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Although he could not deny that he was more attracted towards her than he had ever been to any woman in his twenty-nine years. Here she was, a woman he knew nothing about except her name and he wished for nothing more but to gather her in his lap. He knew it could simply be his need to protect her, his need to shelter her from Eric and somehow remove the fear he had seen in her eyes when he had found her yesterday. He had been feeling weirdly protective of her since.
She seemed to accept his reply as she nodded thoughtfully and got back to her food. The dress Harriet, a maid he had assigned to her, had gotten for her was far bigger than her body and extremely loose on her. She was weak, probably due to the treatment she had received at the Gilmor Castle, and he could not think about anything else but making sure she ate well and got healthier.
Her dress shifted slightly, moving to bare a shoulder, and Christian could not help but stare. She was beautiful, but he would never force her to sleep with him. That was not the reason he had brought her with him or, as others were putting itkidnappedher. In a way, it was kidnapping, but he couldn’t have left a young girl alone in a dense forest at night. If Eric hadn’t found her, some wild creature would have, and she would have died anyway. He could not see her suffer.
“I am going to stand up and walk out of this bedchamber, and I will send in Harriet,” he said, telling her before doing anything so her alarmed expression would not appear again. He didn’t wish to startle her. She was already terrified and in a strange place and it was a surprise to him how he already cared for her well-being. He wanted her to feel happier and healthier.
“Who is Harriet?”
“She is a maid in the castle, but I have assigned her to ye now. She is going to be here with ye to take care of anythin ye might need. Is that all right?” he asked her calmly.
“Is she kind?” Her question felt odd to him, but he could not even guess what was going through her mind. She was genuinely scared of anyone.
“She is about yer age and very sweet. Ye will enjoy her company,” he assured her, still unsure why he cared for her so much.
“All right,” she replied, pushing the tray of food away from her. His eyes darted toward the tray, and he noticed that she hadn’t eaten much, but he could not force her. She was exhausted and in pain and clearly scared and distrustful. He would put her through even more misery at this hour by forcing her to eat against her will.
“Can I ask ye something?” she suddenly asked, surprising him.
“Of course.”
“How do ye ken my name? Did ye have me investigated?”
“I knew who ye were the minute I saw ye, but yes, I had ye investigated anyway to confirm,” he replied honestly, not wanting to lie to her. She had the right to know that he already knew quite a lot about her, even if she wished to hide it all from him.
“So ye ken my faither?”
“I do.” He wondered if she was going to try and threaten him to return her to her father. It would not work on Christian, but the effort would certainly be admirable.
“Will ye return me to him?”
“I thought ye wanted to go back to Eric,” he retorted immediately, reminding her of what she had been saying.
“I would rather go back to my faither,” she whispered.
“We will see about that. Ye need to heal first.”
Once she nodded at him, he slowly stood up and stepped out of the bedchamber. Just as he had asked, Harriet was waiting right outside the door and looked at him as he walked outside.
“She is awake, Harriet. She did eat in front of me, but it would be excellent if she could eat more,” he explained, “stay with her and make sure she feels better.”
“I will do just that, me laird,” Harriet replied brightly, and Christian felt confident that she was the best person to take care of Keira. He sincerely hoped Keira could feel comfortable with her and perhaps a little at home. He needed to make sure she felt better after the treatment she had received at Gilmor Castle. That was the least he could do.
“Make sure ye keep treating her wounds and bruises. I want her to heal as quickly as possible,” he instructed Harriet, who nodded obediently.
“I will do the best I can,” she replied, and Christian was satisfied. He watched her walk inside the bedchamber and heard Keira’s soft, sweet voice as she greeted Harriet before the door closed once again.
He wished to go back in again and spend more time with her even if all he did was sit and stare. There was something about her that made him wish to do nothing more but continue looking at her just as he had been doing since yesterday while she had been asleep. It had seemed as if she had slept this peacefully after months, and a small part of Christian had been ecstatic that he was able to give her this peace.
Although he had been ignoring his responsibilities as the laird, and now Josh and his entire council were waiting for him in the hall to discuss the news of the battle. It was for the betterment of the clan, and he needed to work for his people. Keira was going nowhere, and he needed to get back to his responsibilities.
He walked downstairs until he reached the hall, and everyone looked up as he entered. His gaze immediately landed on Josh, his adopted younger brother from his gangster days. Josh had been beside him through it all, and when Christian had finally claimed his lairdship, he had asked Josh to live with him as his brother and member of the MacPherson clan. Josh was just two years younger than Christian, and the two shared an unspeakable bond.
“Ye all are here,” Christian said, addressing the men of the council. He knew they were all worried, and he could not blame them. They had all expressed his concerns to him earlier, and he had ignored each one of them since he had been worried about Keira.
“We were waiting for ye,” Josh replied and Christian nodded. He walked further and sat down in his chair.
“Have we gained enough war spoils?” he asked, trying to sort the matter of business first.
