Page 55 of Deception of a Highlander

She slipped over the edge into safe obscurity. Though she moved forward with caution, layers of sand gave way beneath her feet. Still, she did not stop, not until she could see at least the top of his dark head.

Kieran stopped and dismounted from his horse, his pace brisk as he headed toward something she could not see.

Mariel went on tiptoe and peered over the torn earth. He stood before the door of the small hut.

Smoke billowed from the chimney—peat by the rich aroma. The door flew open, and a woman with long brown hair stepped out into the sunlight. She was young, beautiful, and eager to see Kieran if the wide, perfect smile was any indicator.

He opened his arms to the slender woman, and she ran without hesitation into his embrace. His arms folded around her, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head with an affectionate smile creasing his eyes. Mariel’s stomach knotted.

She staggered backward, heedless of disclosing her presence. She had been deceived. Her lips curved in a mirthless smirk at the irony of her predicament. The man so honorable and moral was as much a liar and a fraud as her.

What a fool she was to have thought herself in love, to have thought he might actually harbor feelings for her. And all the while, he had a woman here on Skye. Was it any wonder he had not wanted Mariel to come?

The painful throb of her heart echoed in the ache between her legs from the gift she had so foolishly bestowed upon him.

Perhaps killing him would be an easier feat than expected. In fact, at that point, she was almost looking forward to it. Almost.

“Momma!” A little voice pulled her attention and caught the tattered remains of her heart.

A young boy’s face appeared at the doorway, his eyes black as onyx in his small face.

Kieran had a son.

CHAPTER 21

Kieran scrubbed his face with his hands and heaved a deep sigh. The ride home had taken an eternity, and the lack of sleep was catching up with him. What a long damn night, followed by a long damn day.

“Ye asked for me?” Alec gave him a strange look.

“Walk with me,” Kieran said and strode toward the castle. “Get Mariel and bring her to my solar whether she wants to come or no’.”

“That’s what ye need me for?” Alec’s eyebrow rose. “Do I need to drag her there?”

Kieran considered Alec’s statement for a moment. “Ye very well might. I dinna care what it takes.” Their heavy boots fell soundlessly upon the rushes as they entered the great hall.

Alec gave a nonchalant shrug and stalked off to obey the order he’d been given.

Kieran rubbed the tightness along the back of his neck. Were Mariel not so angry with him, he might have asked her to ease the tension the way she had in the past. Guilt flashed through him.

He turned down the hall toward his solar and found Colin leaning against the door frame with a dour look on his usually cheerful face.

He locked his forearms with Colin’s and narrowed his eyes. “How do ye feel today?”

Colin winced. “As if my head’s been split open.”

Kieran squeezed his friend’s forearm in an iron grip. “If ye touch Mariel again, yer head will be split open…with the blade of my sword.”

“Ye dinna lay claim to her,” Colin protested and tried to wrest his arm free.

Kieran released him with a solid shove that sent Colin sprawling awkwardly against the floor. “I am now. She’s mine, and I’ll kill any man who dares question that.”

Ever the unflappable one, Colin gave an amused smirk. “Consider yer claim laid. Now help me up before I lose the contents of my stomach in front of yer door.” He grinned. “And I just ate a whole trencher of food.”

Kieran extended a hand to aid his friend to his feet. “If ye were anyone else, ye’d already be dead.”

“I know, I know.” He clapped Kieran on the back and strode down the hall, whistling a jaunty tune.

Kieran smiled in spite of himself, and he closed the door behind him. How was it that Colin always seemed to slip out of trouble as easily as he found his way into it? Kieran sank into the chair behind his desk.