Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“ T hey’re here.” Ava looked out of the window of her father’s castle, watching as the party of horses approached.

Kai said nothing. He was sitting a short distance away, staring blankly into some of the pinecone boughs that had been hung from the ceiling.

Ava fixed him with a gaze, wishing she had the ability to read his emotions as he could read hers.

Since they had parted from the croft that morning, everything had changed between them. She’d woken to find him no longer holding her, but out with the horses, tending to them and feeding them. Neither one of them had said a word about what had passed between them, the embrace, the stolen touches, even the taunting conversation full of restraint. They had exchanged awkward and quiet conversation all day as they arrived at the castle.

“Kai?” Ava called to him. “They’re here. We’ll have tae greet them and show them tae dinner.”

Kai nodded and stood, gesturing to show he would follow her out of the room. Ava bit her lip as she led the way. Kai was nothing like his usual smiling self. He was almost a shell of the man he usually was.

In the entrance hall of the castle, decked with mistletoe and holly berries, Ava stood fidgeting constantly as Kai remained beside her, as still as stone. When the steward opened the door, the whole party walked in, rubbing their hands and bemoaning the cold beyond the doors.

“Oh, it’s freezing out there,” Thora declared, the first to arrive as she rushed in, embracing Ava then Kai. “Goodness, I’m glad tae be here. Could see meself smiling all day fer want of this moment.”

“Dae I smell our dinner, Ava?” Laird Finley MacKinnon asked as he walked in, kicking snow off his boots and embraced his daughter.

“Aye. Lyla is in the great hall now waiting fer us,” Ava nodded in the direction of the door. Finley led the way, with Kai and Thora following closely behind. Laird Grant moved toward Ava and offered up his hand.

Remembering that he was the man she was supposed to be seducing, not Kai, she placed her hand in his. He lifted it to his lips and kissed the back, maintaining the connection of their gaze at all times.

“Good day tae ye, Ava.”

“Good day.” She forced a smile. “Ye must be hungry.” She looped her arm with his own, touching him softly as he removed his cloak. “Let me escort ye tae our dinner.”

As Ava walked into the room, she felt Laird Grant’s other hand come up around her. He placed it to her lower back, rather possessively. He pulled out her chair in a gentlemanly way for her so she could sit. She carefully left her fingers on his arm as she sat, only looking away when he took the seat beside her.

On the opposite side of the table, Lyla and Thora were talking together in low voices, but Kai was watching Ava as if his body had been set on fire. His face was bright red, and he was breathing heavily.

What just happened?

“Well, let’s eat!” Finley declared, tucking into the roast hog before them.

Kai marched through the castle. He was determined to get back to his chamber and hide in there, to forget the awful evening and the awkward conversation over dinner. It had been painful to watch Thora and Lyla’s attempts to make easy conversation across their group, when Kai refused every attempt, unable to stop watching Laird Grant and Ava together.

Ava had been an expert in seduction, talking low with Laird Grant and touching him at every available opportunity.

“God, I feel sick,” Kai muttered as he reached for a spiral staircase set within a wall of the castle. He was about to climb up when he heard a clash of metal. A grunt quickly followed it, and Kai spun around. He knew that sound. It was followed by a breathy gasp, then another clash of metal.

It was Ava. Those were the sounds she made when she was fighting.

Kai followed the noise, reaching for a door nearby and opening it wide.

It was the sparring room at the back of the castle. In the middle, stood Ava. She was wearing a tight-fitting kirtle and skirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a slit in the skirt allowing her to move quickly as she lunged and drove the sword into a block of wood which had been stood on end as her opponent. The first few moves were practiced, even expert in their technique, then she seemed to lose her temper and just thrust the sword with a loud grunt into the wood. It was such a sharp movement that the candles nearby all flickered.

“I wonder who ye are imagining is that block of wood tonight?” His question startled her.

“Och! Me heart!” She spun around, looking in danger of falling over. “How long have ye been there?”

