Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,64
saying was important. But he didn’t want to waste any more time with her thinking about her uncle. He didn’t care about the steward. He only cared about her. He should have fought this sooner. The first time he saw her on the cliffs. He should have let her ride with Mac, but why put his friend through it? He should not have ridden with her until she could ride on her own. He’d allowed her to crawl under his skin while he watched her pray and when he fought others for her life and left ten dead. He should have pushed her away when his heart stirred for her, awakening when she refused to leave three hungry children in a village.
He never should have kissed her.
But he wasn’t sorry for any of it.
“Captain?”
He smiled at her and then blinked out of it. “Aye?”
“You have not heard a word I have said.”
It was true. He couldn’t deny it. “I was rememberin’…”
“Remembering what?” she pressed.
“When I first laid eyes on ye, and all the days after that. They were too pleasant to leave fer thoughts of John.”
She tossed him a wistful smile. “Aye, I think of those things often.”
He frowned and looked away at the castle looming closer.
“Speak plainly please,” she said.
Before he could stop himself, the words left his mouth, rolled off his tongue. “Fergive me, but if ye are goin’ to be a nun, I dinna think there should be any doubt—or any need of time to think aboot it.”
“There were no doubts before you!” she insisted.
He cast her a regretful side glance and opened the castle doors. “Bring Daffodil to my chambers,” he called to the children and then watched them race up the stairs.
He didn’t care who saw him with Silene. She’d soon be a nun and that would be the end of everything.
“I will be ootside yer door, ready to escort ye to the church.”
“Nay. I do not think ’tis a good idea. You know you are a temptation to me, yet you always insist on being at my side.”
“My desires…and yers dinna come before yer safety.”
“I will be safe going to church, Captain.”
Aha. He was back to being Captain.
“I do not want to see you.”
“Verra well,” he said, sounding like a hammer coming down on an anvil. “Ye willna see me.”
Silene stared at the purple gown folded neatly on her bed. She wanted to try it on. Just one more time before she gave it away. Perhaps it would fit Louise.
She only had a few moments left before she was expected at the church. She left the gown where it was and dressed in her habit. She looked at the door. Was he out there waiting to escort her? She wiped her eyes for the hundredth time. She wasn’t doing this for her uncle anymore. She was doing it to keep her and Galeren alive. And though that was a serious reason indeed, it wasn’t the right one.
She opened her chamber door. He wasn’t there or down any of the halls. She walked, alone, out of the castle and into the late afternoon sun. She looked around at the village and the surrounding structures and trees, all cast in a soft, summer glow. It calmed her racing heart.
When she stepped through the inner gate, someone took her wrist. She turned, expecting to see Galeren.
“Uncle,” she muttered and then pulled her wrist free. “Have you come to make certain I reach the church safely?”
“Of course,” he said with a grin. “I need ye.”
“Aye, ye do,” she agreed with a knot twisting in her belly. She meant nothing to him.
“Now that we have a moment, I would like to ask you if you have seen my parents.”
He regarded her with a wry gleam in his eyes. “I was with them last month. I have taken good care of them in yer name, gel. Ye are a blessin’ to them.”
She smiled. “How is Sherman, our Spaniel? He was just a pup when I left.”
Her uncle nodded. “The dog is well, accordin’ to yer sister. He still hunts and was oot when I arrived.”
Silene closed her eyes to keep from screaming at him. He was lying. Her family didn’t own a dog named Sherman. Her uncle was her enemy. She doubted that he had visited her parents at all.
“I wish you and I could have had more time to visit and get to know each other, my lord.”