Page 20 of The Highlander’s Enchanted Healer (Spellbound Hearts #2)

Ross gained the bed, the mattress dipping under his weight, and in a breath, he was before me, strong hands clasping my knees and gently spreading them.

Fire ignited in my veins and spread through me with shocking quickness.

“Tell me what ye want me to do, lass.” His voice was deep, husky, and promised a night of sinful pleasure I’d only dreamed of.

“I—”

“Aria.”

The deep voice near my ear ripped me from my dream.

I blinked, but even as I opened my eyes, I could still feel my desire for Ross coursing through me like a raging river, so when I saw his face so close to mine, heat flooded me from head to toe.

For a moment, I was transfixed by the raw masculine power of his face.

His strong jawline, the dark stubble that covered his chin and cheeks, the way his gaze seemed to delve into mine, and his full lips, which I could recall on mine with exquisite detail.

“I think Tomas’s fever has broken,” he said, his warm breath fanning my face.

I blinked away my daze and scrambled up, even as Isla did the same beside me, and we rushed to the cot where Tomas was resting. I placed a hand on his forehead as Isla placed one on her brother’s chest, and we both let out a relieved sigh at the same time.

“I take it the fever has indeed broken?” Ross asked from behind me.

Without thought, I swirled toward him and hugged him fiercely, as gratitude that Tomas’s life was spared took hold of me. “Aye,” I whispered.

He stood there, arms by his side, but it did not matter that he’d not moved a muscle to return the hug. His body, hardening instantly against me, told me everything. He felt the same desire that gripped me when he was near.

I jerked backward, a mixture of emotions hitting me—embarrassment, longing, confusion, and the sudden awareness of what I likely looked and smelled like. “I must l-look a mess,” I sputtered.

His gaze inched over me, making me feel as if he were undressing me with his eyes, and it curled my toes, leaving my mouth dry with the hot heat of longing. I did not feel embarrassment any longer, only a scorching desire to have his lips on my body. The thought was shocking.

“Ye mayhap could use a bath,” he said, his words teasing, “but ye are beautiful even so.”

I felt my jaw fall open at his compliment, and before I could consider how to respond, Isla said, “I must look a mess, too.”

Jealousy stirred in me at how she batted her eyelashes at Ross and gazed at him with open yearning. Disgusted with myself, I turned my head away, but I heard Ross’s reply very clearly. “Ye look fine,” he said, his tone now reserved.

A small smile curved my lips. I should not care that he hadn’t given her the same compliment he gave me, but knowing I shouldn’t care did not stop me from doing so. I was as foolish as the winter was long.

“Off with both of ye,” he said suddenly. “I will nae hear protest. Tomas is on the mend, and the two of ye need to get out of this healing room. I will sit here for a spell, then Fenella will relieve me. I’ve already spoken with her. I will see the two of ye at supper.”

Isla and I exchanged glances, and I supposed we both realized arguing would be futile. Besides that, I did feel grimy. With a nod, we exited the healing room together.

As soon as the door closed, Isla turned to me. “I told ye he liked ye.” Her lips formed a pout for a moment, and then she shrugged. “I suppose if he has to like someone other than me, I’m glad ’tis ye.”

“Why?” I asked, fascinated.

“Because ye would make a fair and honest lady of the castle. That’s the worry, is it nae? That he’ll end up wed for an alliance to someone we could nae ever trust or love as one of us. Someone like…like…Elena Gordon!”

I flinched as Isla howled with laughter.

A thought came to me like lightning streaking through the sky, making a brilliant flash in the darkness.

I had judged the Campbells on assumptions, not facts, and they had done the same with me.

I knew I was being judged falsely, and I worried greatly now that I had done the same.

What did that mean, though, for everything I had taken as truth?

As I walked into the great hall that night for supper, I immediately spotted Isla.

There was no way I could have missed her.

She was standing up at a table waving her arms at me.

I grinned. It was nice to feel wanted, though a little of the warm feelings faded as I recalled what she’d said earlier in the hall.

What was I doing? I stood there near the door, the cheerful noises in the Campbell great hall swirling around me.

There was no good outcome for my current situation.

If I discovered the Campbells had done what I’d believed, then I was making friendships with my enemies and yearning for their leader to touch me.

If I discovered they had not killed my family, then I had to consider that Ramsey may have.

My belly clenched at the thought, and I felt ill.

Either way, I would lose. Once the Campbells knew who I truly was, they would hate me.

And depending on the truth of what had happened in that church, I may well hate them, too.

My gaze went back to Isla, who was still waving at me to join her at the table where she sat, and then it darted to the dais.

All the seats were occupied. I suspected Ross had strategically planned that.

