Page 185 of Auctioned to the Cruel Highlander
Och! Look here!
Here is proof.
Here is weakness.
Here is the shape of a man who once prided himself on cold order and now buys star maps because his wife spoke one morning about a comet and her dead mother.
The villagers still moved aside for him and watched him with lowered eyes. By the time he turned back toward the castle, he couldn’t stop himself from imagining the look on Ava’s face when she eventually saw the map. Even as he reached the castle, all he kept thinking of was her face.
He should have known she would be waiting somewhere near the heart of the castle.
Ava had developed a talent for appearing at the exact moment his thoughts were least fit to meet her. She stood in thecorridor just beyond the hall, her back straight, her expression calm enough that anyone passing by might have mistaken the encounter for chance.
Ciaran knew better. She had beenlookingfor him.
Her eyes dropped briefly to his hand. He shifted the rolled map behind his back before the motion could become a question.
“Me Lady,” he greeted.
She raised an eyebrow. “Ye have been avoiding me.”
Ciaran kept his expression smooth. “I have had matters to attend to.”
“So have I.” Ava took one step nearer. “That doesnae change the fact.”
“What matters could ye possibly have to attend to?”
She shifted on her feet, a pink hue briefly tingeing her cheeks. “The lady of a castle has work to do, too. I recall ye saying that, me Laird.”
Ciaran let the silence that followed stretch out. But that silence, once useful to him, only seemed to sharpen her.
“I daenae appreciate it,” she continued. “I daenae like thinking I am doing something to keep ye away from me.”
“I am nae keeping away from ye.”
“Really?”
Ciaran exhaled. “I needed a walk.”
“A walk.”
“Aye. To the market.”
“The market.”
“What is that?”
She folded her arms over her chest, the determination on her face growing further. “What is what?”
“Repeating me words like I am a child.”
“Ye needed a walk to the market. Ye must forgive me if I find that a bit hard to believe.”
“Ye are going to find a lot of things quite hard to believe since ye are now me wife, lass.”
“Aye, I am beginning to see that.”
He should have said something measured and practical then, something about duties, about the village, about the usual burdens of the castle. Instead, he found himself acutely aware of the map behind his back and how close she stood.
