Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Leo was on his feet before Beatrice could utter a word.
“Everyone out,” he ordered in a harsh tone that left no room for argument. He beckoned Beatrice over. “Except for ye.”
The councilmen muttered as they shuffled past Beatrice and out into the hallway.
“I’m sorry for the intrusion, me Laird,” Beatrice said as she inched towards Leo.
“Well, ye’re here now.”
He beckoned her over again, and she stepped lightly, her hand outstretched, passing him her parents’ letter.
“A messenger delivered it while ye were on patrol,” she told him. “Me parents daenae want our betrothal to go through. They want me to return home and follow the decree, and if I daenae abide by their request, they will come take me themselves.”
“Is that all?” Leo laughed merrily, running his gaze over the letter and then handing it back to her as though it was only a joke. “Let them try.”
“But Leo, they daenae think our betrothal will clear me father’s debts. They daenae believe ye will follow through on a promise like that.”
She made to take a step closer, then stalled as if she had hit an invisible wall. Leo watched her in bemused confusion, but her concern was penetrating through his defenses, digging into his skin.
A thought he was attempting to contain made itself clear.
Why try to stop her? This arrangement is more trouble than it’s worth.
As Beatrice shifted her weight from side to side, Leo stepped towards her and put his hands on her shoulders. He held her firm, and she went still, though he could feel her trembling under his touch.
“I can freeze yer father’s debts,” he said. “I have the authority to do that, and I can use it if it keeps ye here with me.”
Beatrice’s face lifted, and her eyes locked onto his. “With ye?”
“If it can keep ye here for yer part of our arrangement.” Leo’s tongue had grown heavy and clumsy.
Words were slipping from his mind and out of his mouth against his will and judgement, an unfamiliar experience for Laird MacSween.
“What good does this do ye?” Beatrice asked.
Leo racked his brain for a reason she’d believe. “I agreed to the arrangement for me own reasons too, and ye ken it. But I have agreed to yer conditions as well, and I am a man of me word.”
Beatrice sighed and pushed away from him, looking as if the room was closing in on her. He watched her eyes flit anxiously, unable to settle on one thing. She kept swallowing past a lump in her throat that he knew was never going to disappear.
The lass doesnae seem to understand that people daenae defy me. She doesnae ken what it means to have one’s authority respected.
“Me father’s debts are more than ye might ken, Leo,” she finally said, lifting a hand to her cheek. It made her look ashamed, as if she were confessing an unforgivable sin. “They may be bigger than even ye can imagine.”
“Try me.”
Her breathing was so ragged, but Leo could barely hear it over the blood pounding in his ears. A flush had spread across her face and throat, coloring the pale expanse of her décolletage. He couldn’t help but notice the swell of her breasts as she tried to calm herself to no avail.
“It wasnae right to bring ye into this,” she mumbled. “It was foolish of me to come here. I should go back home, accept me fate and be done with it.”
In a move so fast that Leo surprised himself, he took Beatrice’s hands in his, holding her fast before him.
“Our agreement has been made, lass,” he reminded her, meaning to speak gently although it came out as a growl. “Ye made yer choice when ye came here, and I made mine. We shallnae abandon our commitments like this over yer parents’ foolishness.”
“But what about the letter from me parents?”
Leo drew her closer still.
“A matter of debt is nay worry for me,” he said. “I will handle it.”
“Will ye? Can ye?” Beatrice asked him, wide-eyed and incredulous as though scarcely able to believe it.
“Aye,” he assured her. “I can.”
Leo could see a small pulse thrumming fast and strong in her neck. Did her heart beat from fear at her parents’ threats, or from excitement at his touch? He wanted it to be only the latter, but suspected it was both.
“Leo,” Beatrice breathed, looking up into his face helplessly. “I daenae ken what is happenin' to me.”
“I do, lass,” he answered, his voice now very ragged at the edges as one of his hands went to her waist and the other up to stroke back a lock of auburn hair from her face. “Ye want me to kiss ye.”
“I…Oh!”
If Beatrice had thought of protesting this, she abandoned the thought as soon as his palm caressed her cheek and jaw.
“Put yer arms about me waist, lass,” he urged but then laughed as he found her hands on his chest instead, grabbing handfuls of his shirt rather than pushing him away. “Or that will do too.”
