Page 201 of Auctioned to the Cruel Highlander
Ava let out a breath and dropped into the chair again. “I am so tired of nae understanding him.”
“That I believe.”
She looked up. “Was I wrong to stay?”
Isobel crouched in front of her so they were at eye level. “Nay.”
The answer came at once, with no soothing delay to weaken it.
“Nay,” she said again. “Ye werenae wrong to stay. Ye were hurt by a man who doesnae ken how to understand fear without being commanding about it. That ishisfailing, nae yers.”
Ava looked at her and felt fresh tears sting her eyes.
When the knock came again, firmer this time, she turned her head sharply. Isobel rose. Both women knew who stood outside.
The lock lifted before Ava could answer, and Ciaran came in carrying a tray.
The sight of him ignited her anger anew. He had not waited for permission. He had not sent another servant. He had come himself, his broad shoulders filling the doorway, a bowl and cup balanced in his hands as if the simple fact of bringing food gave him the right to cross the threshold she had kept shut against him for days.
She rose at once. “I suppose ye have come to order me to eat again, me Laird?”
The question came out sharp and cold. She wanted it to wound him. She wanted him to hear exactly what sat under it.
His gaze went to her face first, then to the untouched tray from earlier, then back again. He shut the door behind him with his foot and set the fresh tray down on the small table near the bed.
“If that is what makes ye eat, then aye.”
Isobel made a quiet sound under her breath.
Ava barely heard it. Her whole attention had narrowed to the man standing in her room as though the days of closed doors meant nothing.
“Ye had nay right.”
“I had every right,” he countered. “Ye have shut yerself away and barely touched yer food.”
“Then ye should have stayed away with the rest of yer good ideas.”
The words landed hard. She saw that much in the brief stillness of his face. It did not stop her.
“Perhaps ye were right from the start,” she added. “Distance was the best thing ye ever offered me.”
Isobel moved then, slow and careful. “So, there is something I need to do back in me room,” she ventured. “So I will leave ye to it.”
Ava did not look at her. Ciaran did not either.
Isobel crossed the room, squeezed Ava’s shoulder in passing, and slipped out. The click of the door closing behind her made the room feel smaller at once.
Ava folded her arms tight across her chest.“I willnae stay near ye just so ye can order me around again and call it protection.”
Ciaran did not answer immediately. That made her angrier.
“Well?”
His voice, when it came, was level. “Eat first.”
She stared at him. “Ye cannae be serious.”
“I amentirelyserious.”
