Page 53 of Tempting the Highland Devil
He framed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her deeply before he dropped his hands and pulled back.
Yvaine stood there, sinking in the weight of her heart breaking as he stormed out of his study and left her there in tears.
27
Afew days passed, and Arran kept himself busy with clan work. He visited the village multiple times to meet with the people and make sure they were all right.
During his ride down the village that evening, James updated him on the villagers’ farm produce being moved to the castle. Harvest time was upon them, and they planned forming alliances with other clans for the new planting season, so the farmers could sustain their means of livelihood.
Arran was certain his friend Duncan would help. All he had to do was write to him. It was the other clans he worried about. Macmicking was a known enemy he was weary of, but O’Neil had saved Yvaine, so he contemplated forming an alliance with him.
Yvaine slipped into his mind with that one thought and left a prick in his heart. Since the night in his study when he told her he could not be the man she wanted, he had seen less of her.
I miss her.Arran did not expect the ache in his heart to be this heavy. He had expected to grieve her absence and he filled the void with work and his clan duties. But he lay awake at night, staring around his dark chamber, wishing she was in his arms.
He cleared his throat when they reached the largest planting field in the village and inspected it.
“The harvest is goin’ smoothly,” James said to him as they stood and watched from a distance. Children played across the field, and one of them rushed towards him with a flower in her hand.
“Me laird,” she called when he lowered himself into a squat to be on the same eye level with her. “This is for ye, me laird,” she said in an angelic voice, grinning at him with wide, bright eyes that softened his features into a smile.
“This for me lady,” the girl said and showed him another lily.
Arran smiled as he reached out and stroked the side of her face with one. “Thank ye,” he whispered. “They are bonnie.”
He noticed how skinny she looked; her eyes sunken in their large circles. Dirt stained her cheeks, and her hair was in matted ruins. Arran instantly felt sorry for the little girl as he stared at her chapped lips and watched her chew on the lower one.
“Are ye alone out here in the fields?” he questioned as he took her hand. “Where are yer parents?”
“Dead, me laird,” she answered. “I live with me braither.”
She pointed at one of the men on the fields, and Arran followed her tiny hand to stare at the young lad toiling the grounds. His heart sank as he wondered what happened to the little girl’s parents.
Did they die in the war? The war my father and I caused?
His guilt bit at his heart as he watched her. “Fetch me the lad,” Arran said to James when he looked to his side then he smiled at the little girl again, reached into the sporran always attached to his side, and found some berries he had taken with him for the travels. He offered them to the little girl.
She munched on them hungrily. James and the lad arrived a second later, and Arran stared at his worn-off clothes while he took off the hat he wore and bowed.
“Ye sent for me, me laird.”
“Please,” Arran said and reached out to touch the boy’s shoulder. “This little lass is yer sister?”
“Aye, me laird.”
“And yer parents?”
The boy met Arran’s eyes and swallowed hard. Arran saw the flicker of pain in his eyes as he answered, “They died in the war, me laird. In the war clan Dune waged against us eight years ago.”
My father was laird then. I fought in that war to avenge my mother.
“What is yer name, lad?”
“Ewan, my laird, and my sister is Penelope.”
Arran went stiff, his emotions too much to handle, but he tucked away the full weight of his feelings. “Ye have provided for yer sister ever since? Alone?”
The lad nodded, and Arran’s eyes studied his full length. The lad could be no more than eighteen summer’s old.How has he fended for himself since then?
