Page 17 of Trapped with the Vicious Highlander (Falling for Highland Villains #5)

CHAPTER 17

Brodrick took a step back and held out his hand to her.

Ava narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing?”

Brodrick scoffed. “What does it look like?”

Ava shook her head. “I don’t know. That is why I’m asking.”

“I am escortin’ ye to yer room.”

“And what makes you think I need an escort?”

“Because it is quite dark out, and it is the gentlemanly thing to do.”

Brodrick studied her as a low chuckle escaped her lips. He knew what she was thinking. He was thinking the same as well.

“Nothing about what you just did was gentlemanly,” Ava said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Ye dinnae even ken half of it.”

Reluctantly, Ava took his hand, and they both stepped into the courtyard.

As they walked, Brodrick felt some sort of renewed vigor for life. He felt incredibly refreshed, and everything around him—the moon, the glow it cast on the castle and the fields that stretched for miles around them, the trees, and the sound of nature’s nocturnal insects—seemed new. It was almost like he could finally see, hear, and feel clearly again after quite a long, long time.

“Watch yer step,” he murmured gently to Ava as they made their way across the courtyard and towards the door of the castle.

As they were about to enter, Ava looked up and noticed an owl hooting in one of the trees near the courtyard. Brodrick noticed it as well.

“If Margaret were here, I would’ve asked her to cross that bird off the list on her parchment.”

“Aye. I am nae exactly eager for her to be here, though.”

Ava laughed.

A moment of brief silence passed between them as they made their way into the hall. An overwhelmingly long and eerily distant silence. One that made Brodrick rather uncomfortable.

“Ye never told me what happened with the viscount,” he suddenly asked, in his rather crude and unrefined way of breaking the silence.

Ava turned to him, a slight frown creasing her brow. “What viscount?”

“The one ye intended to marry.”

“I never intended to marry him.”

Brodrick narrowed his eyes at her. “Ye said it at the dining hall.”

“Yes. I said I was to marry a viscount. I never said it was my intention to marry him. It was my father’s intention.”

“Ye enjoy doing this to me, do ye nae?”

“You have not the faintest idea,” Ava responded.

Another moment of silence passed between them, one that Brodrick wasn’t sure he could break this time.

“My mother, like I said, was Scottish,” Ava murmured, much to his relief.

“I am certain ye have mentioned that before.”

“She was my father’s worst nightmare. She was a free woman. A wildling who wanted to experience life without having to submit herself to the tight constraints of Society. She lived life as it came. She was happy, and my father was not.”

Brodrick nodded, listening attentively.

“Then, she died,” Ava whispered.

He swallowed, almost like he had not been expecting her to drop that on him again for some reason. Of course when she’d told him the first time, he had shared sympathy with her. But this time, he could hear it in her voice, the regret. The feeling that she could have learned more from her mother if she stayed alive long enough to mentor her

“Me condolences.”

“Natural causes,” she continued, but he didn’t react.

She must have had to say it every time anyone asked how her mother died. Something about that caused a wave of sympathy to wash over him.

“I wanted to be like my mother. I wanted to live like no one cared. I wanted to ride horses across the meadows and eat as many wild berries as I could. I wanted to do things women weren’t allowed to do.”

“Like opening an orphanage,” Brodrick supplied.

“Like opening an orphanage,” Ava echoed, her voice soft. “My father, on the other hand, had completely different plans. He wanted me to marry as soon as possible. You see, my grandmother left me an estate. One I was unable to receive unless I was betrothed to a man. So, of course, I agreed with him. Not because I wanted to get married. Not even because I was in love with the viscount—I wasn’t. But I saw protection in him. He was kind, gentle and caring. He spoke to me like he would speak to people he respected. He believed I was truly intelligent and sought my opinion on things rather than disregard them—at least I thought so.”

They stepped towards the staircase, the dancing candlelight accompanying their shadows across the floors and adding more eeriness to the thick silence that surrounded them. Nothing could be heard except the insects, the birds, and the occasional snoring from certain rooms.

Brodrick turned to look at Ava. This was the first time she was being vulnerable with him. The last thing he wanted to do was take it, or her, for granted.

“He would have been the perfect man, as well, had I been in love with him. But I suppose I should thank my lucky stars that I wasn’t.”

“Aye. I remember ye said he didnae show up at the wedding,” Brodrick noted.

“My father took me to the chapel that morning,” Ava continued as they walked down the corridor that led straight to her room. “We waited for hours, and it only dawned on us when the sun was at its peak that the viscount was not coming. And something told me that it hadn’t been unintentional. We left the chapel in utter shame.

