Page 40 of At the Highlander's Mercy
‘Good evening, Lilidh,’ he said, as he closed the door behind him. ‘How do you fare?’
‘You sent someone to look for Isla that day?’ He took a step closer and her breath stopped.
‘Aye. I hoped Symon had not...’ He paused then and gave her a strange look. ‘Are you well?’ Another step closer and her body ached.
‘Well?’ Her thoughts scattered as her mind filled with memories of his mouth, his hands, his...
‘I did not know last night. I did not have a care for...your innocence.’ He stood only one more pace away from her now.
Then his words sank through the haze of arousal and she understood what he was asking her.
‘I am well,’ she said. ‘Very well.’
He crossed that last step and took her in his arms. His mouth possessed hers as she’d hoped he would and she lost herself in the sensations of being held by him, surrounded by his strength, his heat, his desire. Only the crinkling sound of the letter tucked inside her gownas they embraced broke into the anticipation. Rob released her as he heard it, too.
‘What is that?’ he asked, watching as she withdrew it from her gown. ‘You found something?’
She wished she’d never seen it. In spite of her body’s immediate reaction to him, she wished she could have remained blissfully ignorant of her mother’s attempt and Rob’s lack of action. Lilidh held it out to him and he took it.
Rob unfolded the parchment and was surprised to find his name at the beginning of it. Short—only one sentence—it took him no time to read it. The signature surprised him even more.
‘What is this?’ he asked, disappointed that she’d backed away from him as he’d read it. ‘Where did you find it?’ He’d never seen it before, yet it seemed to have been written months ago.
‘In the box,’ she said, pointing at it. ‘It was wrapped in another letter.’
‘I have never seen this before, Lilidh,’ he explained, handing it back to her. ‘I give you my word.’
He could see her trying to decide if she should believe him or not. Again, noises in the corridor, whether the guards were leaving or others arriving, he knew not. Either one was unacceptable since the walls were not a barrier to words spoken.
‘Will you walk with me?’ he asked her.
They could speak freely on the battlements. He could read nothing on her face, but at her nod, he found her cloak and put it around her. Lifting the latch and nodding at the guards, he escorted her up the stairs,moving slowly and allowing her time to climb at her own pace. In what seemed now to be their custom, they silently walked the perimeter before stopping before the ruined tower.
But now, when there were so many matters to discuss, he waited on her.
‘Had my mother written to you before?’ she asked, her gaze intent on his face as she waited for his answer. He gave her the truth.
‘Never. And I never received that letter.’
‘It was in your father’s documents, in a small package filled with other personal letters from my father.’
He shook his head. He’d never seen it until she just handed it to him. So, his father kept it from him. Did he think Rob would do something to interfere with the marriage? The letter was dated months—nigh to a year—ago, but just as things began to fall apart between the Mathesons and the MacLeries. A precipitous time for both the clan and for his father.
‘Why would your mother send something like that? And send it to me?’
‘I know not,’ she said with a shrug. ‘We never spoke of you after—after you left. Oh, once when the idea of a match to Iain was raised, she asked if things were truly irreconcilable between us.’
‘Did she oppose the match?’ he asked, walking around her. He did not like her exposed to the winds or possible dangers here on the battlements now.
‘No. She spoke in favour of it after meeting Iain. He was older, but was a kind man to me.’
Hearing her speak of her husband, dead or not,twisted his gut. It mattered not that the man had not claimed her—he’d married her, something Rob had not done and could not do. ‘So, my father kept this from me?’
‘If you never received it, then I think that’s the only plausible explanation.’
She smiled then and he felt a great weight lifted off him in that moment. Though the existence of this letter troubled him for other reasons, she could not give him the answers he needed about it.
Lilidh began to walk then, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back, into his arms. They had something else to discuss before returning to his chambers. Something that would tell him about what she was thinking when it came to what had already happened between them and if anything further would.
