Page 8 of When a Highlander Vows (Enemies to Lovers #1)
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L ucas turned to see the door in the distance. It was the way back into the castle from the other side of the garden. They’d created the healing garden years ago in one of the center courtyards of the castle to keep it safe from others as well as to keep it close by for the healer to gather what she needed whenever she needed it.
He’d heard his grandmother lock the heavy oak door, and there was no doubt, she had a servant lock the other door too. But they would make their way back to that side to see if they could escape.
“It seems we’ve been forgotten about,” he said, inwardly seething. “I daenae ken why me nan thinks I should want to wander about gardens when I have work to dae.”
“Aye, I wonder that as well,” Caitlin said, following along as he turned back toward the original door.
It would be a few minutes, since she would need to walk slowly, and he paused, holding out his arm again for her to hold. Even if she was infuriating, he was not about to leave a half-blind lass to muddle about the garden on her own in the dark. Even with the full moon and torchlight, it would be far too dark for her to see.
She hesitated on his arm, but he held it out anyway. “I ken this is the last thing ye wish to dae, Lass, but ye will need me to get to end of this garden. We will have to return to the first door to see if that one is unlocked, although I have a feeling it is nae.”
Nay doubt me grandmaither took well care of that.
Angrily, she said, “I daenae need ye, me Laird. Ye must nae say it that way. I would be very happy to stay right here and await someone to come and find us.” She stood where she was and gave him a look, daring him to argue.
Lucas threw up his hands. “What good would that dae, Lass?” he cried. “I want to be stuck here even less than ye dae. So, let us dae what we can to get ourselves out. Why be stubborn about it?”
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. Even in her fury, her beauty was a thing to behold. It held Lucas in its spell for a few seconds, so much so that he forgot what he was thinking about it.
“Fine then,” he replied once he’d gotten a hold of himself again. “I will go and see to the door. If it is open, I will return for ye. Or better yet, send someone else to come and collect ye, since ye find me company so abhorrent.”
He turned on his heel and rushed away to the door on the other side of the garden, where they’d first entered.
“Shite,” he muttered as he tried to open it, and it would not budge. “Who’s ever heard of a laird bein’ locked outside of his own castle?”
One with a determined grandmaither who would stop at nothin’ to fulfill her matchmaking dreams.
His grandmother had wanted him to marry for years, but why now? Why had she chosen this woman who clearly hated him, and who he clearly also disliked? Why suddenly, after only a few hours of meeting her, had his Nan taken a liking to Caitlin so much so that she would lock them together in a moonlit garden?
He sighed and put his face in his hands, running his fingers over the stubble on his chin. She would certainly hear an earful from him when he got out of there. Reluctantly, he returned to where Caitlin was waiting for him. He found her kneeling by the rose bush, bringing a flower to her nose.
For a few seconds, she didn’t notice him, and the moonlight shone upon her soft skin as she breathed in the scent. She looked innocent and calm, and he could almost see a small smile on those perfect lips.
Keep yerself together, Lad.
Now that he was angry and even more fatigued, the rein on his lust was growing loose. He wouldn’t be able to control it much longer, and so he was afraid of saying something foolish. Even so, they needed to find a way out of this garden which had now become a prison.
Clearing his throat, he watched as she looked up at him, startled. All calmness left her face, and she stood slowly, brushing her hands together.
“Also locked?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Aye. Let us go to the other door and knock. I am almost sure me grandmaither will be waitin’ on the other side of it, gleefully.”
They walked again, and this time, Caitlin put her hand on his arm without fighting. He smirked, wondering if the roses had somehow magically changed the lass’ mood.
“Is there a reason yer grandmaither would want to lock us in the garden? Surely it was just a mistake?” she asked, and he chuckled.
“So innocent, Lass.” But then he realized that he’d rather not explain why his grandmother would do such a thing. He scrambled for another explanation. “Ye will get used to her after a while. She enjoys playin’ a trick or two. A changeling, so her maither used to call her, she says. Switched by the faeries, and so we were left with a trickster.”
“Och,” Caitlin said, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “All right. Well, that does make things a bit more interestin’, although unusual. I confess I never kenned me grandmaither, so this will be a nice change. Tricks or nay.”
As they reached the end of the garden, Lucas spotted the wall of the castle, torches hanging over deep alcoves. As a child, he’d often run to those alcoves to hide from his parents and their retributions and remonstrances. Sometimes, even now, he would go and sit inside them, wanting to feel away from the world, hidden, never to be found again. In those alcoves, he could breathe easier, like it was the one place in the whole world where he felt safe.
“Are those rooms?” Caitlin asked, pointing forward to the alcoves.
He looked at them, unfocusing his eyes to see them as she might see them. They were dark inside from their distance away, so they did look like rooms from where they stood.
“Nay, just alcoves in the wall. I am nae sure why they were built into it, but I often go there to sit. Be at peace.”
“Dae ye?” she asked, intrigued, hurrying their pace a bit until they reached one. “May I?” she asked, turning around.
Her one hand was placed delicately on the stone as she turned to look at him.
“Aye,” he said softly.
She stepped inside, the light from the torch falling into the space but only a little. He could see her as she ran her hands along the back of the space.
“Och, there is even a seat,” she said, laughing and sitting on it. “I had somethin’ like this in the village. A place to hide away. I understand ye completely.”
She sat for a few seconds and then as she stood, her boot got caught.
He said, “Och, too many vines here. This one is nae the one I go into most often, so the plants have come to grow wild here. Let me.”
He walked inside the space with her and knelt, pulling her boot delicately out of the entangled vines, and stood.
“Thank ye,” she said when their eyes met.
Something moved inside his chest, and logic told him to step back and away. To find a way out of that space and that accursed garden and to hide away in his study. To find his grandmother and scold her mercilessly for her foolish matchmaking efforts that only ended up embarrassing both him and their new guest.
The torchlight was now cast over her face, and the desire that had been clawing at him since they met now came to the surface in all its force. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. And her beauty was not like beauty he’d seen before, meant to trap someone into it, like a dangerous lure.
It was pure, golden, lovely, and it made his heart feel light at the same time it claimed the attention of his body. This woman had lost the last member of her family and was now under his protection. It made him feel unworthy as he looked into her brown eyes. Like she might see into him and see the dark, dangerous blood that ran through his veins. And see the past that came to haunt him still.
“We should—” he said but stopped as his hand reached up to cup her cheek.
Underneath his rough scarred skin, hers was soft and smooth. A little gasp escaped her as she felt his touch, but she did not step away. Boldly, for an innocent, she kept his gaze and his thumb reached across to brush against her pink lower lip. This mouth could hypnotize him for a lifetime.
“I—” he said again, and then without thinking for another second, he lowered his mouth to hers.