Scot to the Touch (The Hots for Scots #7) - Caroline Lee Page 0,11

last for very long, but the haunted beats seemed to be coming from…from the walls?

She and Davina both turned to frown at the stone wall covered in tapestries, even as the drumming faded into nothingness.

Those who hear him are doomed.

Doomed to fall in love?

Katlyn exchanged incredulous looks with her sister, but Davina’s expression quickly changed to disbelief, then irritation. She clucked her tongue and shook her head. “I ken what ye’re thinking, but ‘tis fanciful.”

“If the rumors are correct, ye’re doomed to fall in love, Vina,” Kat pointed out. “Why no’ hope Kiergan is the one ye fall in love with, to satisfy everyone?” Including ye, she wanted to point out, but held her tongue.

Instead of accepting the offer, Davina frowned fiercely, clutching the pillow on her lap. “I dinnae need a ghost to help me fall in love, Kat! I ken my duty, and I ken my heart too!” With that, she slammed the pillow atop her head and fell backward against her pillow. The words, “Now, leave me alone!” came out muffled from under the wool stuffing.

With a sigh, Kat stood up, her hands going to her hips as she watched her sister roll back over in a huff. Davina seemed to be cozy enough under several blankets and the pillow atop her head, and all Kat could see of her was her blonde braid.

She didn’t want to marry a groom of Grandda’s choosing? But…but that was the whole point of being a woman, was it not?

First, be born, preferably pretty, without eldritch devil-cursed eyes.

Second, manage to survive childhood, despite the best attempts of auges, maladies, and tall things to fall off of.

And finally, be given in marriage by a well-meaning guardian to secure alliances or get interesting stuff, like sheep. The more sheep, the more valuable a woman.

Right?

Right. At least, that’s what Katlyn had been told her whole life. And because she’d managed the first—halfway at least—and the second, it meant that not being able to complete the third hurt all the more.

Oh, wait, ye forgot the fourth.

And the fourth step: Lots and lots of sex.

Aye, that’s how she could become a true woman.

And Kiergan would be the one to help ye.

She stared down at her sister, thinking over Davina’s words. If Vina absolutely didn’t want to marry Kiergan, then it wouldn’t be disloyal to attempt what she was considering, would it? In fact, Kat could argue she was actually helping Davina’s argument.

Look, she cannae possibly marry him because he’s a womanizer. And how do I ken that? Because he used that tongue of his to bring me indescribable pleasure.

Oh my.

Just the thought of being able to say those words made her knees weak, and Kat had to press a hand against her lips to keep from whimpering.

Stumbling backward, Kat shut her eyes tight. Sitting beside him tonight only proved how absolutely magnetic he was. She’d been hard-pressed not to touch Kiergan repeatedly, knowing the way her body reacted to him.

I’m going to go to him. I’m going to lose my virginity to him.

And no matter what happens after, at least she’d know she wouldn’t die having never felt a man’s touch.

But how? How was she supposed to go to him?

At supper, he’d mentioned his chamber—and those of his brothers who still lived in the castle—were on this level of the building. So if she could manage to slip out of the room, she was fairly certain she could find him. But the corridors would surely be patrolled, and all she needed was one rumor to reach Grandda about Katlyn slipping around in her chemise and the shite would hit the windmill.

Chewing on her lower lip, Kat began to pace. The chamber they’d been given wasn’t as spacious as their room back home, but it still held all the necessities, including a large tub the housekeeper had sent up upon their arrival. There was a table, and their trunk the carriage had carried from the MacKinnon keep, and even hooks on the wall for their gowns.

But ‘twas the walls which were most impressive: they—and most of the rest of Oliphant Castle—were covered in beautiful tapestries. And apparently, were haunted.

‘Twas hard to believe something covered in such lovely tapestries could be cursed by a ghost. Kiergan had mentioned his sister Nessa liked to embroider, but ‘twas clear, sometime in the past, a Lady Oliphant had excelled in weaving as well, for these were lovely.

However, they didn’t help Katlyn now.

Scowling up at the ornate scene depicting a unicorn fighting