Page 109 of Auctioned to the Cruel Highlander
“That was for him,” Ciaran sighed.
Her mouth trembled. “Aye.”
He rose and then offered her his hand. She took it after the smallest hesitation. He pulled her carefully to her feet and kept hold of her elbow while she found her balance.
The men closed in around them, and Hector returned, a look that seemed to suggest satisfaction resting on his face.
“It is done,” he declared.
Ciaran kept one hand on Ava’s back as they turned away from the cliff’s edge. She did not pull away, but then, she did not move closer either. She walked beside him in shaken silence while the men formed around them and the morning cold swallowed the cliff behind.
“Let us go home,” he whispered, almost involuntarily.
CHAPTER 31
By the timethey reached the castle, Ava’s whole body hurt. It hurt even more when Isobel rushed forward and enveloped her in a warm hug.
“Oh, thank Christ, ye’re alive!”
“Isobel, I daenae think she can withstand that now.”
“Ava,” Isobel whispered, pulling back and looking at her friend.
The discomfort on Ava’s face seemed to say more than words would have. Isobel, still relieved, got the hint anyway and stepped aside.
“Come with me,” Ciaran whispered, and they resumed walking again.
The morning sky was turning into a greyish blue, and the sun would be out any moment from now.
Ava’s wrists burned where the rope had rubbed her skin raw, and her shoulder ached from the force of being caught and dragged back from the cliff. Clumps of dirt clung to the sides of her gown, and her hands would not stop shaking, no matter how tightly she clasped them.
Men were moving everywhere around her, and horses stamped in the yard. Voices rose, then dropped when they saw her. Someone opened the door before she reached it.
She did not look at anyone until Ciaran steadied her at the threshold. His hand closed around her elbow with care.
That touch, more than anything, nearly undid her. She could still hear him. She could still hear the hard certainty in his voice when he had said she meantnothing.
She knew why he had said it. She knew he had saved her life with the same mouth that had cut her open.Knowing, however, did not heal the hurt.
“Ava.” His voice was rough. Her name sounded as though it cost him.
She made herself meet his eyes anyway. The expectation in them made something break inside her, but she was still overwhelmed. Now wasn’t the time to address that.
“Thank ye,” she mumbled.
His grip tightened slightly, as if he meant to say more.
She could not bear to hear it then. Not in the hall, with the scrape of boots still punctuating the morning silence. The last thing she wanted was to bear him explain anything. She wanted a hot bath first and then the oblivion of slumber. She had been through a lot. The last thing she needed was another thing for her to deal with.
So she stepped out of his hold.
“I am very tired.”
She did not wait for his answer. She went up the stairs with one hand on the rail and her head bent against the wave of dizziness that assaulted her.
“Me Lady, yer father will want to—” a maid called behind her as she climbed the last steps.
“I will see him later,” she called back without stopping.
