Page 115 of Wedded to the Devilish Highlander
“Come on,” he urged his horse. “Get me there before she leaves, and ye’ll have all the oats ye want and a barrel of apples, too.”
All he could think about were her lips, the soft curves of her body, the way she stood up against him when he was wrong, the feel of her in his arms, how he wanted to share what he felt with her, and how she brightened his life in every way.
The castle appeared in the distance, and he felt a burst of hope. Hope that she was still there and he could apologize for hurting her. He knew he’d hurt her. They weren’t together, and it was all his fault.
A horse and cart were leaving the castle, and he pulled his steed to the side to dodge it before heading for the main gate. He stormed through and into the courtyard, looking around as if he might see her there.
He saw some horses tied to a long post, and he brought his horse up alongside them, leaping down and tying the reins to the post. He ran for the first entrance he could find and burst into McFair Castle.
He didn’t remember the last time he was there, and he barely remembered this time as he ran through the halls, shouting Eileen’s name.
“Eileen! Eileen Kilmartin!”
People stopped and looked at him as if he were a madman—which he might as well be. They would call the guards at some point, but he didn’t care about that.
“Eileen! Eileen!”
He skidded to a halt, realizing how foolish he was not to stop and simply ask. He heard booted steps behind, and when he turned around, three guards were marching toward him. He strode straight for them.
Archer didn’t care if they threw him in the dungeons, as long as they conveyed his message.
“Laird MacLennan?” asked a familiar voice.
“Reid,” Archer said as the scarred man skirted around the guards.
“What are ye doin’ here?”
“Has she left yet?”
“Left? Who?”
Who else would I be talkin’ about!
“Eileen,” Archer pressed. “Ye cannae let her go to O’Gunn.”
“What are ye talkin’ about?” Reid frowned.
It was then that Archer realized what had happened. He smiled as he thought about Ivy back at the castle, laughing at him.
“I was tricked,” he scoffed as he realized that Eileen was not on her way to O’Gunn Castle, after all. “I need to speak to Eileen.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Reid said. He motioned for the guards to leave them. “Ye hurt her when ye let her leave.”
“I ken,” Archer mumbled. “I should never have let her leave, and I ken that now. She needs to ken that as well. She might hate me—and she has every right to—but I need to say me piece.”
“Ye have that right after what ye did for both of us,” Reid said. “Go down that hallway”—he pointed over Archer’s shoulder—“and ye’ll find the solar. Wait there for her.”
“Thank ye.”
Archer left in one direction and Reid in the other.
When he found the solar, it was not all that different from the one in his castle. It was a little bigger, but just as bright with the large windows.
His conversation with his mother came flooding back like the June downpours, and everything became so obvious. It was as if there were a veil over his face, and he couldn’t see anything properly until it was lifted away.
He went to the window and looked out at the grounds beyond, the large pine trees much larger than the birch trees back home.
One important conversation with Maither before I left, and now an even more important one with Eileen.
