Page 31 of The Highlander's Auctioned Virgin
She hoped the other lairds didn’t get caught in the storm. Part of her wondered if they were all able to make it back to the castle. Perhaps some of them couldn’t.
Wouldn’t it be funny if she saw a few of them the next day under the trees while she and Ciaran made their way back to the castle?
She might see their bodies instead. Or even find them dead in the castle.
Dead in the castle.
Dead in the castle.
Realization dawned on her, and her heart skipped a beat.
Wait.
She bolted upright, and her legs almost automatically swung off the bed and dropped onto the floor. She rose to her feet and took a step back from the bed.
Ciaran noticed and turned towards her. “Is this because I daenae want ye touching me back?”
“What did ye do?” she asked, her voice trembling. Whether from the cold or fear, it was hard to tell.
“What are ye talking about?”
“The other lairds. What did ye do to them?”
Ciaran rolled to the other side of the bed and lowered his feet onto the floor. “What?”
“None of them made it to the lake except ye. Nae a single one.”
“How is it me fault that they’re ineffective?” Ciaran asked, standing up.
Elinor took another step back, the heat from the dying fire hitting her legs. “Maybe they’re nae ineffective. Maybe ye killed them.”
“Ye think I killed the lairds?”
“Sounds like something ye can do, nay? Ye scouted the area, ye said. Perhaps ye needed a place to keep the bodies, but the storm ruined yer plans. Oh, dear Lord. Are they all dead? Are they all dead in the castle, ye… yeHound?”
Ciaran took a few steps towards her, and she stepped back again, until her back hit the wall.
There was no other place to go.
Ciaran leaned closer and rested his palm on the wall beside her head, his eyes boring into hers.
“I didnae kill any of the lairds, Elinor. I am nae so cruel as to give yer servants that much work to do. Do ye ken how hard it is to clean up a dead body? Nae to mention thirty of them.”
“Then how come none of them found us? How come nay one is here yet? The cabin is visible, is it nae?”
“Considering the fact that a storm is raging outside, Elinor, ‘tis understandable why some of them arenae here yet.”
“But ye’re here. Ye found me, did ye nae?”
“I’m different. Ye cannae compare me to them.”
“So ye killed them?” Elinor asked again, her heart pounding hard in her chest.
He was close.Again.
She hated the fact that he could almost see through her and hated even more the fact that she couldn’t do anything about it.
“I told ye I daenae . Maybe they’re just nae good enough. ‘Tis nae me fault if none of those men kens how to handle ye.” His voice had dropped to a whisper now. A low, seeking whisper.
