Page 44 of Auctioned to the Cruel Highlander
CHAPTER 14
Ciaran camefor her exactly when he had said he would—right at the ringing of the bell.
That, more than anything, unsettled Ava.
She had half expected a delay, an interruption, a practical excuse that would let him honor half of his promise at the very most. Instead, he appeared at the appointed hour with all the controlled composure he could muster.
The sight of him standing there, waiting for her, sent a quick, unwelcome awareness through her before a word had even been spoken.
Suddenly, the memory of their wedding crashed over her.
He had kissed her. That fact sat between them at once, though neither brought it up.
“Me Lady,” he greeted.
“Me Laird.”
The formality nearly made her head ache. It was too correct, too measured, too clean after everything that had happened between them. He might as well have bowed over a treaty rather than come to fetch the woman he had held in his arms with his hand on her neck and his mouth on hers. Yet she was also absurdly pleased that he had come at all, which only worsened her mood.
He offered his arm. “Are ye ready?”
With one loud exhale, she took it.
They began walking in silence, their steps punctuated only by the gentle breeze surrounding them. The castle stood behind them in all its ordinary morning business, servants moving in and out, smoke rising, men crossing the yard with purpose.
Ciaran led her beyond the more public parts of the grounds and onto a path that opened into quieter stretches of land where the air felt cleaner and the world less crowded by eavesdropping walls.
At first, they spoke of nothing that mattered.
He pointed out the boundaries of the estate with the concise clarity of a man who knew every field, rise, and path. Ava listened and answered where it was called for.
The farther they moved, the more the walk itself seemed to loosen something within them.
Indoors, Ciaran’s reserve could fill a room until it felt like another piece of furniture, heavy and impossible to shift. Out here, with open fields on either side and the sky above them, that same reserve sat differently. It was less oppressive and more like something she could feel comfortable in.
He still spoke little, but when he did, there was less effort in it. He sounded more natural discussing a slope that turned marshy in poor weather than he ever did standing rigid in a chamber trying to pretend he was not affected by her.
Ava found that quite pleasant. It wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world, but it wasn’t too subtle either. It helped her realize that she needed to stop bracing for his silence and finding a way to fill it.
The path before them twisted around a rise and opened into a broader stretch where the morning lay clear and mild across the grass. Ava tipped her head back without thinking, taking in the expanse of sky above them.
Ciaran noticed. “What is it?”
She lowered her gaze again. “Nothing.”
He made a quiet sound that suggested he didn’t believe that, but he didn’t press her.
Ava hesitated. It would have been easy enough to let the moment pass. To return to neutral things. Yet the morning had become too still for pretense, and something about the openness around them made speaking feel less dangerous than it might have back inside the castle.
What did she have to lose anyway? She might as well open her mouth.
“Me ma used to tell me that a comet would return one day,” she said slowly, surprised by how stable her voice sounded.
Ciaran glanced at her, though he did not interrupt.
“She spoke of it when I was very young,” she went on. “As if it were the most certain and marvelous thing in the world. It wasnae even like she kent precisely when it would come, but she believed the heavens were vast enough to hold such returns, whether we saw them or nae.”
The words sounded stranger out loud than they had in her own mind all these years. Still, now that she had begun, she did not want to stop halfway and leave it sounding like childish nonsense.
