Page 102 of The Highlander's Auctioned Virgin
Her throat worked as she swallowed. “Deciding to marry me. Do ye regret it?”
“Why would ye even ask that?”
“Ye havenae exactly made me believe otherwise.”
His hands dropped to his sides. “Elinor…”
“If ye do, tell me now,” she said. “I can organize another auction. Yer people can stay here, of course. I willnae send them away. That is why ye wanted to win the auction in the first place, is it nae?”
“Elinor– ”
“To give yer people a place to stay? Well, they can stay here. I willnae fight ye over the land or send ye back to yer braither. But I’ll be damned if I stand here, waiting for ye to remember me existence.”
Ciaran did not answer. His gaze roved over her face, searching for something she couldn’t name. She swallowed, feeling the tightness in her chest grow.
“Ye’re really good, ye ken?” she continued, her voice just as soft as it had been when she walked in. “Ye managed to break down me defenses. Ye managed to get me to trust ye, then ye showed me yer true colors.”
“Elinor, I am only trying to protect ye.”
Elinor scoffed. “Ye ken who used to say that to me? Murdock.”
She saw the shift in his countenance before the words left his mouth. “Dinnae ever compare me to that bastard again.”
Elinor laughed. “Ye ken, I thought me first husband was the cruelest man alive because he took everything from me.”
She swallowed, letting the silence envelop the room.
“He took me freedom, me voice. He even took me food.” She paused and cleared her throat. “But ye—ye’ve taken something worse. Ye’ve taken yer company from me. Ye just decided one day that I nay longer deserved yer attention. So ye will have to forgive me if I think ye’re just like him.”
He did not move.
Elinor briefly let her eyes follow the droplets of water that ran down the ridges of his stomach and disappeared beneath the towel around his waist.
“I thought we were starting to get along,” she continued. “I thought maybe, for once, this might work. That I wouldnae have to live with a stranger. I mean, everyone thought I was insane for picking a killer, but I thought…”
His lips pressed together in a hard line. “Ye thought ye could tame the Hound,” he said quietly.
She shook her head quickly, as if the motion would clear the emotion clogging her throat. “I never thought of ye as the Hound,” she murmured. “Nae really. Maybe the first time I saw ye, but nae after. Nae after the cabin or the gallery. Nae after everything we’ve been through.”
For some reason, the space between them felt wider than the entire room.
His eyes did not leave hers.
“I regret putting ye in danger,” he admitted, his voice dropping further. “But I daenae regret me decision to marry ye.”
Elinor scoffed. “Ye have been sleeping in the stables for the past three days. Ye’ll have to forgive me if I daenae take yer words to heart.”
“Nae once did I regret me decision,” he insisted, taking a step closer to her.
The heat and scent of him instantly tickled her senses, and goosebumps broke out all over her skin. She tried as much as she could to keep her eyes off his ridged abdomen.
“I thought staying away would protect ye. I daenae ken how many other Jamies are out there. Yer staying with me is a risk.But ye have to believe me, Elinor. Nae once did I doubt me decision to marry ye. Nae since the cabin.”
She closed the distance between them, the droplets running down his body now in clear view. His chest heaved up and down in a way that seemed to almost match hers. Then, she looked up at him, at his eyes that shone like sea glass, and swallowed.
“Then prove it.”
His eyes traveled down her lips, and before she could say anything else, he leaned down and sealed his mouth over hers. The heat of his kiss stole her breath.
