Page 70 of Love with a Scottish Outlaw
“You think you know me so well?” That ugly disdain he well deserved had returned.
“I’d never doubt your word.”
He found himself missing the easy way they had been together, the way her eyes had lit with excitement and eagerness when they talked. He only had himself to blame for its absence.
“I imagine it would be safer for your secrets were I to stay hidden,” Catriona mused, eyeing him.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “My people are vulnerable because of the price on my head. I’d rather stay away myself, but they continue to insist they need me to make the occasional appearance, and they’ve decided an official assembly is necessary.”
She frowned. “You’ll hold court, then, make decisions on behalf of your clan?”
“I will. But ye’ll not have to sit through such things. There’ll be booths with items for sale and contests of skill.”
“And I can just wander freely?”
“Not alone, no. Ye’ll be with someone. Ye must understand that my people are vulnerable. I’ve not told them all where our encampment is. They know about the children, but not the smuggling of whisky. I protect them, but they don’t need to suffer for what I’ve had to do, any more than they already are.”
He’d kept her trapped here so long, it had to be a relief to soon be out among people again.
“What have you told them about me?” she asked.
“Very little. I didn’t want people assuming ye’re my—” He broke off.
“Whore?” she said starkly.
“Ye could never be that,” he said between gritted teeth. “Since the men know ye’ve lost your memory, I’ve given permission for their families to know. That should protect your reputation.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “My reputation? I live in a cave with dozens of strange men. I imagine I’ll have no reputation left when people find out the truth.”
Another thing he’d done to her with his plot against her father, another thing she had every right to hate him for.
“I am sorry.” The words were gruff and inadequate.
The silence between them grew, and he couldn’t help continuing to stare at her.
She licked her lips and looked away. “I wish to dress.”
“Of course.” He paused in the doorway. “Ye didn’t need to leave my chamber. I would never force ye to be alone with me.”
“I cannot take that chance.”
Her eyes betrayed a stark angst as she turned away. He left to give her her privacy. She’d brought such grace into his life. Being with her had given him back a part of himself that had seemed dead for a long time. But it had only been a cruel illusion of his own making.
Chapter 16
Cat was able to distract herself the rest of the day, but that night, when she huddled on her pallet, unable to sleep because of the grunting and snoring of dozens of men beyond the screen, her mind kept betraying her by returning to the moment she’d faced Duncan in the pool cave, wearing naught but a chemise. She hoped she’d portrayed calm indifference, but underneath, she’d been aghast that her body didn’t seem to care that Duncan had betrayed her. Her skin had felt flushed, her breath had been shallow, her breasts had ached to be touched, and between her thighs—oh, she wasn’t going to remember how that felt, didn’t want to admit she was desperate to experience that moment of pleasure again.
She tried to think of something else—stirring the hot water in a laundry cauldron, kneading bannock dough, pulling weeds in the vegetable garden, all chores she’d never done before she’d come to Clan Carlyle.
She’d never lain with a man, either.
This was what her giggling friends had meant by being attracted to a man who wasn’t good for you. Your brain wouldn’t listen and your heart heard only its own, desperate beat.
She rolled onto her back and flung her forearm over her eyes in disgust.
In the morning, at least Cat had something else to concentrate on. She was more excited by the harvest festival than she wanted to be. She didn’t like being beholden to Duncan, when she should have been free all along. But her anger couldn’t hold a candle to her curiosity. Though she’d had a hard time sleeping, now she felt awake and eager. She mounted her horse and tried to avoid Duncan, but he rode up beside her with Finn at his back. Sheena rode her own horse just behind. The rest of the men dispersed then, disappeared through woods or along the cliff or past the paddock.
Seeing Cat’s frown, Duncan said, “My people don’t know where our encampment is. We try not to be seen coming from the same place, even by Carlyles.”
