze to hers. “Truthfully? Ye are no’ lying to get my hopes up?”
But Brigit seemed startled by his response. “Lie? Why would I lie? Aye, this is the bolt from the trap.”
A grin spilt Drum’s face, and she sucked in a breath—surprised?—at the sight of it. “This is brilliant, lass! I could kiss ye!”
Instead of offering herself to claim the prize, Brigit actually took a step back, her expression settling into wariness. “Ye’re…pleased, then?”
“Pleased?” He lifted the bolt, studying it. “This is exactly what I’ve been praying for.”
“For yer—” She bit down on whatever she’d been about to say. “For the evidence to make its way to ye?”
“For achance,” he breathed. “I’ve been shut out of this investigation, and it’s been eating me up inside. Someone tried to kill the King and I cannae protect him if I dinnae ken who ‘twas.”
She was silent for a long moment as he turned the bolt this way and that, examining it. When, grinning, he finally lifted his face, he was surprised to find her chewing her lower lips as she studied him. As if she wasn’t certain what to think of him?
Or his reaction to the bolt?
“Lass?” he suddenly thought to ask. “Where did ye get this?Howdid ye get this?”
“Och,” she declared a little too breezily, suddenly spinning away with a wave of her hand to stare out the window. “Nae one notices me! I have all sorts of connections, ken all sorts of people.”
Well, that wasn’t surprising. Brigitwasa likable lass, and he’d seen the way the guards watched her walk away. He knew he had no claim to her, and that she hadn’t been a virgin when they’d come together, but the knowledge other men found her desirable had always irritated him.
Had she used that desirability to get the bolt?
If so, she was no better than Rebecca, using her body to get what she wanted.
Och, shut yer gobhole, ye dobber. Brigit brought ye the bolt so ye could solve this mystery. She’shelpingye, ye arsehole!
