Page 15 of A Nameless Highland Laird
5
The meal dragged on for what felt like hours. She was worn from the day of traveling and the wide range of emotions she had faced already. By the time her plate was cleared and his glass was empty, she was ready to find her bed.
Placing her napkin on the table, she cleared her throat and looked towards her future husband.
He still had refused to look at her again. But his downcast eyes gave her the chance to examine him a little more closely. Sitting at the table was as close as she had been to him this far and there were details she noticed now that had slipped by her earlier.
Outside the corner of his eyes were the beginnings of lines—whether from laughter or glaring she couldn’t tell. Judging by how awkwardly he had smiled at her earlier, she guessed it was the latter. His hands loosely gripped his cup, barely holding it, as though he wasn’t used to something so light and small fitting in his grasp.
The more she uncovered about him, the less he made sense. Her head was beginning to spin. She needed to excuse herself.
“That was an excellent meal. Thank ye for including me in it,” she started, searching for the right way to tell him she was ready to leave. “I hate to be such boring company seeing as we have only just met, but I am afraid my travels have exhausted me. I must be off to sleep. I hope we are able to make better acquaintances in the coming weeks, Laird Knox.”
It wasn’t until she finished speaking that he looked her way. His gaze was piercing, gluing her to the spot, despite her claiming that she needed to go. She didn’t know how to break the spell, how to get her breath back.
“Call me Cameron, please. If ye wish for us to ken each other better, then ye can start by addressing me by my name, nae my title.”
She nodded, unsure of how to respond. It was improper for her to address him so informally, but it wasn’t her place to say.
“We will speak again tomorrow,” he told her, effectively dismissing her.
With that, she pushed out of her chair and left the tense room behind her.
It was little more than sheer luck that she had been able to find her way back to her chambers without needing to stop to ask for help, but she was done trying to talk to anyone.
The door clicked behind her and she stepped out of her slippers. She was ready to put on her nightgown and crawl under the pile of covers that she had been given. Sleep was calling to her. She would need Elizabeth’s help getting out of the gown, so she walked to the mantle and wrapped her hand around the thick cord.
Just as she went to pull it, a heavy knock at the door stopped her.
“Elizabeth, ye must be a mind reader,” she called as she crossed the room to answer. “I was just about to call ye to help me—”
The door swung open but it was not her maid standing on the other side.
“Alec, what are ye doing here?” she demanded, her voice a low whisper.
She peeked around the corner, not wanting anyone else to see that he was outside her room. But she didn’t need to worry long as Alec pushed inside and shut the door behind him.
“I wanted to see ye. I wanted to make sure that ye were all right.”
He didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled her into his arms, bent his head, and kissed her.
She was so caught off guard to find him outside her room, let alone in it, that it took her several heartbeats for her mind and body to catch up to what was happening. She held his shoulders, kissing him back, though with not as much passion as he kissed her. His hands and mouth slowly became more demanding, his whole body pushing into hers, crushing her dress. It was all too much.
With a firm hand on his chest, she pushed him off and pulled her head back. To soften the blow, she gave him a smile, not wanting to upset him.
“If someone finds ye in here, we will both be done for. Ye can nae be seen coming into my room, especially nae at night like this.”
“Och, dinnae fash. Nay one saw me. The servants’ chambers are nae far from here. I was able to convince them that I was a part of yer staff. They dinnae suspect anything. Besides, I stayed in the tunnels for most of the walk. And I will be just as careful going back. I just had to see ye. I had to ken that the filthy Laird Knox had nae done anything to ye.”
She wanted to point out that even if he had, Laird Knox was going to be her husband. There was nothing anyone could do to stop him regardless of what the Laird did. Unlike Alec, who would be easily and quickly dismissed if someone found out their secret. But she knew that he wouldn’t be interested in hearing any of that, so she resigned to answering the unspoken question.
“I am fine, Alec.”
“Good. I want ye to stay that way. I want ye to ken that I will always be close by, I am always watching. If that vile old man ever tries anything with ye, ye need only call and I will be there. I will nae let anything happen to ye.”
Again she wanted to point out that something had already happened. She had already been betrothed to a stranger, carted hundreds of miles away from home, and they had both been powerless to it. Neither of them had been able to stop it, regardless of how much she had wanted to. But rather than saying any of that, she settled for telling him the facts.
“I must tell ye, Alec, Laird Knox is nae what everyone has made him out to be.”
