Page 13 of Taken by the Heartless Highlander (Falling for Highland Villains #2)

CHAPTER 13

“Well?” Amelia demanded. “Did ye see her?”

Noah frowned at his sister in confusion. “Who?”

“The healer in the Donaldson Clan that I told ye to go to,” she said, giving her husband Jack an exasperated look as though her brother were the stupidest man alive.

“Ye dinnae tell me to see a healer in Donaldson clan,” Noah said defensively, trying his best to recall any memory of the conversation.

“Of course I did. I told ye there was a renowned healer there who may be able to help ye.”

“Ye dinnae say Donaldson,” he replied heatedly, astonished that the one person his sister had referenced was now inside the castle walls with them.

“I did. Jack, would ye tell him?”

“She did tell me of the conversation,” Jack conceded.

“Ye would take her side; she is yer wife,” Noah grumbled.

“Were ye expectin’ me to take yer side?” Jack asked with amusement. “Ye cannae stand me.”

“I cannae think why,” Noah retorted as Jack and Amelia exchanged a happy smile of triumph between them.

Noah watched Jack’s eyes run over her, pausing at the gentle swell of her belly beneath her dress. Even he could admit that Amelia looked well; her skin was smooth and bright, her eyes shining. She looked happy and content.

I willnae resent me sister for lovin’ the man I forced her to wed.

“So if ye dinnae see her, how is yer chest? Is it better than before?” Amelia asked.

“Aye, much better,” Noah stated.

“He’s lyin’,” Jack interjected, and Noah had never been so tempted to strike a family member in all his life.

“Ye stay out of this,” he snarled at Jack.

“Noah!”

Noah stepped back slightly at the anger in his sister’s voice. It was highly inconvenient that Amelia had found a love match in an arranged marriage. Noah was not used to her being on anyone else’s side apart from his.

“Well, if it is nae better, then what do ye propose to do?” Amelia asked, approaching him and taking his hand gently. “I worry for ye, brother; I dinnae wish for ye to be unwell.”

Noah was about to protest that he was nothing of the sort when the door suddenly burst open to reveal a harried-looking Keira. She stopped mid-stride coming up short, looking at Jack and Amelia with confusion and surprise on her face.

“Och, I am sorry,” she said hurriedly. “I dinnae think ye were with anyone.”

Amelia stared at Keira with eyes so wide they almost fell out of her head. Noah knew there was no way around things; he would have to introduce them and hope his sister’s inquisitive nature could be contained.

“Amelia, Jack, this is me new healer, Keira Young,” Noah said, his eyes narrowing at Amelia and daring her to say more. “Keira this is Laird and Lady Dougal. Lady Dougal is me younger sister.”

Amelia was no fool. She looked Keira up and down, her wide green eyes flashing with interest as she looked back at him.

“I see,” she said, in a way that suggested she more than saw what was going on.

Noah would have been irritated if he could have dragged his eyes away from Keira.

Her hair was wild and beautiful, curling over her shoulders in soft waves. Her eyes shone bright, her cheekbones tinged with a pink blush.

“We should leave ye to it, then,” Amelia said pointedly, giving him a significant stare as she rejoined her husband. Jack also glanced repeatedly from Keira to Noah and back again. Noah wanted to throw both of them bodily from the room.

“We will expect ye in a few days for the meeting with our allies, Noah,” Jack said in his usual imperious tone as they both filed out of the room, leaving Noah and Keira alone.

Noah quickly walked to the other side of the room and behind the desk, putting a barrier between him and the healer.

“I have come to state me terms,” Keira said, flicking her hair over her shoulder and glancing about the room, still a little flustered.

“Yer terms?” he asked, confused.

“Aye, for me help with yer ailment. Ye said if I was able to help ye —and I believe I will be able to —ye would do anythin’ I wanted in return.”

Noah leaned against the desk, staring at her in bewilderment.

“Aye, I did say that. What do ye need then? A permanent position?”

Having her around the castle all the time would be both a blessing and a curse. So why did the idea intrigue him so?

“Spend a night with me,” she said, her eyes meeting his with an intensity that took his breath away.

Noah blinked, then blinked again and cleared his throat.

“Excuse me?” he asked, worried that somehow he had brought his filthiest imaginings to life from thought alone.

“Lie with me,” she repeated.

Yes, I did indeed hear correctly. The world has turned upside down since this mornin’.

“I daenae?—"

“Claim me as yer mistress,” she said and opened her mouth as though to say more, but the words died on her lips when their eyes met. Finally, the blush that had infused her cheeks deepened to a dark red. She crossed her arms over her chest as though regretting saying any of it aloud.

Noah stalked around the desk, heat throbbing between his legs. It was so violent that he almost wished he could take himself in hand in front of her to relieve the tension; consequences be damned.

He gripped her roughly by the arm, pulling her toward him angrily.

“Is that the sort of man ye think I am?” he asked, somehow both dreading and craving the answer.

“Nay. But I wish ye were,” Keira replied.

Noah could feel the need growing within him. He had kept the desperate, dangerous desires at bay since he first saw her, but now they were coming to life like monsters at the back of his mind.

He could not shake the images that played through his head at her words. He imagined taking her right there, throwing an arm across his desk, scattering everything to the floor as he ripped her dress from her body. He would finally feel the perfect heat of her around him as he thrust into her again and again.

He thought of taking her mouth with his, tasting her, pushing his fingers through that long black hair, and claiming her as she had asked him to.

He shook his head, closing his eyes and trying to rid himself of his dark fantasies, but when he opened them, he was simply met with her gaze still upon him, imploring him to do as she asked.