“I still remember some of the women running over to me to hand me flowers and fruits, telling me that it was not the end of the world. Some even went as far as sharing their experiences with such an event. One woman, in particular, informed me that out of her six weddings in that very same chapel, only two of her grooms had showed up, and one of them had died before she could give birth to their first child.”

They stopped right before Ava’s door. Normally, Brodrick would have pushed the door in and waited for her to step into the room. But not now. He couldn’t interrupt her story.

He did not mind having to wait till dawn. He was going to listen for as long as she was going to speak.

“I met him a week later—the viscount,” Ava went on, almost like she was not aware of her surroundings. “At a tavern on the outskirts of town. He told me it was a bet.”

Brodrick swallowed. “What?”

“He said it was a bet he had made with his friends to see how long he was going to pretend to care for me. He was never in love with me. He never even liked me. So, of course, he was never going to marry me. Not when I look like… this,” Ava whispered, gesturing to her body. The same body Brodrick had worshipped under the moonlight just a few moments ago.

“Dinnae do that.”

Ava laughed.

“I am not jestin’ with ye, Governess. I dinnae like it when ye make jokes at yer own expense.”

“I’ll try to rein it in, My Laird.”

Brodrick nodded.

Ava sighed. “He said I was too free and wild. That I had no qualities of a respectable lady of the ton, and that I was not the kind of woman he wanted to carry his children—or the kind of woman he wanted to be seen with at social functions.”

“I am certain ye dinnae need anyone to tell ye this, but ye’re as perfect as a lilac in the sun,” Brodrick whispered.

“Yes. That is quite easy for you to say.”

“Since when has giving ye a compliment ever been easy for me, Ava?”

Ava shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“And what did yer faither say? Or did ye nae tell him?”

Ava laughed. “My father? He was way too ashamed to listen to me. To him, I had completely disgraced him. I had ruined the entire reputation of the family, and my mother would roll in her grave if she learned of what atrocity I had managed to pull after her death.”

Brodrick swallowed. He wondered what his encounter with Ava’s father would look like if the opportunity ever presented itself. Would it end in blood and bruises or handshakes and smiles? He let the question linger in his mind.

Ava, who seemed to have finally taken notice of where they were, how long they had been standing there, and how long Brodrick had been listening to her, clapped her hand over her mouth in shock.

“I deeply apologize, Brodrick. I suppose the time must have gotten away from me. It was not my intention to?—”

“I am standin’ here of me own free will, Ava. Ye dinnae need to apologize. I would listen to ye recite the names of fruits all day.”

A flush rose to her face. “Still, I deeply apologize. It was never my intent to keep you up at this hour. I am certain you have… other things to do.”

Brodrick frowned. “Things like what?”

Ava shrugged. “I am certain there is a sword somewhere that needs polishing. Or a knife you have to sharpen.”

Brodrick smirked. “Is that all ye think I do? Polish swords and sharpen knives?”

“Do not blame me. You appeared in my kitchen like the angel of death himself. I used to think you were some bloody Highlander who knew nothing except the power of his fists.”

“Aye. That seems so long ago now, does it nae?”

“Yes. My month here is drawing to an end, and soon I will be back in the orphanage. It is a good thing Margaret is making so much progress.”

“Aye,” Brodrick responded, his voice faltering slightly. “’Tis a good thing.”

Ava stretched out her hands, a brief yawn escaping her lips. “Would you look at that. Sleep. Finally. I suppose this shall be goodnight.”

Brodrick executed a brief bow. “Goodnight.”

Ava nodded and pushed her door open. Brodrick watched her enter her room, the brief moonlight lighting her path to her bed. He shut the door behind her after nodding at her again and then made his way down to his room.

His steps were light and brisk, and he prayed he wouldn’t wake anyone. Several thoughts raced through his mind as he walked. The things she had to face, the people she had to confront. He felt a new respect for her. But his thoughts lingered on the inevitable.

Her time at the castle was running out faster than he thought. Soon, the month would end, and soon, Ava would leave the castle.

Possibly forever.

He never thought this would be a problem for him. A week ago, he only wanted Ava to stay for one reason and one reason only—to get Margaret to speak. Now, there was another reason. One he didn’t believe would catch up to him in his lifetime.

He pushed his door open and walked in, taking off his shirt as he headed to his bed, the thoughts in his mind unrelenting.

Ava must leave soon, and the question he had been avoiding for quite the longest time snuck up on him. He wasn’t certain of the exact time it crept up on him, but now it was the only thing he could focus on.

He laid his head on his pillow, the lingering question knocking against his skull, pounding along with his heart. The question rose and fell along with his heavy breaths.

What if he didn’t want her to leave?