Page 13 of Saved by the Cruel Highlander (Lairds of the Loch Alliance #1)

CHAPTER TWELVE

H olly gasped when she saw the man before her. That gasp turned into a long breath when she saw it was Elias. For the second time in less than a day, she had thought an attacker had come for her, but it was her betrothed.

She was glad to see him, and for a moment, with him standing tall, surrounded by greenery, she couldn’t help but smile. She couldn’t help but think that they were alone and might kiss again.

Holly quickly shook the thought out of her head.

“What are ye doin’ out here?” Elias demanded.

The rage he had left in the previous night had only strengthened. She cowered a little under his question, not liking the way he glared at her.

She could not tell him the truth. She had promised Eliza she would not reveal that it was her who had given the information. She looked behind at the burnt cabin and then back at the Laird.

“I was out for a walk to clear me head,” she replied. “I needed some peace because there is so much goin’ on in the castle. Thank ye for organizin’ much of our weddin’.”

“How did ye end up here?” the Laird demanded.

Holly turned to look at the burnt cabin before looking back at him. She couldn’t tell him that Eliza had let it slip. “What is this place?”

“Why did ye come here?” he growled.

Holly wanted to know what had happened in this place, but it was not the time to ask him.

“I never meant to come here,” she replied. “I was only… well, it’s none of yer business.” She almost bit her lip as she stumbled through the few words that she managed to get out.

Elias took her arm before she could leave. “Ye’re to be me wife, so I would say that it is me business.”

Holly wanted to protest. She longed to find the words that he would believe, but he was so close to her, and it clouded her mind. If she could only not let it cloud her judgment, too.

“I cannae say,” she said softly.

“Ye cannae say?” the Laird asked. “Yer head is still injured, so I’ll let it go for now, but this isnae the end of it.”

“Nay, of course nae, Me Laird. I think the fresh air is doin’ me some good. Will ye walk with me, and we can get away from here.”

“Aye,” the Laird said quickly. His eyes flickered between Holly and the cabin. His expression was tense.

It all made Holly want to know more about the cabin and why it had been burned down. Who had burned it down? Why did it hold so much pain for the Laird?

She went to him. He had taken her pain away briefly the previous night with his lips. Could she do the same for him?

His anger was raging such that she didn’t try. She didn’t know if she could do enough to cool his anger. Was it her place to walk up to him and kiss him? Was that expected, now that they were getting married?

“Ye look very handsome today, Me Laird,” Holly said, taking the focus off the cabin. She didn’t look back at it again.

He did look good. Elias wore a pair of tight plaid trews, a white linen shirt, and an oversized shawl over one shoulder. On his head, he wore a blue woolen tammie, and there was a belt and dirk around his waist.

“Thank ye,” the Laird said as they walked out of the area around the cabin. After a few steps, he looked much more relaxed. “Ye also look a picture.”

Holly suddenly burst out laughing.

The Laird stopped walking and turned to face her with the same fiery intensity in his eyes. “Why are ye laughin’ like that?”

“Me Laird, look at me! I slept in the same clothes I wore yesterday, and they are crumpled even though I tried to smooth them out, and I have a bloodied bandage wrapped around me head. Are ye sure ye still want to take me as yer wife?”

Elias looked her up and down, his eyes roving over her body. She could feel the anger radiating from him, but he hid it well.

“Aye, ye’ll do just fine,” he said.

There had been few occasions where Holly was dressed worse than she currently was, but she felt splendid listening to his words.

“Will ye take me arm as we walk?” Elias said.

Holly had to gulp down the spurt of emotion that shot up from the pit in her chest. She had not realized until that moment that the pit of passion he had created only hours ago was still there. When he had left her room in a rage, she knew it would be a long time, if ever again, before they kissed, but now the distance between the previous kiss and the next one shrank.

She took his arm, her hand trembling as it had done when she petted Ollie in her bed. She gripped him hard to hide the tremor.

The Laird didn’t say anything as he led them away from the burnt cabin, but the farther they got from it, the more relaxed his body felt. His muscles slowly slackened, and while Holly was glad for that, it made her want to know about the cabin even more.

When we are married, he willnae be able to cast me out easily. I could ask him then.

What if the secret is darker than I imagine, and I cannae leave him so easily after discoverin’ it? What if it’s where he burned his last wife?

Holly scrunched up her nose, trying to rid herself of the thought. It was a ridiculous thought without reason to be in her head. Yet, what if…?

“I was lookin’ for ye,” she said after a while. “When I woke up this mornin’, I wanted to see ye.”

“Och, aye?” Elias replied. “What for?”

Holly wished she hadn’t mentioned it now. She could feel the lingering effects of his kiss on her lips. That was why she had searched for him—to be close enough to him that he might kiss her again.

“I, um, ken that our marriage is unusual in some ways, and I wanted to ensure that we could tolerate each other.”

“Tolerate each other?” A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “From the way ye reacted to me kiss last night, ye can do a lot more than tolerate me.”

The mention of the kiss made her stomach flip again.