He wanted me, I believed, but he did not want to, just as I did not want to desire him.

I needed to be clever and not create more complications than I already had.

With that in mind, I made my way across the great hall and took a seat next to Isla.

Before I was even fully situated on my seat, she started talking. “Ye will nae ever believe Laird Campbell’s thoughtfulness toward me.”

Before I could ask what he did, Fenella spoke. “Let me guess, he stocked yer cottage with food from his personal reserve?”

Isla gasped. “How did ye ken?”

“He stocked mine as well,” a plump dark-haired woman sitting next to Isla said.

“I saw him and Allan carrying food out of their reserves,” Fenella said.

“He stocked mine as well,” a curly red-headed lass added. “I asked him why. Mind ye, I was verra grateful—just curious. He told me he had been neglectful in nae considering how hard it must be for the widows of the warriors lost to the war with the Gordons.”

Talk went on from there for the entirety of supper, and it was all about Ross.

Each story that was offered by one of the lasses was one of him doing something kind and good.

He’d taught one of their sons to swim. He’d taught another to hunt.

He’d aided one of the lasses in carrying the laundry up from the loch one morning.

Every story made me less certain that a man this good would aid in the murder of my family, and I feared that if I had judged wrong, believed wrong, my actions in sending Ramsey the plans Ross had to attack my stepbrother would get Ross and other Campbell husbands, brothers, and sons killed.

But what if I was right? The doubt ate at me as happy conversation continued around me.

“Aria.”

I turned my head toward Isla who had whispered in my ear. “Aye?”

“Would ye care if I asked Laird Campbell to dance?”

I forced myself to shake my head. “Nay. Why should I care?”

Isla grinned and hugged me to her. “I thought so! Ye did nae seem to return his interest! I’m off to see if I can finally catch his attention.

” With that, she scrambled off the bench and across the great hall, which, to my surprise, was being cleared of the dinner tables for dancing.

A quick glance around showed only Fenella and I still sitting at the table.

I’d been so preoccupied with my worries, I had not even noticed the other women getting up to dance.

“I suppose we need to vacate the table so the men can move it,” Fenella said. Around us, men and women were pairing off to dance, and as I stood, a big burly man with red hair approached us.

“That’s Torran,” Fenella whispered behind her hand. “He’s a wild one who Laird Campbell used to run with,” she added with a throaty chuckle and a wink. “The lasses all trip over themselves to gain his bed. He has quite the reputation as a pleaser in the covers.”

“Lady Leslie,” Torran said, bowing in front of me, “Would ye care to dance?”

I opened my mouth to say no, but two things happened at once.

In the middle of the dance floor, Ross twirled a laughing Isla, and jealousy gripped me.

And given I did not yet know the truth, I needed to keep gathering information.

This man was a warrior, so I could try to uncover what he might know about the forthcoming battle or other plans or what really happened between our clans.

With these things in mind, I nodded, even as I fretted about what I would do if my tongue started to tingle with the need to speak one of my secrets.

Could I run away in time? I hoped so. I certainly could not carry a goblet of wine on the dance floor, and I needed answers.

Torran reached out a hand to me, and I took it, not wasting any more time. As he led me to the dance floor, I concentrated all my willpower on reading his thoughts, and I was rewarded right away with a deluge of them.

The lass is the bonniest I’ve ever seen. I can nae wait to get between her thighs. I need to speak with Ross.

I clenched my teeth on my frustration. I needed to redirect his thoughts. “I’ve heard a great deal about yer feud with the Gordon clan.”

“Oh, aye?”

I nodded. “Do ye fear they will gain this holding, and ye will have to bend the knee?”

He chuckled at that. “Nay, lass. Do nae fash yerself that the Gordons will ever gain this holding. I’ll protect ye.”

“Good,” I managed as his thoughts hit me.

Gordon are scum. We will destroy them.

I seized on that one, bending it, twisting it, searching for other thoughts around it. As I did, Torran drew me close, likely closer than decorum normally permitted, but I did not want to push him away and break the contact I needed to read his thoughts.

We should attack the Gordons at night. Nae in the early morning hour. I need to convince Ross. At night, the Gordons will have been drinking. They will be sloppy. Easily attacked and captured.

I lost all thread of the thoughts when Torran’s hand found my bottom and cupped it.

I muffled a yelp, so as not to draw attention to us, and I smiled through clenched teeth.

I opened my mouth to tell him his hands had gotten lost, but to my horror, my tongue started to tingle.

Fear slammed into me as my heart tripped its beat, and I did the only thing I could.

I bit my tongue, tore away from Torran, and raced toward the doors to escape the great hall before I spilled secrets that could get me killed.