Page 11 of Saved by the Cruel Highlander (Lairds of the Loch Alliance #1)

CHAPTER TEN

H olly knew she was not alone anymore. She didn’t open her eyes just yet, focusing on what sound had woken her. She listened for someone in the room with her. Her mind threw itself back, working out what had happened before she had gone to sleep.

It took a moment, but it came flooding back: the almost kiss, the fall, Cassandra, her head, and then falling into a deep sleep. She heard nothing more since the sound that woke her. She risked opening her eyes a crack.

The room was mostly dark, the deep shadows close to the bed telling her that night had fallen.

Nay, nae only that. What else are they tellin’ me?

The angle and depth of the shadows told her someone was standing at her door with a light. Her eyes searched through the crack in her eyelids for something she could use against the intruder who had come for her.

How quickly would the Laird come if I screamed out for him?

She didn’t have to worry about poison anymore. Felix had decided to directly attack her, sneaking to her room in the middle of the night to end her life.

A long, thin candle sat in a stout bronze candleholder on the bedside table. Holly took deep, steady breaths, preparing to make the move she dreaded. Her decision was forced when the shadows moved slightly—Felix had stepped closer to her bed.

She reached out her hand as quickly as she could and grabbed the candlestick, jerking upright in bed to face the intruder.

“What do ye expect to do with that?” Elias asked from the foot of the bed.

Holly looked at her hand, noticing that the candle had come out of the holder when she grabbed it. Her weapon was a cylinder of wax.

“What are ye doin’ in here?” she demanded. “Ye nearly scared me half to death. Do ye nae ken that it’s rude nae to knock afore ye enter a lady’s bedchambers?”

“Aye, I ken that, but I didnae want to wake ye if ye were sleepin’.”

“Well, ye did wake me.” Holly looked again at the candle in her hand and pushed it back into the holder on the bedside table.

“Aye, I ken that now, but me intention wasnae to wake ye, but to check on ye.” Elias held a lantern in his left hand. “Ye took a nasty bang to the head, and I wanted to make sure ye were still with us while ye slept.”

“Aye, well… I suppose that’s nice of ye.”

“I suppose it is,” the Laird said. “And ye have nay reason to ever be scared in the castle. We have guards stationed all around, and I’m only a short walk from yer room. Ye’re safe here, all right?”

Holly felt her lower lip tremble a little. She didn’t know what to say to the Laird after that. She had thought of Felix a few times since the betrothal had been broken and how angry he must have been, but she had not considered until that moment that she was safe now. He wouldn’t risk breaking into a castle to get to her.

“How are ye feelin’?” Elias asked.

One of the last things Holly could remember was talking to Cassandra about how fierce the Laird was on the battlefield. As he stood by her bed, his features aglow with the light from the lantern, he looked a million miles from that. The light still caught his angular chin and the scar running down the side of his face and crossing over his eye, but the glow added color to his skin, softening him. And his lips…

Holly’s eyes widened a little. She had been staring at him for too long without saying a word. Slowly, she raised her hand and touched the fabric tied around her head. The wound was still a little tender, but the dull ache was gone.

“I’m doin’ better,” she said. “Cassandra is a good healer, and ye took quick care of me, Me Laird. Me goodness! Ollie!”

“Ye dinnae need to worry about him,” Elias told her. “After ye left me room, I found him curled up under the desk. That’s another reason I came to yer room—to let ye ken that he was fine.”

Holly felt her heart flutter, enough to almost force a smile that she managed to hold back. He had informed her upon waking up that he didn’t want to disturb her but to only check on her, yet now he spoke about her cat.

She caught another glance of his pink-tinted lips.

Why did ye really come to me room tonight? Do ye still wish to kiss me?

“Ye’re welcome to visit yer beastie whenever ye like,” Elias said.

Holly sat up a little straighter. “Ye mean, come to yer room?”

“That’s where he is.” There was a burning intensity in the Laird’s eyes, and Holly found she couldn’t look away.

Until she heard a small meow outside the room.

“That’s where he was ,” Elias clarified. “He’s been followin’ me around. I think he’s lookin’ for ye.”

“And he has the good sense nae to enter without bein’ invited in,” Holly said, raising her eyebrows.

Elias smiled some more. He backed up with the lantern, the shadows changing and flickering as the lantern moved with him, a contrast of orange and dark gray.

