Chapter 28
“Aye?” he asked the young maid and looked up and down the hallway to make sure no one had actually overheard them.
“Mrs. Cameron wanted me to tell ye that Laird Crawford is departing with Laird McRae, Laird Drummond, and Laird MacInnes.”
“Christ—Thank ye, lassie,” he said, before closing the door and facing Scarlett. “Look, I think we should take a minute to just let the fire settle a bit.”
“Just go, Arran.” Scarlett pointed to the door.
Arran turned on his heel and walked out of the study without another word. The walk from his study to the courtyard was quick, but he bounded anyway so as to not delay his friends.
Hopefully, the distance will calm her down.
He marched downstairs in a huff to greet his comrades and bid them farewell. As they swapped petty insults and mounted their stallions, he laughed heartily and felt himself relax. His friends all urged their horses forward. All but Finn. Finn waited till there was no one else nearby and approached him.
“Arran, I’m sorry to say farewell so soon to the ceilidh,” he said and winked.
“Ach! I got yer letter, man. I’ll certainly write when it’s all…” Arran trailed off, but they both nodded in understanding.
As Finn mounted his pony, Arran caught a glimpse of movement in the windows of his study. He smiled at the memory of Scarlett doing that on the second day of the feast.
“What’s got yer goat?” his friend teased and looked up at the window as well. “Och, I see…”
“What do ye see? Ye barely have two workin’ eyes, man!” Arran joked, and they laughed again.
“I see well enough to ask this—are ye sure it’s just a ruse?”
“Aye, it’s just a ruse.”
“So long as it’s a ruse for both of ye,” Finn said and then kicked his his heels into horse’s flanks.
“See ye, friend.”
“See ye,” Arran said to Finn’s retreating back.
He could be good for her. Quite good, I reckon…
He felt Scarlett’s eyes on him as he watched his comrade disappear into the forest beyond the castle. The same forest where he first felt the urge to kiss her.
As he turned around, his eyes met hers in the window, and he was reminded of their kiss in the garden. His friend wasn’t even over the horizon, and he felt the fire deep within him. The pulling sensation was unquestionable.
* * *
Scarlett watched thoughtfully as Arran bid each of his friends farewell. He laughed and she smiled, he clappped them on the shoulders or shook their hands and she was reminded of his hands on her.
There was something about watching that man through windows that ignited a heat within her. It slowly crept up her torso, up her breasts, up her neck, and up her cheeks.
He has to feel the same, right?
He saw her, but she didn’t pull away from the window as she had the first time he caught her. She stayed and watched as he interacted differently with each man but still somewhat the same. He was carefree. With where the men were standing, the angle of the window obstructed her view of the last man, but they were much closer than he was with the other three.
Arran kept his broad back to her as his friend rode off. She studied his back and felt the need to run her hand across his shoulders and down his spine. He looked up at her again, but this time he lingered outside, staring up at her. She inhaled sharply before watching him disappear into the castle.
I wonder when he’ll be back up here. It didnae end well before… What happened? Why does he vex me so?
Scarlett walked around his desk, scooping up the full whiskey bottle on her way to sit on the sofa again and wait for him. As she took a swig straight from the bottle, the door to the study opened.
They locked eyes over the glass bottle, and she knew. She could feel his hunger and need from just his darkened gaze, which never left her as he closed the door behind him.
“I’m a dobber,” Arran said finally. His rough voice chipped away at the thick tension that lingered between them.
Scarlett carefully set the bottle down on the desk and leaned against it.
“I shouldnae have said that.”
“Why nae?”
“Because I didnae mean any of it.”
“Sure ye did,” Scarlett argued.
“There ye go, pickin’ fights again, lass. Can we nae just be done with this? Are ye nae tired of fighting?”
“Nay, I’ll fight ye until ye ken well enough how wrong ye are.”
“Och, aye. Well, in that case, I might have meant some of it then, and maybe even all of it, but ye have to ken that I’ve done all of this for ye and yer safety.”
“Aye, I dinnae deny it,” she said and lifted herself onto his desk.
She watched his posture change slowly, and her heart threatened to burst out of her chest.
“Do ye think that Reuben wouldnae hurt ye if I wasnae around to protect ye?”
“Aye, I ken he would. Why have ye been cold and distant? What’s with the odd mood swings?”
“I had business to take care of. It has naything to do with ye, Scarlett.”
“Nay?”
Arran leveled her with a stare that excited her, and she waited for his answer.
“Nay.”
“Do ye think about me? Do ye even care? Do ye truly worry?”
Arran leveled her with another stare that made the hairs on her arms stand up and made butterflies flutter in her stomach.
“Would ye like me to show ye or tell ye?”
The answer to that question could go in so many different ways…
His amber eyes roamed down her body, watching her squirm, and then slowly traveled back up to meet hers. Arran waited for her to answer. She knew she would have to answer, and the window of time for her to do so was closing.
“I dinnae?—”
He took a step toward her.
“Te—”
He took two more steps toward her until he was standing over her.
Scarlett leaned back and steadied herself with one trembling arm to look at him. His face was dark, and every move he made was possessive.
“Scarlett, answer me,” he warned, right as her elbow gave out behind her, causing her to suddenly fall backward.
His arms were around her waist within seconds, and she moaned in his ear, “Show me.”