“Nae long.” He walked in, being careful to close the door behind him. “Ye look as if ye could dae with a sparring partner. Are ye in need of distracting yerself from this evening?”

“Aye. Very much. Pick up a weapon.” She gestured to the rack full of swords.

He could have chosen the broadest and heaviest sword there, but he knew their fight would be over too quickly then. Wanting to draw it out, he chose something smaller and lither, then walked toward her.

“Was I the block of wood?” he asked, standing before her and lifting the blade an inch.

“Maybe. I didnae like the way ye were glaring all night.”

“I wasnae glaring.”

“And this isnae a sword,” she said with full irony then lunged toward him.

Their conversation was lost for a minute in quick parrying. Each way she tried to get the blade close to him, he managed to block. He let her have the upper hand for a minute, then started to advance forward. She was forced to back up, her leg being increasingly revealed through the slit in a skirt in a way that proved too distracting. She nearly caught him as he leaned back.

They both halted, with Ava smiling in victory.

“One point tae me?” she said smiling.

“It’s the only point ye’ll get.” He lunged forward first this time. She kept aiming up high, allowing him to shift the thin blade black and forth with ease. Rather than moving forward on this occasion, he moved them to the side, so they began to circle around one another. Then the opportunity presented itself to get a point. She pulled her hand too far out to the side, allowing him to turn his blade inward and flick it up her sleeve.

“Kai!” she said in alarm. He hadn’t caught her skin but had cut a perfect tear through the sleeve up to her shoulder, flashing more of her pale skin.

“Perfect.” He stood there victoriously. “I think that’s a point tae me. Now we are even.”

“Ye…” She marched toward him purposefully. Forced to back up, he quickly raised the blade again.

Their movements were even quicker now. He blocked a blow near his face, then his shoulder, and his hip. She seemed too caught up in the fury that he had ripped her dress to concentrate on her skill, allowing him another opportunity. When she put her leg out to the side, he caught the skirt with the blade, drawing that slit so it was now cut all the way up to her hip.

“Stop ruining me clothes!” she hissed, jumping away from him. Her whole leg was on show, and her beautiful hip. The carving of muscle in her leg was making Kai feel completely breathless.

He wanted to yell at her to forget Blair Grant. Why couldn’t they just do this instead? Just be them?

“This wasnae supposed tae happen,” she complained loudly, though she was also smiling.

“Ye and I both ken ye feel more at home sparring with me than ye dae anywhere else.”

“That may be the case, but ye dinnae need tae cut all me clothes away as we dae it.”

“Mmm, tempting,” he murmured.

She launched herself at him. He had been too distracted staring at her hip and thigh to notice. This time, she got a point from him, managing to cut a rip through the sleeve of his shirt. It went all the way to his chest, revealing a flash of his right peck. “Oh, I…” She trailed off, her eyes tarrying on the skin there.

“Like what ye see, Ava?”

“Dinnae dae that.” She warned, raising the sword between them. They began to circle one another again. “Ye and I agreed we were nae tae talk like this.”

“Aye, we did.” He nodded, reluctant, yet also enjoying this easy atmosphere between them. It was heated, full of spark, excitement, and also laughter. “Maybe we should just talk like this instead.”

He moved toward her with the blade. She backed up, but not quick enough. They were parrying once again, some quick strikes, other longer blows. He was the first one to get another rip on her clothes, managing to put another slit in her skirt. In irritation, she thrust back, managing a rip in the other arm of his shirt. His returning blow cut up the center of her kirtle, so some of the laces were torn open, revealing the curve of her breasts.

“There, that’s better,” he said with satisfaction, stepping back as if his work was done.

“Kai!” She spun around in the middle of the room. “If I didnae ken any better, I’d say ye were trying tae undress me.” When he just raised his eyebrows at her, she looked ready to throw the sword at him. He ducked out of the way just in case and burst out laughing.

“See? This is what I love,” he said through his laughter.