He stepped outside the room, still holding the lantern up.

“Come on, then. In ye go,” he ordered.

Ollie complied with the order and sauntered into the room. Holly’s heart did somersaults when she spotted her furry friend. She beamed wide, waiting for him to get closer.

Ollie walked as if he were the most unbothered creature in the world, slowly making his way to the bed, checking the room as he went. When he was close enough, Holly patted the blankets. “Come on, Ollie. Up ye come.”

Ollie looked back at the Laird, then jumped up onto the bed. He approached Holly and rubbed against her, arching his back and purring softly. Holly stroked her hand along his back and then scratched behind his ears. She felt whole again with Ollie by her side.

The cat circled and flopped against her, laying his head down but still regarding the Laird as he moved back into the room.

“Thank ye,” Holly said, “for takin’ care of me, and then Ollie while I was recoverin’, and for bringin’ him back to me.”

“Aye, ye’re welcome,” Elias said. “He lay in me room, doin’ nothin’, and then followed me when I headed to yer room. I think he missed ye.”

Holly smiled. She looked down at the cat and liked to think that was true. “He’s all I have now.”

She wished that was not true. There was sadness in only having a cat and no family.

“Ye have nay other family?” Elias asked.

Holly didn’t look up. She sat staring down at her cat and shook her head. She didn’t want to look at the Laird, a man who wouldn’t care about any of that. He was a murderous man who liked death. That was the impression she’d gotten from the staff, excluding Cassandra.

So, it was a surprise when the Laird set the lantern down on the other bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress sank slightly as he sat, and Ollie lifted his head to take a look before lowering it again.

“Tell me what happened,” Elias said. His voice was soft, but it still sounded like a command.

Holly didn’t want to talk about it, but she felt compelled. She petted Ollie some more as he fell asleep.

“I was kidnapped when I was fifteen,” she started.

“What?”

The bed shifted as the Laird moved. Holly looked down at the cat, then the wall—anywhere except the Laird. His expression became beastly at the mention of her past pain. She barely knew him, and he wanted to know her life story.

“Some men took me when I was in town, shoppin’ for ribbons. Me faither always let me buy new ribbons for me hair whenever we were in town. I wandered off, and the next thing I kenned, I had a hood over me head, and two men were takin’ me somewhere. I woke up elsewhere. I dinnae remember everythin’ about it.”

“This happened to ye?” the Laird asked.

“Aye,” Holly replied.

Ye asked me about nae havin’ a family, and I’m sure ye’re wonderin’ why I’m tellin’ ye this, but it’s all connected. It’s all me fault.

“I remember hittin’ me head and then wakin’ up in a room somewhere. There was another man. I remember his name. Peter Mitchell. He was their leader.”

Holly’s hand trembled, and she petted her cat so it wouldn’t show. Her other hand was tucked tightly in her lap. She needed to remain strong before the Laird. He was a strong man who demanded the same in return, and if she were to be the lady of the castle, she would do the same.

She took a breath to steady herself.

“They meant to sell me into prostitution,” she said.

The Laird frowned.

“They would’ve if me faither hadnae arrived in time. He took on all three of them by himself.” Her heart swelled with pride as she remembered her father taking on all three. “He killed them all,” she boasted.

Am I any better than he is? The Laird returns bathed in the blood of his enemies, and I boast about me faither spillin’ the blood of three men.

She could still taste it in her mouth—a metallic acidity that made her mouth water. She was glad when she saw the blood spilling from the three men, only recognizing the horror of it later. She was only fifteen. That, and what came after, was not something a young girl should go through.

“It was too much for him.” Holly placed her palm flat on Ollie’s belly. “He saved me, but he couldnae save himself. The driver that was with him managed to get him into a cart and take him home, but he was… he didnae make it.”

“I’m sorry.” The Laird’s voice didn’t have the usual growl in it.

Still, Holly didn’t turn around. “Me maither died of a broken heart. When she found out me faither was dead, the life left her, too. I lost both me parents on the same day, and it was me fault.”

She finally burst into tears. They streamed down her cheeks, some dripping onto Ollie, but he didn’t seem to care.

“Nay,” Elias said from behind her, but it didn’t lessen her pain.

Holly brought two shaky hands to her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks and pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes to try and stem the flow. She shouldn’t have said anything—she shouldn’t have dredged up the past because he asked her. He had no right to know, and the past should have been left in the past.

