Chapter 15
Erica froze.
For a wild moment, she hoped he could not see her. The dark held its breath, and her chest did the same.
One, two, three, four—
“I can see ye, Erica.”
Christ!
She let out a slow breath, then turned toward the lake again. Moonlight cast a pale line across the water, and a shape cut clear, waist-deep, the surface lapping at his ribs.
“Sorry,” she said, her voice level. “I didnae ken anyone was out here.”
“That is exactly why I came,” he said. “Peace and quiet.”
Her eyes betrayed her and dropped before she could stop them, tracing the flat of his abdomen to where the water hid the rest. The moon painted a silver sheen on his skin. Her imagination had less sense than she did, and she felt the heat prick her face. She lifted her gaze quickly.
“I come here when I need to be comfortable,” he added. If he knew she was looking, he didn’t mention it.
“Aye,” she murmured. “Ye look comfortable enough.”
He cupped water over his face. It ran down his neck and caught in the dark tufts of hair on his chest. He wiped it with his palm and looked toward the reeds as if listening to them for news.
“What brought ye out here?” he asked.
“I couldnae sleep.”
“Same,” he said. “The guards. The castle. After that letter, I wanted to be certain.”
She frowned a little. “Ye said there was nothing to worry about.”
“Aye, there isnae.” His mouth pulled. “Still, better to be cautious.”
He shifted toward the bank, careful with the soft ground under him. He paused and cleared his throat.
“Can ye turn around?”
Her breath caught, but she said nothing. For a minute, the world around her seemed to go completely still.
“I daenae mind getting out of here naked,” he added lightly, as if they were speaking of the weather. “I am only askin’ for yer sake.”
A small laugh tried to escape, and she stifled it. “Fine.”
She turned around, closed her eyes tight, and opened them again.
Behind her, the water lapped at his legs, a sound like cloth pulled through hands.
Pebbles clicked, and there was the soft grunt of a man lifting his weight.
She heard fabric, then a breath, then the careful scrape of a boot across stone.
“All right,” he said. “Ye can turn back.”
She did.
He stood a few paces away from the water, still shirtless, pale trousers clinging low to his hips. Lake water ran in thin lines along his skin and dripped from his hair. He had slung a cloak across a low branch. His eye found her and held, as calm as possible.
Her knees felt weak for a heartbeat. She widened her stance a bit so he would not see it.
“I daenae even ken what I am doing here,” she blurted after a tense pause. “I should go.”
“And here I was thinking we might take another stroll,” he said.
She set her mouth. “A stroll.”
“Aye.” A hint of a smile touched his face, quickly gone. “Unless ye have somewhere else ye would rather be.”
She huffed, mostly at herself. “At this hour?”
“Folks find places at all hours,” he said. “I would prefer ye find them where I can see ye.”
“Ye’re being controlling,” she said.
“I like to think I am only being careful,” he countered.
“‘Tis a fine word for controlling.”
He chuckled. “Ye can call it whatever makes ye feel better.”
“That makes me feel worse,” she said, but the corner of her mouth quirked up.
Alex bent to wring water from the hem of his trousers and winced at the cold. “Ye came out without a guard.”
“I spoke to the men at the inner gate,” she said. “They didnae seem alarmed. One even spoke to me about a squirrel.”
“That squirrel has a reputation,” he said. “Daenae underestimate him.”
She gave him a look. “Are ye trying to be funny?”
“I am trying to keep ye annoyed enough that ye forget to be embarrassed.”
She snorted. “I am nae the one who was found naked in the lake, am I?” she said, and hated that he heard her smile.
“But ye are the one who had to find me. That should trigger some things.”
Erica folded her hands, already annoyed. “Things like what?”
“I daenae ken. Fear?”
“If anything, I feel more annoyed than afraid.”
“Good,” he said, straightening. “I would prefer ye angry than afraid.”
“I am neither,” she said.
“Ye just said…” he trailed off, tilting his head toward her.
“I am fine,” she said. And then, because it felt too bare, she added, “I just said I would rather be annoyed than afraid.”
“Did ye? Because I remember clearly—”
“Are we going to stand here rehashing what I did or didnae say?”
“It depends,” he said. “Are ye going to stand by what ye said or nae?”
She had to fight back a laugh. “Ye enjoy this far too much.”
“I enjoy being comfortable at me own lake,” he said. “The rest is a bonus.”
She glanced at the water. “Do ye come here often at night?”
“When I can,” he said. “It makes the noise disappear.”
“Noise?” She frowned.
“In here,” he said, tapping his temple.
A tense silence stretched and sat easily between them.
The chill worked through her shawl. Alex noticed and reached for the cloak he had hung up.
