Page 102 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
“Having a couple items put in the wrong place is no reason to relieve someone of their position.” Gavin tried to keep the patience in his voice, a feat becoming more and more difficult with Edana.
The cold was hard on her body and only served to fuel her bitterness. At least he’d had no reports of her having beaten any of the servants.
He glanced toward the large clock in his room and saw the time was nearing noon. While the thing seemed to often border on inaccurate, it was at least near enough to remind him of the time when he would meet with Senara. Neither of them had missed a day, not once in the last six months.
Edana spun around to face him and thrust one of her bony fingers in the air toward him. “I know why ye want her to stay.” Her eyes glittered with accusation. “Ye fancy her. I see the way ye watch her, like she’s somethingspecial.” She spit out the last word with obvious contempt.
“My affairs are none of yer concern.” Gavin left the warning in his tone blatant, but his aunt did not back down.
“They are when ye’ve no heir. When ye’ve all but stopped seeking out a wife.” She hobbled toward him. Her eyes were still sharp despite the age withering her thin flesh. “If ye dinna have an heir, yer land and all its people will go to that damned king. It’ll be part of England.”
Gavin slapped his hand on the flat of his desk.
Edana’s mouth snapped shut.
He didn’t want to hear this. He already knew all of it.
Aye, he had not been seeking a wife. Not for some time.
Truth be told, he’d even declined a potential match with Seton’s daughter some time back. The lass was bonny enough, agreeable even, and Fyvie Castle was a fine estate far larger than his own. The union would have allowed his land to prosper with the Seton wealth and further backed the protection of his people.
They would most likely be wed by now, had he agreed. Their attempts at an heir underway.
The clock was near striking noon.
Declining the match did, indeed, have everything to do with Senara, yet he found he could not regret having done so.
“Ye’ve gotten yer answer, Aunt.” Gavin went to the window and looked down below where Senara was strolling back to the castle from the stables. Her hair was braided back and shone like spun gold in the sun.
A smile touched his mouth. The lass spent any free time she had in the stable with her horse. Renny had told him she always brought bits of things from the kitchen as treats for the beast.
“She will be the end of this clan if ye canna get her from yer mind. Ye mark my words.” A slamming door followed Edana’s statement and he knew she was gone.
Gavin’s chest ached with his aunt’s declaration. There was far too much truth in her words for comfort.
The clock struck noon and he strode to the door, his heartbeat loud in his ears. He went to the stairs and found Senara there, resplendent in a green dress, which made her eyes shine like polished emeralds. “Gavin.”
He loved how she said his name, like a breathy exhale of excitement. A glance behind her confirmed no one appeared on the stairs below.
He caught her face in his hands, her skin still cool from having been outside, her cheeks and lips pink with it.
He pressed his mouth to the chill of hers. Her lips parted and the tip of her tongue grazed his. His body went hot with a fire of lust and he returned her kiss with a passion, which left them both trembling with need.
Gavin pulled back abruptly and captured her hand in his. The thrum of her pulse matched the frenzy of his own.
Her chest rose and fell with excitement and her eyes shone with desire.
He could not kiss her too thoroughly, touch her too much, lest he lose control. Each time they met, his hold on restraint became more and more difficult.
Long after she’d gone, his mind played out their conversations far too often and his body burned with a lust even his fist could not slake.
He plucked a bit of hay from her hair. The slender stalk shook between his fingers. “We canna see one another anymore.” His voice was deep with desire.
Senara nodded in agreement and her hands gripped the banister of the stairs, as if she were holding on for dear life.
They had the same conversation every day. And yet every day at noon, they both arrived.
If he were a lesser man, he’d have had her long ago. But he couldn’t in good conscience, not with knowing he would have to marry another someday.
Hewouldmarry another, one befitting his station.
Until then, he dreaded the day she would finally not show at noon.
