Page 47 of The Outlaw's Bride
Lachlann glanced toward her, his gaze narrowing. “Nothing.”
Adaira inhaled sharply. “Ye are lying. Somethingisbothering ye … and I wish to know what it is.”
His brow furrowed. “Adaira.” His voice lowered in warning. “Don’t—”
“Enough,” she cut him off. “Talk to me!”
Lachlann muttered a curse. “What do ye want to know, woman?”
“I want to know why ye helped me … have ye finally grown a conscience?”
He snorted.
“Do ye regret helping me … is that it?”
She watched him tense. “Of course not.”
“It seems that way to me.”
Lachlann stepped back and ran a hand over his face. “Satan’s cods,” he muttered, frustrated. “I crossed a line last night. I can never go back home.”
“It’s more than that though, isn’t it?” Adaira folded her arms across her chest. “Ye are disappointed because ye wanted to rule.”
“I did,” he admitted roughly.
Adaira’s mouth thinned. “How it must have chafed to see Morgan Fraser still alive when ye returned home.”
A muscle ticked in Lachlann’s jaw. “I didn’t wish him dead.”
“Didn’t ye?” She noted a faint color now tinged his high cheekbones. She’d succeeded in angering him, but Adaira didn’t care. Recklessly, she pressed on. “Ye were so desperate to get home and sieze power that ye didn’t care about anyone else. Ye didn’t care what happened to me.”
“I saved ye, didn’t I,” he growled back. “Ye could show some gratitude.”
“It was the least ye could do!” Adaira spat. His arrogance riled her. “All of this mess is yer fault!”
Drawing her cloak around her, Adaira stalked past him.
Lachlann raised an eyebrow as she went. “Where do ye think ye are going?”
“To Duntulm—alone.”
“Ye won’t get far on foot.”
Adaira came to an abrupt halt and spun on her heel, glaring at him. Lachlann had turned and was watching her with a patronizing look that made her want to kick him in the cods. “The Devil take ye, Lachlann Fraser. I couldn’t care less where I go, only that I never have to set eyes on ye ever again.”
Giving him her back, Adaira strode away, up the rocky incline toward the north-eastern edge of the valley.
“Adaira,” he called after her. “Come back here.”
Adaira ignored him. She was so angry that she felt like picking up stones and pelting him with them.
To think she’d actually thanked him for saving her.
“Adaira!”
He sounded angry now. Good. She hoped he choked on it.
Moments later she heard footfalls behind her. He was coming after her.