“How easy and natural it has always been between us? Or the excitement?”

“Or both?” he said. Maybe it was the wine making his tongue loose or the excitement of having so much of Ava on show to him, but the words slipped from him. She smiled, the sweetest smile he had ever seen from her. It made him raise his blade between them again.

“What’s that fer this time?” She nodded toward it.

“Tae stop me from closing the distance between us.”

“Oh, what are ye doing tae me?” She turned away and discarded the sword. “Enough, Kai.”

“Enough what?”

“Enough fun. Enough laughter and smiles, enough… this.” She waved a hand between them and tried to reset some of her dress, covering her legs and her breasts. “I like it all, more than I should.”

“I dinnae understand the problem with liking it.” Kai longed for her to turn back to face him again, to look up at him with those hazel eyes that seemed to follow him everywhere, even into his heated dreams. She seemed most determined not to look at him now. She hung her head, adjusting her clothes as much as possible

“Ava…”

“What?” she said in clear irritation. The laughter was gone now. It had vanished from the room swiftly, as if a strong wind had buffeted it away. He moved toward her, driving his sword down so that the tip rested in the notched wooden floor, pockmarked from where so many blades had done the same before. “Dinnae come close tae me.”

“Why nae? Last night, in the croft –”

“Dinnae speak of it!” She looked up sharply, their eyes meeting as he halted in front of her. “I… I cannae bear it, Kai.”

“Ah, I see.” Kai felt as if she had ripped open his gut. It didn’t matter to her, did it? Not in the way it mattered to him. Maybe this was momentary excitement to her, but it was not deep. It was not the longing and sheer desperation that he had for her, wishing to feel her body against his own, to hear her moan and breathe heavily in his ear as he made her reach dizzying spells of pleasure. No, that was all in his own mind. “Aye, I understand.” He dropped his eyes to the floor and backed up from her.

“Kai?”

“Ye’ve made yerself clear.” He turned on his heel, ready to leave the room. He adjusted his shirt as he reached for the door, only she reached the door first. Out of nowhere, she appeared before him. Her sword was gone as she stood there, the gown barely covering her at all. The glimpse of hip, her thighs on show, even in the inner curves of her breasts he could just see were making him as hard as a rock in his trews. “Step aside, Ava. If ye dinnae want me tae say or dae anymore, then ye will let me pass now.”

“But…” She closed her eyes. For one awful second, she looked in pain. “Kai, I never want ye tae go.” Her voice was breathy. It was like a stolen confession, something special, something she had not meant to say from the way she screwed her eyes up tight.

Kai moved toward her. Without thinking, he laid a hand to the back of her neck. It was possessive, but still soft. He didn’t pull her into him but used it to angle her head to the side. He placed his lips to her neck, not quite kissing her, but inhaling the scent of her, breathing heavily in her ear as he traced a path from her ear to her collarbone with the barest brush of his lips.

“Kai,” she whispered, her hands closing around the loose and torn folds of his shirt.

“Ye want this,” he murmured in realization, feeling how tight she held onto him. “Ye want me too.”

“Ye ken we cannae dae this. Me path is so different now. Laird Grant–” Her mention of that man’s name was like a bolt through the air. Kai lifted his head, no longer touching her. Slowly, her fingers dropped from his shirt.

Kai’s heart ached as he reached for the door handle behind her, ready to leave.

“Dinnae go like this,” she pleaded.

“There’s nothing more tae say then, is there?” He had to avoid looking her in the eye, or he might just break down and plead with her to give him just one kiss, to make all the dreams he’d had for years come true, so he could feel her lips against his. “Goodnight, Ava.”

“Nay…” Yet she couldn’t stop him. Kai slipped out of the room. As he walked back to his chamber, there was one thing on his mind that he could not let go of.

Whatever had taken place in that room, whatever it was Ava had felt for him, it wasn’t just momentary attraction. Ava felt something deeper for him after all.