Page 71 of The Highlander's Virgin Widow
Evander scoffed. “How does us visiting them prepare them for the cèilidh?”
“I just dinnae?—”
“’Tis a cèilidh, Rory, nae a duel.”
Rory opened his mouth to speak, but the words remained stuck in his mouth as Evander raised his axe again and swung down as hard as he could.
“If they say they’ll be here tomorrow, we shall wait for them tomorrow. Now, is there anything else?”
A few seconds passed, filled only with silence, before Rory spoke.
“Nae at all, M’Laird,” he replied, his voice low and firm.
“Good. Now, go.”
“M’Laird, I can continue the work if ye want me to?—”
“I said, go.”
Rory nodded and left just as soon as he had come, leaving Evander to his solitude once again, thoughts of Keira slapping themselves straight into his thoughts after thinking he had managed to escape them for quite a while.
Perhaps he had been so quick to dismiss his man-at-arms, as he was only now realizing that he had been a nice distraction for him.
Visiting them in the village.
He grumbled to himself as he grabbed a few more logs and scattered them by his feet, ready to rip every single one of them. He snatched the first log from the pile and secured it in place, then smashed it.
Why did everything in this situation have to be his fault? He was merely a victim of circumstance. If his castle hadn’t been set on fire, he wouldn’t have felt the need to look for another one.
He was on his own, and whether she liked to hear it or not,herpeople had caused the entire thing. It didn’t matter whether she gave the order or not. The attack had come fromherclan, and all of a sudden, he was the villain?
A grunt escaped his lips as he brought the axe down on another piece of wood, his eyes peeled as shards scattered across the blade. He raised the axe again, his train of thought growing even more intense by the second.
None of this would’ve happened if her people hadn’t attacked him. Also, why did the conquest of this castle have to be so complicated? If the castle had a laird in the first place, it would’ve been vacated one way or another. He probably would’ve killed him if he had to. But no. It just had to have alady.
He swung again, the rhythmic sound of shattering wood now growing distant as his thoughts began to echo louder in his mind.
Thwap!
And if it had to be a lady, why couldn’t it be any other woman? He was very certain that he wouldn’t have had half the problems he had now if it had been anyone except her. Someone who didn’t question whether or not he deserved respect. Someone who properly feared him and had no reason to call him out on anything one way or another.
But no.
Thwap!
It just had to beher.
Why did it have to be the one person he couldn’t reason with? Why did it have to be the one person who would constantly argue with him?
Of course, his attraction to Keira had grown, but what fully solidified it was when she had put Thistle in his room. He could no longer help himself at that point.
Thwap!
He had managed to maintain his rakish lifestyle because of duty. He didn’t have to worry about things like love or his future with someone else because of duty. He had never cared what happened to any woman he had slept with because of duty. So what was it about Keira that wouldn’t let him stop thinking about her?
Thwap!
Why couldn’t it be—Thwap!—anyone else—Thwap!—but her?
