Page 67 of The Highlander's Virgin Widow
“Evander, I dinnae have the time for this.”
“Dinnae worry. When the cèilidh is over, ye will have all the time ye need.”
Keira swallowed. Now might as well be a good time as any. “I willnae be at the cèilidh.”
A pause ensued. It was heavy and strained and tugged rather strangely at Keira.
“Why nae?”
“’Tis for ye and yer people. All I’ll be doing is getting in the way.”
“Who said ye’ll be getting in the way? ‘Tis where we plan to find ye a husband, is it nae?”
A bitter laugh escaped Keira’s lips. “A husband? Really?”
“That was the plan, was it nae?”
Keira didn’t push any further; she just scoffed and continued her work.
“I’ll be busy that day. Yer people keep arriving in the castle every hour. Now, I have quite a lot of people to tend to.”
“Or avoid.”
Keira frowned. “What?”
Evander folded his hands over his chest. “Ye think I havenae seen ye trying to avoid me people as much as ye can? They’re some of the best people I’ve ever kenned.”
“Well, they killed some of me men.”
Keira’s sharp and loud response took him aback.
A mild frown crossed his face. Was this still about the night they had? To him, it was beginning to feel like something more nuanced, something way deeper than just that night. Something she evidently wasn’t telling him.
“Yekilled some of me men,” Keira continued.
“Because someone from yer clan burned me castle. Ye think I didnae lose people too? Me nephew almost died.”
“Aye, well, the only difference is that me men actually died. Ye cannae compare them.”
“I am nae comparing them. Ye started this.”
“Nay.Yestarted this. Taking me castle, sleeping in me bed, waiting for me to see if I’ll get into bed with ye?—”
“What?”
“Ye heard me, did ye nae?”
Evander could feel his blood rising. There was so much he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. Not now. He balled his hands into fists. He didn’t know what was more upsetting, the fact that Keira continued to bring up all of this or the mere fact that she was still doing it with her back turned to him.
“If ye’re going to disparage me, the least ye can do, Keira, is do it to me face.”
Keira said nothing.
“Ye have been nothing but cold to me people ever since they started arriving.”
“I havenae?—”
“Ye have. For the brief couple of minutes where ye thought Shona and Tommy were me wife and son, ye were going to be cold to them, too.”
