Page 11 of Bound to a Scot (Sins in a Kilt #2)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I t had been a couple of days since Maddox had seen Emmeline and he was getting the feeling that she was taking pains to avoid him. She did not take her meals with them and whenever he saw her walking through the corridors of the castle, she turned and walked the other way. It was frustrating. And the more time they spent apart, the more Maddox wanted to see her.

He and Macfie continued to negotiate their alliance. Maddox had resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to marry Cecilia. There seemed to be no way out of it. Knowing this, he had begun to spend a little more time with her both, to get to know her better and to reassure her there was nothing she had to fear from him. To make her understand she would be well taken care of and never forced to do that which she did not consent to.

Maddox was surprised by Cecilia. She was a very lovely girl. It seemed many people took her to be meek and passive—a perception she did nothing to alter. It was a clever ploy that made them underestimate her. Though quiet, Cecilia was intelligent, fiercely independent, with a quick wit and sharp tongue. In the short time he’d been getting to know her, Maddox had become quite fond of her. Just not in the marital way.

His mind in turmoil, Maddox walked through the garden grounds behind the castle. He was going to have to learn to alter his own thinking when it came to Cecilia. She was to be his wife, and he knew he had to begin seeing her as such, rather than as the little sister she felt like to him. As he walked among the tall, lush, flowering bushes all around him, Maddox closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to let the sweet fragrance in the air calm him.

The sound of a babbling stream up ahead drew him forward. When he came around a bush, he pulled up short, his mouth growing dry and his heart skipping a beat. Emmeline sat on a large, flat stone beside the stream staring down into the water rushing by. As if she sensed his presence, she raised her head and when their eyes met, Maddox felt as if a bolt of lightning had shot straight down from the heavens and pierced his heart.

As he walked toward her, Emmeline tensed up and looked distinctly uncomfortable. She looked as if she was going to stand and run away. Not wanting to send her fleeing from him, Maddox stopped walking and sighed heavily.

“Are ye just goin’ tae pretend I dinnae exist then?” he asked.

She frowned. “I’m nae pretendin’ ye dinnae exist.”

“Nay? Ye stare through me like I’m a bleedin’ ghost. Ye willnae talk tae me?—”

“Because I cannae. ‘Tis nae appropriate.”

“What are ye talkin’ about? What’s inappropriate?—”

“Ye’re tae wed me stepdaughter,” she cut him off. “And I’m a married woman.”

Maddox frowned. “Nae a happily married woman.”

“’Tis nae fer ye tae say. ‘Tis inappropriate fer ye tae make such insinuations.”

“I’m nae insinuatin’ anything, Emmeline. I can see it in yer eyes.”

She turned away, as if not looking at him would keep Maddox from seeing the depth of her unhappiness. Emmeline took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“’Tis nae fer ye tae say. ‘Tis nae app?—”

“’Tis nae appropriate,” he cut her off. “Aye. Ye’ve said that already.”

“And yet, ye keep tryin’ tae force me tae talk tae ye anyway.”

Maddox sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m nae tryin’ tae force ye tae dae anythin’. But if I’m tae marry Cecilia, we’re goin’ tae be family. Families talk. ‘Tis nae inappropriate fer family tae talk tae each other.”

Emmeline finally turned and looked at him, the corners of her mouth curling downward. She stared at Maddox for a long moment, her expression sour.

“Ye ken ye’re nae talkin’ tae me like family,” she finally said. “Ye ken ye want tae be near me because of what happened between us. Ye cannae keep what happened between us in the inn out of yer head.”

A wry grin tugged the corner of his mouth upward. “Well, ye seem tae think the bleedin’ world of yerself, dinnae ye? Tae think I cannae talk tae ye without wantin’ more.”

Emmeline pursed her lips. “I can see it in yer eyes.”

He chuckled at having his words back in his face. But deep down, he had to admit that she wasn’t wrong. He wanted to talk to her—wanted to be near her—because he couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss they’d shared. On the one hand, it had been just a kiss. A quick and silly—and perhaps inappropriate—game two strangers had played with each other. On the other hand, though, it felt like so much more than that. Although he couldn’t say what it was, something had passed between them when they’d kissed, and Maddox couldn’t stop thinking about her. And he knew she felt the same. It was why she was so desperate to keep distance between them.

“Ye cannae tell me ye dinnae feel the same,” he said.

