Page 14

“Nae when ye come knocking in the middle of the night and look at me like that,” she huffed.

She glanced up and down the corridor to see if anyone was watching.

“Like what?”

The glare she shot him could have turned lesser men to stone, but he was only intrigued. He took one step forward, forcing her back into the room. One more step, and he was looming over her.

“Ye asked to be me wife,” he said, his eyes fixed on hers. “Why then act shy about standing in front of me in yer nightshift?”

The space between them shrank, though neither of them had moved. Her lips parted on a silent gasp, and her fingers tightened around her shawl.

Alisdair was fairly certain he had come here for something, some purpose vital for his clan’s survival, some answer to a grave question, but all of it had gone, swept away by the sea moving behind her eyes.

She was hauntingly bonnie, from the curve of her shoulders down to her bare feet, from the swell of her lips to the line of her nose. He leaned in, as if pulled by some force he couldn’t resist. He expected her to flinch away. Instead, her breath quickened, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

A low growl rumbled in his chest at the small motion. His jaw tightened, heat rushing through him all at once, a sensation he had almost forgotten. A need rose in him, sudden and total. To⁠—

He stopped himself.

He pulled back and straightened, angry at himself for having nearly given in to instinct.

“When the sun rises,” he said flatly, “I will ask ye to become me wife.”

Isla let out a long sigh. Relief washed over her so plainly that Alisdair understood all at once how genuinely she had been fearing for her life.

He said nothing more, only turned and walked out the door.

The following day, MacLeod Castle woke to turmoil. Word had already spread through every corner, the same whisper passing from mouth to mouth: the Laird had summoned his entire household to the Great Hall.

So, since early morning, everyone had gathered: senior clansmen, warriors, Duncan, and Ewan. Even his aunt, Lady Moira.

They exchanged glances, some fearing a new war, some merely curious, some almost eager. Alisdair was not a man for empty gestures or grand gatherings to boost his ego. If he called them together this early, then something very important was coming.

He stood in his study, listening to the commotion building in the Great Hall. He hadn’t slept all night, and yet he felt strangely calm, almost energized.

“They have gathered, me Laird,” a servant announced.

Alisdair rose and left the study, his boots clicking against stone as he made his way toward the Great Hall. As he turned toward the entrance, he saw Isla.

She stood there in the same dress she had arrived in on that fateful morning, entirely alone. Even the servants steered clear of her as they passed. Her back was straight, her chin high, but her fingers were clenched tight in her skirt.

She was nervous, he realized.

Perhaps she thought he had been toying with her all along and would throw her over to his clansmen as recompense for old wars.

He didn’t spare her a glance as he passed. He needed his wits about him, and there was something about her that kept scattering them. He needed to be calm, and she stirred up a storm inside him. He needed control, and she made him slip.

He felt her shift, as if intending to lean toward him, then still when she met only his indifference. He walked into the hall, and silence fell over the room like a blanket. Every pair of eyes followed him as he came to stand before them.

“I made a decision,” he announced.

He had never been one for grand speeches. He led by example, and his clan respected him all the more for it. Now they all held their breath.

“Before I announce it,” he continued, “I need to ask something one more time, in front of ye all.”

He turned to Isla, who was still as a statue at the edge of the hall, and beckoned her over. She inhaled and came forward.

A wave of whispers rippled through the crowd at the sight of her. Even those who hadn’t known who the castle’s guest was now had a name to hiss under their breath.