“What are ye talkin’ about?” Holly demanded, trying to sound as affronted as she could.

“Ye had yer claws in me good, and ye wouldnae let go of me when it was time for me to leave,” the Laird informed her.

What is it ye want? Do ye want to tease me about the kiss and kiss me again, or are ye annoyed that it happened? Ye were annoyed last night, but now ye are charmin’ again.

“I didnae have me claws in ye,” Holly said. “Ye make me sound like a wild beast.”

“Aye, that’s a better description.” Elias laughed. “Ye were much like a wild beast last night when ye kissed me. I thought ye might devour me.”

“I wasnae!” Holly gasped. “And just so we are clear, ye were the one who kissed me and nae the other way around. Devour ye?” she scoffed. “Ye must be imaginin’ things!”

“I havenae imagined anythin’,” Elias told her. “I dinnae think I’ve ever felt such passion from a woman before.”

“Och, away with ye,” Holly said, her voice rising. “I dinnae have any passion.”

“Nay passion?” the Laird asked. “So, ye didnae enjoy it then?”

“What?” Holly asked, scrambling for an answer to put him on the back foot instead of her. “Nay, I enjoyed it just fine. I enjoyed it an appropriate amount.”

The Laird chuckled again and stopped walking when they reached the clearing. “An appropriate amount?” He tilted his head to the side. “I dinnae think I’ve ever heard someone describe a kiss in that way before.”

“Och, leave me be. It must be me head wound makin’ me say funny things.”

It wasn’t her head wound, but the way he made her feel when the two of them were alone in the woods together. He could do whatever he wanted to her, and she would be powerless to stop him.

I couldnae stop ye because I wouldnae want to stop ye.

“It’s all so clear to me now,” Elias said. “I ken exactly why ye came out here.”

“What?” Holly asked.

“Ye kenned I was out here, did ye nae?”

“I—”

“Ye came seekin’ another kiss because ye didnae get yer fill last night.”

A wave of relief washed over Holly when he did not mention the real reason she had come out into the woods, and then she shrieked in shock at what he had insinuated.

“I didnae!” Holly shouted. “That’s the last thing on me mind!”

“Aye, is it?” Elias said with a cunning smile, like a fox closing in on a hare. He stepped toward her, forcing her back.

“Aye.” Holly tried to say it assertively, but it came out throaty and breathless.

“Well, I dinnae believe ye,” Elias told her.

He was close to her, and she tried not to look at his lips, lest she betray her thoughts. She looked into his eyes instead. The pain was still there, but it was overshadowed by something stronger. He was not only toying with her—he wanted the kiss, too. The thought almost made her knees buckle, and she was glad when her back hit a tree, or she might have fallen. She pressed her back against it to hold herself up, and her lips parted slightly.

She wanted nothing more in the world at that moment than to be kissed by Elias. She had to hold the words back as they echoed in her mind: Please kiss me!

“So, if I were to do this”—Elias took her wrist and lifted it above her head, pinning it to the tree trunk—“ye wouldnae like it?”

“Nay,” Holly breathed, liking it very much.

Something new swirled in the pit of her stomach. No, it wasn’t in her stomach, but lower. She didn’t only want the kiss but everything that came after, even if they weren’t wed yet.

“And if I came close to ye like this, it wouldnae do anythin’ to ye?” Elias stepped closer, and his body pressed up against hers.

She had felt a stiffness in his trousers when she had been on his lap, and now she felt it pressed against her again. She couldn’t tell him what he was doing to her; she couldn’t give in, no matter how much she wanted to. She would let him have his way with her, but it would be him doing it, not her. She would get exactly what she wanted without having to beg him for it.

“It doesnae affect me,” she lied, her body betraying her as she arched into him.

She breathed through her nose, hearing herself. She couldn’t calm her body anymore. He had control over her.

“And if I do this?” Elias asked, bringing his face close to hers.

Dinnae lean forward! Let him come to ye.

Holly didn’t know what she was feeling. He had some hold over her, and she had to use all her willpower to steady herself against the power he wielded.

His breath tickled her lips, and she looked from his eyes down to his mouth, willing it to make the journey across the last inch between them.

Please!

“I’m still… unaffected.”

It took everything within her to stop the moan from escaping her lips.

“And if I were to?—”

The Laird’s words were cut off by the shriek that came from the trees behind him. He moved quicker than Holly had seen any man move. He held her wrist in one hand and drew his dirk swiftly with the other.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered, all emotion gone from his voice.

He let go of her and stood between her and the trees, his dagger hand just to the right of his waist, waiting to stab someone in the chest.

The thought of the Laird being covered in the blood of his enemies was a shocking one. The shriek from the trees was unsettling, and Holly wanted the Laird to protect her.

He shifted slightly as the trees close to them rustled. He reached behind him to touch her stomach and hold her in place. He took a step forward as the branches moved… and lowered his dagger as a small child appeared.

The child shot out of the trees, tears in his eyes. He looked at Elias for a second before bursting into tears.

“It’s comin’ after me!” he shouted. “I tried to outrun it, but the beast was too quick!”