Page 37 of Wedded to the Devilish Highlander
"That sounds like a challenge, and I daenae shy from a challenge," Eileen told him. She felt the dagger in her hand and quickly tucked it away before putting her hands on her hips.
"Aye, as if I dinnae ken that about ye already, and I barely ken ye," Archer replied.
“Then I fully expect ye’ll have to drag me back to the castle if ye want to keep me under lock and key. I’m yer betrothed, but I’m nae yer property.”
“I woudlnae hesitate,” Archer growled, stopping a breath away.
Eileen cocked her head as she looked at the Laird. Something flared in her chest. "Ye actually mean that, daenae ye? Ye’d enjoy it, too, wouldnae ye? Hoistin’ me over yer shoulder and carryin’ me back to the dungeons."
"Well, anybody mentioned the dungeons, but if it means keepin’ ye safe while under me charge, I’d do it in an instant."
"Ye actually mean it, ye really mean it. Yer bein’ serious!" Eileen blurted.
“Ye think ye can just do whatever ye please when yer braither is missin’? Do ye think ye’re safe?”
“So, I am a prisoner here?”
“Are ye listenin’ to a word I’m sayin’? Ye are me betrothed.”
“Nae bychoice.”
He stepped closer, his nostrils flaring. “Ye dinnae understand. If somethin’ happens to ye while ye’re here, it’ll be me fault, and we both ken O’Gunn will use that to rally clans against us.”
“It was just a walk,” Eileen protested. “I was about to turn around and go back to the keep. I ken Reid is missin’.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I cannae sit around for a second, ‘causeas soon as I do, I start wonderin’ whether he’s dead. And all ye can think about is how to contain me and use me to get what ye want.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is that when ye think? I’m doin’ this for me own good and there’s nay risk? It will come to a head with O’Gunn, and nay matter what happens, ye’ll be able to walk away. I might nae have that chance. I dinnae care about ye; I care about the clan.”
“Then ye have a funny way of showin’ it, ‘cause ye wouldnae be runnin’ after me like this if ye didnae care about me.”
Archer shook his head and turned away.
Eileen was glad he did, for a flush rose to her cheeks. She was lashing out because she liked how he acted around her, and that only made things more complicated.
She tried to change tack. “Well, if ye need to do it, hoist me over yer shoulder and lock me in me chambers like some petulant child.”
He kept his back to her, but his shoulders rose and fell as he chuckled at her joke. When he turned back, some of the fire in his eyes was gone. “If ye keep walkin’ into the woods like a bloody fool, maybe I should.”
She leaned in, her chin tilted up. “Oh, aye. Ye’d love that, wouldnae ye? Throwin’ me over yer shoulder like a limp sackof spuds. Just like ye love sneakin’ up on me in the castle and scarin’ me into submission so ye can pin me to the wall, or makin’ sure ye’re one with me in the woods and…” she trailed off when she realized where her little speech was leading.
She saw it in Archer, too, when his breath caught. A small crack in his restraint.
“In the woods and…?”
He stepped forward, and she backed up instinctively until her spine met the rough bark of a tree. He braced one hand beside her head.
“What else do I do, hmm?” he asked, his voice low and lethal. “Why do ye keep runnin’? Is it so I’ll chase ye? Go on, say it.”
Her breath shuddered. “Ye-Ye look at me like ye want to devour me. Ye touch me like ye are afraid to break me. And ye… ye make it so I cannae even think straight. I needed air and solitude. I needed to talk to someone. That’s why I’m out here. I’m nae runnin’. Christ alive!”
His gaze dropped to her lips. “Is that so?”
She barely nodded when he kissed her.
It was not gentle. It was not careful. It was heat and hunger and every unspoken word that had hung between them during the stolen glances and sharp-edged banter.
He claimed her mouth like a man breaking his fast after years of famine, and she yielded to him without thought, only need. Her fingers twisted in the front of his shirt, dragging him impossibly closer. She could feel the hard planes of his chest beneath her palms, his heart pounding as wildly as her own.
Archer groaned into her mouth as her lips parted for him. His tongue swept deep, coaxing, demanding. She responded with an eagerness that startled even herself, meeting him exactly where he met her. Her back arched against the tree, and he pressed into her, his thigh parting hers, the hard lines of his body making her whimper.