“’Tis nae all about ye, Maddox,” she growled. “Has it crossed yer mind that I’m also losin’ the girl I’ve reared since she as a bairn? I’m goin’ tae be alone in this castle. Alone with a man…”

Her voice trailed off, but Maddox didn’t need her to finish to know what she was going to say. Alone with a man who was cruel, who dismissed her, and made no bones about merely tolerating her presence. Maddox knew, without her saying a word, that Burchard Macfie was the source of her unhappiness in life.

But also, Maddox hadn’t stopped to consider the impact that losing Cecilia would have on Emmeline. Not being a parent himself, he didn’t understand. He could see though, that the mere thought of him whisking her stepdaughter back to his lands was weighing heavily on her. And for that, he felt terrible. However, it was not his doing. If Maddox had his way, he would be going back to his lands with an alliance, with the money he needed to help his people, and no wife. Macfie was forcing his hand in all this.

“I am sorry, Emmeline,” he said softly. “I didnae think?—”

“Nay. Ye didnae. And unlike ye, I’m tryin’ tae dae the right thing and keep me distance from ye,” she replied. “I’m a married woman and as much as I object and dinnae like it, ye’re tae be a married man.”

“Aye. And since we’re goin’ tae be in the same family, we need tae learn tae be able tae be in the same bleedin’ room taegether,” he argued.

She shrugged. “Dae we though? Once ye marry Cecilia, ye’ll be off tae yer own lands. We arenae goin’ tae be seein’ much of each other again. I’ve got a feelin’ that by the time we see each other again, our blood will have cooled.”

Her words hit Maddox hard. It was something he hadn’t given much thought to. He should have, but the idea of taking Cecilia back to his clan’s lands and not seeing Macfie lands again, at least not for a long while, hadn’t occurred to him. He supposed he hadn’t thought that far ahead. But she was right. Despite their alliance, the odds of Maddox being in Macfie’s castle again in the near future were slim. The odds of him seeing Emmeline again anytime soon were slim as well.

Perhaps she was right. Perhaps when next they met, their blood would have cooled and the memory of the kiss they’d shared too. As Maddox looked at her though, drinking in her delicate features, he didn’t think that would be the case. Even standing there, Maddox knew that Emmeline had left an indelible mark upon his heart that neither time nor distance would erase.

“I should go,” she said.

“Wait. Nae yet.”

She sighed. “What, Maddox? What dae ye want me tae say?”

He shook his head. “I dinnae ken.”

“This isnae easy.”

“’Tis nae easy fer me either.”

“Then we shouldnae make this more difficult on ourselves than is necessary,” she said.

Even as she spoke the words, Maddox could see the pain etched into her features. He didn’t think it was only for the thought of losing Cecilia, though. There was something more in her eyes. He recognized the emotion in her face because he was sure it was mirrored on his. The idea of not seeing her again sent a white-hot stab of pain straight through his heart.

Maddox tensed at the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. He turned to see Adair step out from behind the bush on the narrow path he’d taken earlier. Adair stopped, his eyes cutting from Maddox to Emmeline and back again, the air around them filled with silent tension. He cleared his throat and nodded a polite greeting to Emmeline then turned back to Maddox.

“Laird Macfie is lookin’ fer ye,” he said.

“What does he want?”

“He didnae say, me laird. Just that he wished tae speak with ye.”

Maddox sighed. He was growing weary of his conversations with Macfie. They usually ended with the man doing nothing more than delivering a list of demands or some sort of self-serving soliloquy. The man enjoyed hearing himself speak.

“Ye should go,” Emmeline said. “He doesnae like tae be kept waitin’.”

She turned away to pick up a large basket of clothing next to the rock she’d been sitting on, but Maddox darted forward and grabbed hold of it before she could. Their fingers brushed against each other and they were standing so close, he could practically feel the heat radiating from her body. Their eyes met and Maddox felt his heart leap into his throat as his stomach turned over on itself. Emmeline’s lips parted and a quiet gasp drifted from her mouth. She was feeling exactly what he did. Their eyes lingered on each other, the air between them thick with a thousand unspoken words.

“Me laird, we should go,” Adair said.

Maddox sighed and reluctantly tore his gaze from Emmeline then turned and stalked out of the garden grounds, feeling as if he was leaving some piece of his heart behind him.