“Leo,” she said softly, her eyes half closed. “I want…”
Lowering his head, Leo took her soft lips with his own in a series of gentle kisses that had Beatrice quickly moaning aloud. Encouraged, his tongue sought hers and he kissed her more deeply, once of his hands sliding to her back to support her as her knees buckled.
A knock on the door shattered the moment and Leo quickly set Beatrice back on her feet and released her.
Dazed and startled, she jumped out of his grasp and bolted towards the door, opening it fast and rushing out past whoever was standing in the corridor and presumably waiting for permission to enter.
“Beatrice!” Leo called after her, but she was already out of sight.
He took off in the same direction, unable to see her yet knowing full well where she was headed.
Beatrice didn’t even see who had knocked as she sprinted out of Leo’s study and down the corridor to the courtyard.
The only place she could think to disappear to at the moment was the garden, partially hidden in shadow as the sun still lay low in the sky.
There’s nowhere I can truly get away from him.
There was no such thing as a hiding spot, as long as she was in his domain.
She rested against the cool stone wall of the garden for a moment. She could feel sweat rolling down her back, the hair on her arms standing on end as her flesh went taut and pebbled.
Their first kiss could be written off as a moment of weakness—both of them caught in the hypnotic spell of the twisted hallways and tangling with each other in the dark of night.
But what had almost happened in the study was done with clear eyes.
If it hadn’t been for the poor soul she was sure got pummeled by the door, she would have melted into Leo’s hands right on the spot.
A rustling noise drew her attention to the entrance of the garden, where she saw the shape of a man made of shadows.
He followed me here.
She felt butterflies flutter in her stomach, the powerful rush of blood in her veins.
He came to finish what he started.
Before she could even turn to him, Leo took her in his arms and spun her around to face him fully. His black eyes reflected her face back to her, and in that onyx mirror, the desire in her features was unmistakable.
She wished she could tell him to stop, remind him that this was all supposed to be a facade, but his hands on her body sucked the air out of her lungs.
“We havenae finished our conversation,” he said.
“There is nothin' left to say,” she shot back.
“Ah, I believe there is, lass.”
Neither of them hesitated this time.
Leo pressed his mouth against hers. Beatrice felt her hands move of their own accord as he kissed her, gripping his shoulders in a bid to stay upright.
If I let go, I’ll fall. I’ll faint dead away and never be able to get back on me feet.
Leo’s fingers trailed over her body, tracing her curves through her dress.
Beatrice pressed herself against him as his hands slipped under her skirt, caressing the soft skin of her thighs.
He pushed her back against the stone wall, holding her in place as he explored the new territory he had uncovered.
Beatrice tilted her head back, and his mouth journeyed to her throat. He kissed her there, bit the sensitive flesh as she inhaled sharply and arched into him. She felt something throbbing and hard poke against her body from Leo’s groin as he whispered how badly he wanted her.
But I daenae dare admit how badly I want him too. If he demands that I give meself to him right here and now, there’s nay way I could refuse.
She fought the urge to wrap a leg around him and pull him into her. The hard length of what must be his male organ excited her in a way she had never experienced before.
She wanted him to tear her clothes off her and throw her onto the ground and have his way with her. She wanted him to—
Get a hold of yerself, lass.
Beatrice tried to wriggle out of his grasp.
“Leo, nay,” she whispered.
His kisses slowed.
She placed a hand against the side of his face and stared into his eyes. “Ye ken we cannae. We are nae even hand-fasted.”
His brow furrowed, a darkness gathering in his features. He didn’t move away from her, still holding her tightly as if he were about to ignore what she had said and continue kissing and biting and caressing her flesh. But then he released her and exhaled long and slow through his nose.
“Aye, we cannae. Thank ye for remindin' me. This doesnae change anythin' neither.”
He spoke clearly, each word carefully enunciated, but Beatrice could hear a tremor in his voice that hadn’t been there before. However much he pretended, however much he hid his feelings, she knew him now.
Aye, Leo. Yer blood runs as hot as mine.
She slid her hands off his shoulders, going the long way down his arms, mapping his muscles. He took a step back and stared at her for a moment, as if waiting for her to change her mind. She held his gaze, unsure if she should be proud or ashamed of what had just transpired.
“Leave me,” he muttered.
Beatrice stepped towards the courtyard without a word, keeping her eyes on his until she was at the entrance. Only then did she turn away from him, feeling his gaze bore into the back of her head as she disappeared from his sight.