Chapter 11 #2
Something ugly and painful tightened in Greer’s gut as she took in the extent of the woman’s beauty.
Pale blonde hair, blue eyes, full lips, and white, straight teeth.
She moved with such grace that it appeared as if she floated over the drawbridge rather than walked as mere mortals must do.
Men’s gazes followed her, mouths opening in gaping awe, and she paid not a mind to one of them.
Nay, her entire focus was on Drake, her hand curled daintily against his strong forearm.
Whatever had gone soft within Greer now set hard as stone. She remained where she stood in the shadows, scowling as they basked in the golden light of late afternoon together.
The woman laughed again and said something to Drake as she pulled her arm away.
He glanced about, his gaze finding Greer as he waved her over.
She clenched her hand into a fist at her side and slowly approached, confirming what she had already suspected—the woman was even prettier up close than she was from a distance.
So bloody unfair.
No sooner had Greer stepped out into the light than a shadow blotted out the late sun beside her.
She glanced up and found a beast of a man striding past. He might be the tallest man she’d ever seen.
Certainly, he was the strongest, with bulging forearms and powerful shoulders.
His copper-colored hair was pulled back in a leather thong, and his nose was slightly crooked on his face, as though it’d been broken a time or two.
“James.” The woman reached for the man as he approached her and Drake, then stretched on her toes and gazed lovingly up at him before kissing him.
The man had a besotted look on his face that reverted to sternness once more as he turned from her and reached an arm toward Drake. “’Tis good to see ye again, my old friend.”
“How is the bairn?” Drake asked.
“Ach, the lad is four summers now.” The massive man beamed, clearly a proud father. “Thanks be to God his looks come from his mum.”
“Oh, do stop.” The woman pulled her husband to her before catching sight of Greer. “And who is this?”
Greer wanted to melt into the ground. She was no one in the face of this beautiful noblewoman with her fine attire and finer appearance. By comparison, Greer was a pauper in rags, not to be spared a second glance.
“This is Greer,” Drake offered. “Greer, this is Laird and Lady Graham.”
“Oh, but do call me Anice, please.” Lady Graham smiled openly at Greer, without malice or condescension.
Who was this incredible woman?
Laird Graham inclined his head respectfully to Greer as well.
It was all too much. These respectable people treated her as if she were worth more than the homespun cloth on her back.
“And I’m Beathan.” Bean stepped forward and gave a broad smile that revealed his large front teeth. “Master Fletcher’s squire.”
“Well met, Beathan,” Lady Graham said sweetly in such a manner that it left the lad blushing furiously.
A servant emerged from the castle, leading two saddled horses toward them. “Alas, we must be off,” Lady Graham said regretfully.
“We canna leave fast enough,” Laird Graham said in a low voice, meant only for their party. “Lord Calver is a shite excuse for an earl.”
Bean grinned up at the laird. “I told ye,” he said triumphantly to Drake.
There was a round of farewells after that as the couple mounted their horses and were on their way. Greer did not miss the final wave Lady Graham tossed over her shoulder to Drake, nor how he watched the woman as she rode off.
Hot pain twisted in Greer’s chest, a discomfort she could scarcely stand. Whatever the terrible sensation was, she knew it to be put there by her affinity for Drake and for the woman he still cared for. A woman the likes of which Greer could never compete against.
“I canna stay,” Greer said abruptly. “’Tis why I met ye here. To tell ye I’m leaving.”
Drake and Bean both spun back to her.
“’Tis almost dark,” Drake said as Bean whined, “But ye said ye’d sup with us in the castle.”
“Beathan, have them secure three places for us,” Drake instructed.
The lad hesitated, looking between the two of them before slowly slinking off in compliance, his slower than normal pace indicative of how he felt about being sent away from the conversation.
Drake moved closer to her. “Greer, stay.”
He was so near that the subtle scent of him teased at her with reminders of the intimate moments they had shared. Her head spun with a heady, airy sensation that made the pain in her chest burn with greater intensity.
She had allowed him to elevate her to a station she had never belonged. One of respect.
Now she was right back down where she always had been. Except she had never realized how truly low that had been. Nor how much she had craved being better.
She glared up at him. “I’m no’ a dog.”
He shook his head. “I dinna mean it like that. I meant…” His words tapered off.
“Ye meant what?”
Those deep brown eyes met hers, the affection there evident. And it sliced at her insides like a sharpened dagger.
“I mean, I dinna want ye to leave.” He reached for her hand. “No’ tonight. Nor any other night.”
Her gaze went from where his hand held hers to back up to his face to gauge the earnestness of his statement. “Ye’re asking a lot,” she said slowly.
He smiled, his expression so charming, it tugged at her heart. Drake was not the sort of man to try to win a woman over with a smile. In fact, he was not the type of man to attempt to win a woman over at all. “Supper, at least. Though I canna say that I want ye alone out in the dark…”
Greer didn’t want to be out there in the darkness either, but nor did she want to stay and continue to have her heart battered by a man who could not uphold promises to protect her, promises that weren’t his to keep.
Especially not when she had to unearth a way to gather the considerable amount of coin she needed for Mac’s freedom.
“Aye,” she finally answered. “But only for supper.”
Mayhap getting into the castle would present an opportunity to get to Mac on her own. There had to be something she could plan with being so close.