Page 56 of Taken By the Savage Highlander

“Aye,” he said, still calm. His eyes seemed to be locked onto her fingers dancing through the pelt. “I want ye to be comfortable. I daenae want ye to have to think about anythin’ other than enjoyin’ yer life.”

“Right,” Margo said as she paused her stroking, her hands beginning to shake. Her voice was thin, her faculties pulled in different directions by the caricature of him she had been creating in her mind and the nuanced man sitting in front of her. “I have been… comfortable.”

“I am glad to hear it,” he said, his tone shifting to something a bit more professional. A shiver that felt less like a chill and more like a premonition. “But after this ceilidh, we should be man and wife.”

So he has not changed since he made that stipulation.

“I see.”

Margo swallowed, shifting her gaze from the downy, brown fur covering her lap to her still-open window. Perhaps this was nothing more than duty to him. It had been foolish of her to even entertain the thought he might abandon the contract they signed. Though Cameron had been improving the clan’s financial situation, the debt he had inherited was staggering.

The clan needed her dowry.

“When we return to the castle,” he said, his voice dipping low, a slight growl to his words that left no confusion about his meaning, “we will begin sharin’ our quarters to sleep.”

It is simply duty.

Even as she told herself, tried to put distance between the emotions that swirled inside her and the directive, she felt her face flush. She should feel offended, irate even. The emotions were there, sharp and as dangerous as a pair of scissors being hurled through the air. But the way her stomach flipped was not entirely unpleasant.

“Of course,” she replied when she finally found her voice once more. She kept her gaze carefully on the passing scenery, watching the way the sun danced through the tallest leaves of the trees that rolled by. “I suppose that is something that we should have been doing since I arrived.”

“We will keep our separate quarters during the day,” he said. The professional tone in his voice was now tempered with the same gravity she had known him to use when he was trying to instate his authority. “It is important that we both have our own space.”

“I do not disagree,” she said, finally tearing her gaze away from the forest rushing past them. He watched her from the corner of his eye, gauging her reaction. “I cannot imagine that you would be pleased to have your space invaded by Eleanor nearly every day.”

Cameron grunted, finally turning to face her properly. Margo’s train of thought came to a screeching halt. His hair sat still, neatly brushed, reaching just above his shoulders. The shadows it cast seemed to make his features even more austere.

And his eyes.

The softness she had seen before was still there. It swirled, tangled with something else she could not yet parse out. Restraint coupled with something that looked like animal instinct or something similar, she thought. It scared her just as much as it exhilarated her.

“Ye will be comfortable, Margo,” Cameron said, the full force of his attention raising gooseflesh on her arms. She was nodding before she registered what she was doing. “And ye willnae have to worry about a thing.”

Oh how I want to believe you, Cameron.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“Ye’re lookin’ a bit warm,” Cameron said as their carriage came to a stop later that evening. The sun was kissing the horizon, and when Margo glanced out of her window, the entire world seemed to be painted in brilliant shades of red and orange. “Are ye feelin’ well?”

“I just need a bit of air,” Margo said, shifting herself to the edge of the bench.

“Aye, the last stretch of the ride is a bit harsh,” Cameron agreed with a nod, already reaching for the door. “Especially when ye are ridin’ in a carriage.”

Margo hummed her acknowledgement. He didn’t need to know she was flushed because she had been thinking about his words. Part of her flush was due to her embarrassment at being so vulnerable to him.

It was so much easier to be upset with him when we were not sharing any space. He does not speak to me for days, and then he tells me we will lie together. And I do not even protest!

She was not given much more time to dwell on her thoughts. As soon as Cameron stepped into the courtyard of Glen Carrick, she heard herself being asked after. Then, Cameron’s hand appeared once more, beckoning Margo to join them in the dying sunlight.

When she grabbed onto him, their palms pressing together, her breath hitched. Forcing air into her lungs, she let him guide her from the cab. The motion was slow, giving her time to collect herself before her feet hit the ground.

He is properly introducing me as his wife!

Margo’s hand tightened around his for a fleeting moment, consciously drawing strength from him and their arrangement for the first time. Though she had tucked her anxiety away, she was not sure what to expect from the women she had been told she would meet. Just as the feeling was resurging, slender fingers wrapped around her wrist.

“Margo! I have so been looking forward to meeting you!” the woman said, her accent curling around the words the same way Margo’s did. “I am Marian. How was the journey?”

“The journey was pleasant enough,” Margo replied, her eyes tracking Cameron as he walked away with the man that she guessed was Laird Carrick. “I am quite happy to be on solid ground again, though.”