Page 55 of Highlander of Steel
Without warning, he picked her up and practically draped her over the stallion like she was a blanket. He pushed her foot upas she clumsily scrambled to right herself, the patient warhorse casually continuing to graze as she struggled into a sitting position.
To add insult to injury, Killian smoothly pulled himself up behind her, as if it were no challenge at all. His arm wound around her waist, and he grabbed the reins, steering the horse toward the castle with that same, stony expression on his face.
They had made it a fair distance into the woodland before Ailis mustered the nerve to speak, feeling as if she might burst if she didn’t.
“Thank ye for helpin’ me yesterday,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m truly grateful that ye arrived when ye did, and that ye… came after me. And for everythin’ afterward.”
She cringed inwardly. Was it appropriate to thank him for what he had done with his tongue? Was it customary to express gratitude for the most intense and magical feeling she had ever experienced? Or was that weird? Did saying ‘thank you’ make it strange, giving the feeling of a service rendered and received?
“Ye’re welcome,” he replied.
Fixing her gaze on the path ahead, the shapes and foliage and undergrowth just beginning to emerge from the darkness of night, she tried again. “What ye said about feelin’ like ye were supposedto meet me,” she began. “I just wanted to say that?—”
“We daenae need to talk about it, lass,” he interrupted. “Me blood was still rushin’ after the rescue; I cannae recall everythin’ I said.”
She frowned.
Is he tryin’ to take back what he said?
“It’s just that, what happened?—”
“Kept us warm,” Killian finished.
She resisted the urge to twist around, certain that his expression wouldn’t aid her confusion any more than his flat tone. “Warm?”
“Aye, so neither of us caught our death,” he replied. “But I’m sorry that I broke yer rule. In the moment, it was necessary.”
If he was trying to wound her, he was doing a rather good job of it. If he wasn’t trying to wound her, then he must be a fool not to notice how hurtful his words were.
How could he say that it was just to keep them warm? For that, they could have just lain together beneath the fleece. But all the things he had done and said—no, they hadn’t been ‘necessary’ at all. They had been life-altering and earth-shattering, and now he was undoing it all.
Ailis didn’t want to believe that she had been tricked, but her theory about him softening her up, making her malleable to his plans, rushed back in with force.
I willnae give him the satisfaction of seein’ that he’s stung me.
Marriage was still the only hope of any change in the endless war between their clans, but that didn’t mean she would be submissive. If he could pretend that last night wasn’t worth discussing, then so could she.
But she had to time it right. So she glared at the woodland ahead and said nothing, settling into the sway of the horse while trying to ignore the warmth at her back.
It felt more like an illusion now. Indeed, it was like they were standing on the edge of the cliff again, his hand on the small of her back, and she didn’t know if he was going to pull her back or push her over the edge.
She sat in silence until the horse passed through the gates of Castle MacNairn, much to the relief of the guards in the towers.
Thatwas when she seized her moment.
“Ye’re right, me Laird,” she said, deliberately refusing to use his name.
Killian cleared his throat. “Pardon?”
“Ye were right before. I’d be dead if ye hadnae warmed me. So, thank ye again for that diligence,” she replied. “And now that I ken how concerned ye are with me rules, I think I ought to add another one, just to prevent any future misunderstandings.”
His posture stiffened. “What rule is that?”
“I daenae want to see ye until the weddin’,” she declared.
“Aye, that’s—” he began, but she didn’t let him finish.
“Or after.” She pushed his arm off her, then, with little difficulty, slid down from the horse and looked up at him. “This was only meant to be a means to an end, to end the war between our clans, so we’ll just do our duty and let that be that. Only what’snecessary.”