“Take this,” he said.
“Nay,” she said quickly. “I am fine.”
“Ye are shivering.”
“I am nae.”
He waited. She glared at him. He lifted the cloak anyway and held it out, but she did not take it.
“I willnae steal yer cloak,” she said. “Ye are the one who chose to take a bath under the moon.”
“It was a swim,” he corrected.
“It looked like a bath.”
“It was both.”
She rolled her eyes. “Men.”
“Women,” he returned dryly.
She tried to keep the smile back. It escaped anyway. She inclined her head toward the water to hide it, then set her gaze on the stones at their feet.
“Ye said it’s better to be cautious,” she said. “Then ye go swimming alone at night.”
“Oh, I doubt I will be attacked,” he said.
“Do ye now?” she asked flatly.
“Aye,” he said. “Unless, of course, someone has a death wish.”
“Or is smart enough to kill ye without a fight,” she said.
He shrugged. “Still a death wish.”
“Ye really think highly of yerself, do ye nae?” she said. “The almighty Laird MacMillan.”
He took a breath he seemed not to notice. “Ye wouldnae have come to me at the festival if ye didnae think I was brave enough to protect ye.”
The heat that rose then had nothing to do with the cold air.
Erica pulled the shawl tighter and tucked her chin. “Brave and smooth. Ye are the real deal, are ye nae?”
“I am a laird,” he said. “Anything less would be undeserving.”
She stifled another laugh and watched the water lap at the stones. A flat rock lay near her boot. She toed it up and picked it. The weight sat right. She threw it out. It skipped once, then sank in shame.
Alex tried not to laugh but failed. The sound came out warm and surprised, and the knot in her chest loosened.
“Go on, then,” she said. “Show off.”
He took a stone, tested its edge, and let it go low and quick. It skipped twice, thrice, then sank under. He made a small pleased sound that did not fit the fearsome Laird at all.
“Ye are proud of that,” she noted.
“Aye,” he said. “A man takes his victories where he can.”
“Ye have plenty,” she said.
“I count them differently now,” he said. “Very differently.”
She looked at him, then away. “Do ye always win people over with this?”
“With what?” he asked.
“Charm,” she said.
He smiled a little. “Is it working?”
“Nay,” she said at once. “Absolutely nae.”
“Aye,” he said. “I'll take yer word for it.”
She groaned, more at herself than him. “Daenae do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act as if ye can see through me.”
“I can,” he said easily.
She set her jaw. “I am annoyed with ye.”
“Aye,” he said quietly.
She stared at him, exasperated and too warm for the hour. He met it with a look she could not name. It had steadiness in it. It had a desire she tried not to see. It had respect that made the ground under her feel more solid than it had all day.
He gestured toward the path. “If ye walk, ye will get warm.”
“So this is about health now,” she said.
“It always is,” he said. “I am a very sensible man.”
“Ye are an insufferable man.”
“So I have been told.”
She let the fight leave her shoulders. It felt like standing inside a secret no one had agreed to keep.
“A stroll,” Alex said again, voice softer. “I will keep to yer side. I will keep me mouth shut unless ye want noise. Ye set the pace.”
She hesitated. “A stroll…”
“Unless ye have somewhere else ye would rather be.”
She thought of her room and the bed that would not take her. She thought of the passageway and the whispers that made her jaw tight. She thought of the bench and the quiet that had made her head loud.
She looked at him, dripping, ridiculous, solid as stone.
It was a walk. What could possibly go wrong?
After a moment, she nodded. “Fine, let’s stroll.”
They took the outer path, where the hedges grew thick and the old stones showed their age. Alex kept to Erica’s side and let the silence do what it could. He pointed to the low run of wall ahead.
“That course came after the last siege,” he revealed. “We built it too fast for it to still hold this long.”
She peered up at a squat tower across the yard. “So this one was built for watching, and it still fell?”
“Aye.”
“Impressive,” she drawled.
He laughed before he meant to. The sound felt easy in his chest.
They walked on, and the gravel beneath their feet thinned to beaten earth. The rays of the moonlight split the path in strips, but the shadows cut it back again.
He turned to look at her, at the way her face glowed under the night sky and the way her eyes seemed to almost sparkle.
“So, which parts are the oldest?”
“The corner there,” he said. “And the stairs by the east wall.”
“Who chose the colors in the hall?”
“Me grandmaither.”
She nodded. “Of course. That explains everything,” she said, and his mouth curved.
When they neared a thick hedge, he lifted a hand. “Mind here. This path is ken for snakes.”
She stopped dead. “Snakes?”
“A few,” he said casually.
“Real ones?”
“I daenae ken of any false snakes. Do ye?”
“I daenae play with snakes.”