What man could refuse this? He thought feverishly. In truth, what man could imagine such a proposition?

“That’s what ye want, is it?” he asked, his voice low and rough with desire as he pushed her against the wall, her back connecting with the rough stone. He watched her mouth part as she panted, her beautiful breasts rising and falling before him like the greatest temptation he had ever known.

“Ye wish me to make ye mine against this wall?” he asked, raising his hands to either side of her face. He lowered his mouth so that his lips whispered against her skin but never touched her. “Ye wish me to claim ye? Own ye? Control ye? Is that it?”

She made no move to touch him, just shuddered against his body. Her breaths came quick and fast as she waited for what he would do. He could smell her skin, feel the heat of her beneath him. Every single cell in his body wanted to do just as she asked, put his hands on her, mark her, claim her for his own.

But it’s wrong, the thought crowded his mind obliterating everything else, this isnae really what she wants.

“Nay,” he said decisively, wrenching himself away from her with all his strength. “I willnae do as ye ask.”

“Wh-what?” Keira asked, utterly shocked by his answer. She had felt his arousal; in fact, she had seen the evidence of it when he had rounded the desk. She knew from their almost-kiss the day before that he desired her, yet now, when she needed him the most, he refused her. She did not understand him.

“Ye heard me lass,” he muttered. “I will nae do such a thing. Nae until ye tell me why ye’d ask.”

“Cannae I just wish to lie with ye, because ye are a handsome man?” she asked, her cheeks aflame with embarrassment as she spoke the truth to the room.

MacAllen shook his head at her. “Wrong answer.”

There was a stalemate for some minutes as MacAllen waited for her to tell him the real reason. He remained looming over her, a picture of manly authority. There was a power and drive in his frame that left her breathless even as she tried to find the words to explain. She did not wish for him to know the truth. She felt weak before him, the reality of her situation a bitter reminder of how much she needed his help.

She could not imagine a day when Lucas would not come after her. Even the thought of leaving Scotland left her feeling as though somehow he would find her, no matter how far she ran or where she went.

“Well?” Noah asked, staring at her expectantly. “I am waitin’. This dinnae rise up from nothin’, somethin’ has happened. Tell me what it is.”

Keira sighed, collapsing against the wall and running her hands over her face. With a groan of resignation, she pulled the letter Lucas had written to her from her pocket and handed it to him.

“He is the only man who kens where I am,” she confessed as Noah’s eyes ran over the priest’s words. “I dinnae think he would be so bold as to come here, but the servants saw the garb of a holy man and trusted him immediately. They took the note, and it will not be the last one he sends me.”

She wished she had never laid eyes on Lucas; she wished that she and her siblings had died along with her parents so that she did not have to constantly run from the shadows that seemed to track her every step.

“I’ll kill him,” Noah said furiously, re-reading the note and crunching it between his fingers as he did so.

Keira shook her head sadly. “Ye cannae.”

“And why the hell nae?” he asked a fire in his eyes that sent a throb of fresh desire rippling through her. He was even more impressive when he was angry.

“Because he has convinced the whole village that I’m a witch. It will nae be too much of a stretch to tell them that me siblings have been cursed by me too. He will be incensed that I escaped and that he dinnae manage to get me to confess. If ye hurt him, we would all be in danger of an uprisin’.”

Noah leaned into her again, and she held her breath as he stepped closer, so close that she could see the flecks of gold in his deep green eyes as he looked down at her.

“And ye think ye’re nae in danger, askin’ of me what ye just did?” he asked, his voice a low, intimate rumble.

She kept her gaze set on him, recognizing the kindness at the back of his eyes, just as she had seen that first day in the forest.

“I am nae afraid of ye. Ye would never hurt me.” She felt tears spring up at the back of her eyes against her will. “If ye ruin me for him, maybe he’ll lose interest and finally leave me be.”

MacAllen’s chest brushed up against her as his hands twitched at his sides, as though to take hold of her then and there and have his way with her. The thrill of it was invigorating.

His scent enveloped her as she stood before him. It was a smell of pine forests and hillsides, a mix of all of the herbs she loved in her stores and all the smells of nature she adored.

“If I take ye,” his words were so low they vibrated through her chest, numbing her senses, “I will ruin ye for everyone, lass. Ye’ll be mine. Nae other man can touch ye. Ye’ll nae want anyone else to.”

She felt arousal pool between her legs, her breaths quick and sharp, desperate for him to fulfill the promise in his words. She had not expected to want him with the desperation she did now, but she was powerless to prevent it.

“But I cannae do it,” he said. “Not because ye fear for yer life. Ye must find another way.”

They were so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her mouth. If she moved but a little, she would be able to take his lips with hers. She felt a tremor run down her spine.

“I could seduce ye,” she whispered, looking up at him, feeling her own desperate desire in her words.

His breath was ragged now, his chest brushing against hers gently as they stood, his body pinning hers against the wall in all but physical touch.

“I’d like to see ye try,” Noah murmured, his eyes moving down to her lips again as she parted them and moved slowly forward.

She had never wanted a man like this before; the knowledge that he was a powerful laird and was fighting with himself not to want her too was a heady combination.

She felt her lips brush his as she swayed forward just a fraction.

A low growl erupted from the back of his throat, and finally, his hands came up to grip her upper arms. She was forcefully pushed back against the wall, her back pressed flush against the cold stone as his body aligned perfectly with her.

He bent his head, emitting a growl of defeat, as he crushed his lips against hers in a desperate, wonderous kiss.