The Lady of Clan MacKinlay (Highland Lovers Book 1) by Cecelia Mecca

Author:Cecelia Mecca [Mecca, Cecelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Altiora Press
Published: 2023-06-11T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter

Seventeen

They spotted the riding party at the same time.

“It seems we have been up here for overly long,” Avelina said.

First, she and Niall had stood in one spot, always with guards watching. They’d talked of their childhoods. Of their families. Avelina told Niall of her maid, her friends, and her fervent wish that her brother would find someone to love. His heart had become hardened since their father’s death, the carefree, young boy she remembered as a child not the one who rode toward the keep even now.

Eventually, they walked the length of the battlements, never touching, though coming close. Avelina could feel the heat of him at times. She could smell the scent that was uniquely his, one that spoke of a recent bath with the scent of sandalwood reaching her nose. They did not speak again of marriage, or even of their own relations, but instead of their pasts.

And eventually, just before the riding party appeared, their futures.

Niall had asked what Avelina had dreamed of for her future, and she’d been about to tell him that dream had been very recently altered since meeting him. But she had not, the moment passed, and they were about to be set upon by their host and Avelina’s brother.

“We should descend before he spots us,” she said.

Niall did not move however.

“You do not wish him to see us together, yet you are willing to tell your brother you wish to marry me?”

“To incur his wrath for our union, aye, I am willing to do so. But to incur it for a conversation?” She shrugged.

“Avelina,” he said just as she was about to turn toward the stone steps. His tone gave her pause. “You would truly wish to marry me? To return with me to Duncraig?”

A madness overtook her that Avelina could not explain. How long had she tried to force herself from her brother’s shadow? To define what it was, precisely, that she wished for? That dream Niall asked about? It had never been clear to her before. A husband, surely. But Avelina could not summon a man’s face in her mind. Certainly, she had never met someone to inspire an urgent desire to marry.

Until now.

Her greatest enemy.

“I do not wish to reside at Duncraig,” she admitted. “But neither do I wish to be parted from you. Or not know your kiss, or more, ever again.” Avelina surprised herself with her forthrightness. But ’twas true, and so she said it despite feeling as if she had just opened her chest and laid her heart bare to a man she barely knew.

“Do you not wish to marry for love?”

Avelina was not so naive as that. “I do not expect it.”

“Unusual for a—”

“A woman?”

“Aye.”

Avelina chose not to take offense. “Perhaps. But I am practical.” The sound of the riding party coming closer told Avelina they’d likely already been spotted here. Rushing down the stairs now would be of little use.

Neither of them moved. Avelina had surprised herself, and though she wanted to look away, she would not.

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