Page 38 of Auctioned to the Cruel Highlander
Ava knew the words were true. She believedhebelieved them. Still, the firmness of his answer made the air tighten. There was pride in his words, and ownership.
This was his stronghold, his responsibility, his wound to answer, and he would not have it seem to another laird, even one as well-meaning as her father, that he needed support inside his own walls.
Ava couldn’t tell if he was being too cocky or if he just believed he was strong enough to take on anyone else.
But then, they daenae call him the Silent Death for nothing.
Rory studied him. The silence lasted only a moment, yet it stretched with the weight of several things at once.
Ava wondered what her father was thinking at that moment and felt herself caught between the two of them in a new way.
Her father was the man who had held every part of her old life together, who had offered home and safety and choice even when it would have cost him to do so.
Ciaran was the man who had taken a blade for her, carried her away from bloodshed and chaos, and kissed her with enough force to leave her shaken where she stood now.
Neither role canceled the other, and neither lessened the pull of the other. The overlap made the chamber feel too small for simple breathing.
At last, Rory gave a short nod. “As ye say.”
Nothing in his tone openly challenged the answer, yet nothing in it surrendered judgment either. He accepted Ciaran’s position as a laird might accept another laird’s word while reserving the right to continue thinking whatever he pleased.
That somehow made the whole exchange feel more intimate.
Ava stood very still, her hands folded before her because she did not trust them not to twitch. The kiss remained alive beneath everything. Her father’s entrance had not erased it. Ciaran’s calm had not erased it. Even this conversation about men, strongholds, and support had only layered itself over what had passed between them instead of wiping it away.
When Rory looked back at her, warmth returned to his face at once. “I only wished ye both to ken that the offer stands.”
Ava nodded. “Thank ye, Da.”
Rory’s gaze rested on her a moment longer. “If ye wish, ye may come stay with me for a while.”
The words came out so softly that for a second, Ava almost failed to understand them.
“What?”
Rory shrugged. “If ye want. Ye ken I want nothing more than for ye to be safe. If ye think ye will be safer back home with me, he may come too.”
Ava swallowed, and everything in her went completely still.
She could tell her father wasn’t trying to command or pressure her. He wasn’t trying to challenge Ciaran’s authority either. He was only offering her the kind of safety she was already used to. A place at his side. Familiar terrain. A little more time before the full weight of this new life settled around her.
The tenderness of it made her stomach twist.
She looked at him and saw no impatience on his face, no judgment, only love deep enough to open the door and leave it unguarded. He would take her back at once if she asked it. There was no doubt about that. No condition tied to the offer. No demand that she prove the depth of her distress before she earned refuge.
Before she could answer, Ciaran spoke. “If that is what she wants, I willnae oppose it either. I would never let any harm come to her, but I would understand if she chose to leave.”
Her eyes went to him at once. He did not look at her as he said it, at least not at first. His tone remained even, stripped of possessiveness, stripped of any plea she might have had to answer or resist.
He wasn’t begging her to stay or offering even more reassurances to her father than he already had. He was only making her realize that she had the option to leave if she wanted.
For some reason, that mattered more than she had expected it to.
For the first time since her father had spoken, the full shape of the moment stood plainly before her. She could leave. Not in theory. Not as some fantasy she turned over in sleepless hours.
She could actuallyleave.
The path away existed, and it was lined with nothing but love and warmth.
