Page 15 of Taken by the Highland Villain (Breaking the Highland Rules #2)

“Careful, My Laird.” Craig sidestepped Jude’s blade, and Jude growled as he felt the light tap of the practice blade that indicated a potentially fatal hit if they’d been in a real battle. “Ye seem rather distracted.”

“Nae more than ye.” Jude managed to tangle his blade with Craig’s, then landed a blow that made him stumble back. “Another pretty lass gone and turned ye down?”

“Nothin’ of the sort. Ye ken I have a lass I’ve been seein’ for the past couple of months.

” Craig shrugged his shoulders and responded with an attack that made Jude step back onto the defensive.

“I havenae had a chance to see her in some time, but that doesnae matter. I’m willin’ to wait, and so is she. ”

They exchanged another series of blows before Craig continued.

“Speakin’ of love life, I have some interesting information about the Blackwood lass.”

Jude frowned. “Aye?”

“Aye. Did ye ken she’s a widow?”

Jude nearly stumbled in his shock. It was only his reflexes and instinct that kept him from falling. “She’s a what?”

Craig shrugged as he blocked Jude’s next attack and stepped away to evade another. “If my information is correct—and it’s always correct—her faither was Magnus Blackwood, the notorious pirate.”

Jude grunted. That’s where he knew the name from.

Most Highland lairds had heard of the infamous pirate. He also knew the man had died many years ago.

“Aye?”

“Rumor has it that Magnus married his second daughter off to one of his right-hand men. Dinnae ken what happened, but the man was killed shortly after they were wed.” Craig shrugged. “Shortly after, the daughter took her dead husband’s place in her faither’s crew.”

“Explains her bargaining skills,” Jude huffed. “She must have learned to barter with whatever her faither chose to trade his spoils with, and of course, she’d have had to be cutthroat, bargaining on behalf of a clanless band of pirates.”

“Aye,” Craig agreed.

Jude focused on his attacks and defense for a moment, before taking a chance to lock the two of them into a stalemate once again. “And what of Nathan Cullen? How’s the lass associated with him?”

“If stories are to be believed, nae willingly. Apparently, Valerie helped her faither’s men sell some goods—artwork and the like—to Laird MacOlley years ago.

Somehow, she caught the bastard’s eye. He’s been pursuing her like a bloodhound after a pheasant ever since.

He had lost her for a while, but came back stronger when her sister married Laird MacKane.

He has more to gain from the union now.”

Anger bubbled up, hot and bright like molten metal at the smith’s forge, shocking Jude with the intensity of it. He countered Craig’s next attack, then struck back. The blow was fiercer than he’d intended it to be, knocking Craig off balance.

Instinct and anger took over, and before he could quite understand what it was that had possessed him, Jude found himself standing over his disarmed second-in-command, his chest heaving as he fought to control the heated emotions spiraling through him.

He’d thought himself numb to such feelings after Kendra had been taken and his mother had died.

Why does Valerie Blackwood make me feel so protective? I scarcely ken aught about the lass—and I havenae kenned her for more than a few days. There’s nay reason to feel so strongly about her.

“My Laird?” Craig had clambered to his feet and retrieved his sword, a question in his eyes.

Jude shook his head and dropped his blade. “That’s enough for today. I’m going to take a bath and see what work I can get done.”

Anything I can do to avoid thinkin’ of Valerie Blackwood.

He stalked to the door of his chambers, intent on gathering a fresh change of clothes before making his way down to the common bathing chamber—he generally used it to avoid making Moira haul buckets of heated water to his chambers, and to spare her from injury—but then stopped, blinking at the sight in front of him.

His chambers were not empty as he’d expected them to be. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, then slowly opened them again, half-hoping he’d imagined the scene before him.

He hadn’t. There, in his bedroom, was Valerie, standing on a short ladder with Moira beside her. Valerie was holding a long piece of fabric to the upper edge of his window, and the two of them had clearly been discussing its placement when he walked in.

Curtains. He’d specifically told her to leave the curtains alone, and he certainly hadn’t allowed her into his bedroom. And yet here she was, intruding on his private quarters as if she had a right to be there.

Jude stepped forward, a low growl rumbling in his chest. “Oversteppin’ again, lass? I warned ye already that it’s nae wise to test me.”

Valerie blinked down at him. “It is only curtains.”

“Aye. Which I said I didnae want. And in my bedchamber too, where I didnae give ye leave to come.”

Though I would, willingly, and for more and better reasons than fussin’ over curtains, if I thought ye’d accept the offer.

The thought took him off guard and sent blood rushing painfully to his groin, stiffening his manhood until he was almost glad for the injury to his knee that made his limp less noticeable than it otherwise might have been.

He shook the thought away and stalked forward, intent on setting some boundaries. Moira stepped back as he approached, and he gave her a sideways glance.

“Leave us.”

“My Laird?” She blinked, looking between him and Valerie with concern. “Are ye…”

“Leave.” His voice dropped to a low rumble.

Moira exchanged a quick glance with Valerie, then dropped her head in a nod, took the fabric, and hurried away.