Why does he listen to me ramble on like this? Why am I sharin’ this with someone I just met?

Holly’s shoulders jerked up and down as she sobbed. If she pressed her hands to her eyes for long enough, the Laird might leave her be, and when she removed her hands, he would be gone. She didn’t need anyone except Ollie.

When his hand touched her shoulder, her entire body jerked in fright.

“It’s nae yer fault,” the Laird said.

“Aye, it is,” Holly replied, her hands still covering her eyes. “If I hadnae wandered away that day, they would both still be alive. It’s all me fault.”

“Nay, it’s nae yer fault.” His hand clamped on her shoulder.

He said the words with such authority that, for a second, she wondered if he was right. She basked in that feeling, wanting it not to be her fault. If it were not her fault, she could live without the guilt.

Holly removed her hands from her eyes, the Laird’s hand warm on her shoulder and neck. Ollie was asleep besides her.

She felt dizzy, but it wasn’t from the knock to her head. It was because of the Laird and his words. They confused her. She thought him a beast, but he was capable of such compassion.

“Say it again, please,” she begged.

His hand tightened on her shoulder. “It’s nae yer fault. Yer were a wee lass, and those men were devilish brutes. What else would they be? Kidnappin’ wee girls, takin’ ye like that? They were pure evil.”

More tears came, but they were different this time. They were not tears of sadness but of relief, and they only came in a short burst. She wiped them with the back of her sleeve. She had gone to sleep in her clothes after Cassandra had bandaged her head.

“It’s not true, but thank ye for sayin’ it,” Holly said.

She finally turned to the Laird, his hand still on her shoulder. He looked fierce in the lantern light. His eyes flickered with gold, now more pronounced due to the light. For a split second, she saw him bathed in his enemy’s blood, and then her father covered in blood, and then everything snapped back to normal.

She looked at his lips, the softness of them in the orange glow. She was drawn to them. No, not drawn to them, but to the feeling inside that she would experience momentarily if he kissed her. That was not to say that the Laird was not a handsome man. That was undeniable. He was rugged and strong, with brown eyes that bored into hers, and she liked his touch as he gripped her tightly by the shoulder.

She tried to focus on his touch, to experience it fully. It was only a touch, but it was something she had not experienced before, and her nervousness got in the way of her true feelings. She wanted to enjoy it but was scared to.

Holly stared into his brown eyes, the golden flecks glowing like fires scattered across a battlefield when viewed from a tall tower, and she was afraid. Afraid that he would not kiss her and take away her pain.

Then his hand moved from her shoulder to her chin, and he tilted her face up to better look her in the eye. She wanted to look away, but she could not. She wanted to lean forward and touch her lips to his, but she dared not move.

Then, he did. He leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers, finally doing what he had set out to do hours ago. At first, she felt a warmth on her lips. A soft warmth as their lips came together. Still, she did not move, unsure what to do next.

Then, like a dam breaking, the cracks appeared. She knew to part her lips, and as she did so, his tongue darted forth to claim her, filling her with a warmth she had never felt before. Her tongue reacted to his kiss, licking at him, dancing with his tongue.

His hands wandered over her body, moving under her clothing to touch the bare skin at her side. Then, he grabbed her and pulled her half onto his lap, his stiffness pressing into her. His hands moved out from her clothing, up to her hair, tangling in her fiery curls.

Their lips moved against each other like dancers doing a reel. Her body tensed for a second, and then she fully gave in, all the tension and stress, all the guilt, leaving her.

The warmth that flooded her pooled in the pit of her stomach, and it became something different. It became desire, and it shook her awake. She reached out, wrapped her arms around him, and placed her hands on his back. Her body shuddered in delight when she touched the tense muscles beneath his shirt, hardened by war.

She breathed heavily through her nose as they kissed, and she clawed at his back to hold on to him. Then, a moan escaped her lips—a low, warm sound.

He stopped dead, pulling back. Holly pushed her lips out, trying to feel his for a moment longer. He held her by the shoulders, stopping her from getting any closer, and she understood the look in his eyes. Not the reasons behind it, but what it meant.

Elias pushed off the bed and stood up. He looked down upon her as if she had hurled an insult at him instead of kissing him.

“I’ll leave the lantern,” he growled. “Dinnae make me worry about ye like this again. Rest and recover from yer injury.”