Page 37 of Highlander's Caged Rose
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For a short while longer, Niall stood looking down at the woman he was about to marry, aware that the one he loved was watching him. He screwed his hands into fists in sheer frustration, then thumped them against the wall.
Damn!he thought furiously.Why now? Why did she not wait a week longer?
Yet, he knew that whenever Beitris arrived would be the wrong time because he simply did not want her; even if she proved to be the sweetest girl in the world, she would never do because she was not Moira.
Moira watched him sadly. She could read him well now and his body was telling her that he was frustrated and furious, and when he turned to her again, she knew exactly what he was going to say.
She was standing buttoning up her dress when he came and knelt down on one knee by her feet, then reached out to grasp her hands.
“Moira—please, please, please don’t leave,” he begged. “I truly do not know what I’ll do without you if you go. I would bevery happy to call off the wedding with Beitris. Please, Moira. I will do whatever it takes to make you stay.”
His expression was so agonised that Moira was almost tempted to give in, throw herself into his arms and say that she would do as he wished. But that would have been her heart speaking. Her rational self stubbornly resisted, and she had to give him the same answer as she had given him time and time again.
“Oh, please don’t make this any harder than it already is, Niall,” she replied, burying her face in her hands. “We can never be together. You have no idea how much I wish we could, but we will never be able to. Please go to your bride now. She’ll be waiting for you.”
“I don’t care about her!”
Niall’s voice was throbbing with fury as he moved Moira’s hands away from her face and looked into her eyes. Moira flinched at the rage in his face, since it was an expression that reminded her of her husband, and she drew back from him involuntarily.
Niall immediately saw what he had done and said gently, “I’m sorry. I should not have spoken like that, but I need you to understand that if you leave this way, you will break my heart.”
Moira said nothing because she was simply unable to. Niall waited for another moment, then said, as calmly as he could, “Moira, I will not ask again. If you leave, you will never come back again. I will be forced to marry Beitris, and that is something I really, really do not wish to do. What do you say now?” He gazed at her steadily, willing her to give him the answer he wanted.
But Moira could say nothing. She stared at the floor while Niall dressed, tears streaming down her face. She looked up once to see him gazing down at her as he tied his belt around hiswaist, then she stood up and turned away, hearing the door close as he left.
Niall usually walked with a long stride that ate up the ground at a speedy pace, but now he dawdled, trying to put off the evil moment when he would have to go to meet his future bride. Every step he took brought him closer to her but further away from Moira, and the thought that she was so close to him yet so far, away was driving him insane.
Why did she not agree to stay?he wondered for the hundredth time.What is she hiding?
He walked as slowly as he could until he reached the courtyard. However, Beitris and her uncle had already been shown into the castle itself, and were seated in a spacious reception room, to which he was directed. Glennie was absent, and Niall inwardly called her every bad name under the sun as he realised he would have to deal with Beitris on his own.
“Moira!” Glennie was tapping on Moira’s bedroom door and wondering why she was taking so long to answer. At last, Moira opened the door and Glennie entered, then her eyes widened in complete shock as she took in Moira’s state of dishevelment.
Her eyes were red with weeping, her hair was a tousled mess, and her dress was a mass of wrinkles, but there was something else wrong, something Glennie could not put her finger on.
“Moira, what’s wrong?” Glennie asked, taking her friend by the shoulders as she looked into her tear-stained face. “Tell me, please. Perhaps I can help.”
“Nobody can help.” Moira said heavily. “I must go, Glennie. Staying here is becoming harder and harder, and I will not beable to endure it for much longer, especially now that Niall’s bride is here.”
Glennie nodded grimly. “So you saw her arriving. I came to tell you, or rather warn you.”
“I looked out of the window,” Moira explained. “And saw her arriving.”
“My brother has no feelings for anyone but you, Moira,” Glennie assured her gently.
“I know that,” Moira agreed. “But he has to do his duty, and I’m getting in the way. I must go, Glennie.”
Glennie hesitated for a moment. “I have to go and meet her, but tell me you won’t leave before I get back.” She looked doubtful and a little scared.
“I would never go without saying goodbye,” Moira assured her, then, on an impulse, she hugged her friend. “I am so glad I met you, Glennie. You have been so good to me, and I will never forget you.”
Glennie smiled. “No matter where you go, we will keep in touch because you are my best friend too, Moira,” she said reassuringly. “Now, I must go, but I would give anything for you to stay. But I must do my duty and go to meet my sister-in-law, but let me assure you I’m not looking forward to it!”
She looked grim as she turned to walk out, then she reached out to give Moira’s hand a squeeze. The look in her eyes was one of deep tenderness, and when she had gone, Moira realised that not only had she lost her love, but she had lost a sister too.
Glennie had not been joking when she told Moira how she felt about Beitris, but she decided that perhaps, since they had such a short acquaintance, perhaps she was judging her future sister-in-law too harshly. Maybe she would improve with time as they came to know each other, although Glennie could never imagine being as fond of her as she was of Moira.