“Get down from there.” Jude gestured for Valerie to step off the ladder. “Stubborn lass, I told ye I didnae want ye changin’ the curtains, in here or in my study.”

He saw Valerie’s foot awkwardly hit the second-to-last step of the ladder and then slip. She toppled backward with a yelp. Jude pushed himself forward, half-staggered around the bed, and just managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

He scowled. “Nae only are ye trespassin’ where ye shouldnae be, but this is the third time in two days I’ve needed to rescue ye.”

“I ken. Thank ye.” Valerie flushed a warm pink, her expression as full of chagrin as it had been full of playful rebelliousness moments ago.

Jude sighed, his irritation draining out of him, only to be replaced by frustration—and a reluctant desire to see her defiance return. It suited her far better than a ducked head and muttered words of appreciation or apology.

“Och, dinnae thank me.” He set her on her feet with a grunt. “For the life of me, I dinnae understand why ye had to turn up in my castle, or my life, nor why ye’re so insistent on stayin’.”

Valerie smiled, but it wasn’t the easy, warm smile he’d seen before.

This was a soft, bitter smile, tinged with regret and loneliness and unhappiness so deep it almost took his breath away.

“I came because I was certain I could help ye. And I hoped… I believed ye could help me, even if only by giving me some time and peace to think.”

“Because of MacOlley.” Jude scowled. “I heard from Craig that he’s been makin’ a nuisance of himself. But why nae simply refuse him? Tell him ye’re a widow—most lairds without heirs wouldnae want to wed a widow.”

“My bein’ a widow wouldnae matter that much to him. He doesnae want me as a wife, but as a possession. A piece of ‘art’ for his collection.”

Jude scowled at the words.

Nay one, man or woman, is a possession, much less a woman with Valerie’s spirit.

He was tempted to say the words, but he thought perhaps it might be better to approach the matter from a different angle.

“Even so, couldnae yer family or yer former husband’s family help ye send him packing?”

Valerie shook her head, and he saw resolve mingling with the regret in her eyes.

“My husband was naught but a pirate—he didnae have much family beyond the crew, and left nay one behind save me when he was killed in the voyage after we were wed. My faither was much the same, except he left me and my sisters. The only family we have is kin-by-marriage, my sister Brigid’s husband, and I dinnae want to trouble him. ”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why she’d trouble him instead, but Jude understood the reason well enough from her earlier words. She’d come to him to help him, and temporarily escape her fate. She asked nothing more from him.

Though I can think of plenty more I’d like to give her… But that’s nae something I should be thinkin’, and I ken it well enough.

Jude sighed. “I understand, Valerie Blackwood, and I’m willing to give ye shelter for as long as ye like. Even so, I cannae have ye wanderin’ around in my bedchamber.”

Valerie blinked at him. “Because ye hate the idea of changin’ the curtains that much?”

Jude shook his head, then leaned closer so that he could whisper the next words in her ear. “Nae really. It is because I like the idea of ye in my bed so much that it hurts.”

Valerie had no idea what possessed Jude to speak the words he had, especially in that low, throaty whisper that was a temptation all its own. She did know, however, that her cheeks were hotter than they’d ever been in her entire life, and that she was blushing red enough to rival a summer rose.

It was only then that she noticed the bulge tenting his kilt. Her cheeks blazed even hotter, to the point that she thought they might set her hair and clothes aflame.

“Och, I didnae even consider… My apologies…”

She started to turn away, only to be stopped by his soft chuckle. “For a widow, ye blush about the strangest things. Did yer husband never pay ye such compliments?”

“My husband was a man of few words, and ye already ken we werenae married for so long,” Valerie hissed, her embarrassment forgotten in a surge of irritation.

Jude smirked at her and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his muscular chest with a smile that made him look half a dozen years younger.

“Even so, a married woman ought to be more aware of the things that are said and done between a man and a woman.”

Valerie scowled and stalked forward to slap him. “Impertinent man!”

Jude caught her hand with an easy movement, then drew her closer, his hand gentle while at the same time unyielding. “Impertinent lass. Ye’re the one who wandered into my bedchamber.”

“And I apologized.” Valerie glared at him. “It was ye who decided to make more of it than ye needed to.”

“I was only makin’ an observation.” Jude leaned closer. “One I dinnae understand yer anger over.”

His warm breath fanned her face, bearing the scent of mead and something else equally intoxicating. He was so close that she could have risen on her tiptoes and kissed him the way he’d kissed her earlier in the study.

For a moment, she was tempted, so much that it caused an ache in her chest and low in her gut. Then, she remembered her situation.

She pulled back, and Jude let her go as she stepped away from him. “The truth? I blush because I dinnae ken what a married woman ought to ken—nae as much of it as ye’d expect. My husband set sail and perished afore he could even become my husband in truth as well as in name.”

The surprise on Jude’s face made the revelation worth it, even though she could feel her cheeks burning once more.

“Ye mean…?”

“He never claimed me as his bride, nae properly.”

The admission and the look of mingled surprise and desire on his face were too much for her to handle.

Without another word, Valerie turned and fled from the bedchamber, and from the first man she’d ever met who had the power to fluster her so much.