Page 8 of Wedded to the Devilish Highlander
Archer grabbed her by the upper arms and firmly pressed her to the ground, giving her just enough of a knock to let her know he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
She looked up at him, the anger in her eyes flaring for a moment before turning into resignation. She breathed heavily through her nose.
“Reid Kilmartin. He came to speak with ye. We havenae heard a word from him ever since. Where is he?”
Archer blinked in surprise, pressing his knees further into the ground to stop her useless squirming. “Reid’s yer braither?”
“Aye,” she said softly, her eyes welling with tears.
He knew of Reid Kilmartin, the youngest son of the late Laird McFair.
Tilly, Erica, Olivia, and Eileen Kilmartin—Tavish’s daughters.
Archer recalled his mother’s incessant nagging, her tone no less echoing through the far-off corners of his memory.
The McFair women were renowned across the Highlands, tales of their beauty traveling farther than they ever would know. Tilly, the eldest, was already married. As was Erica. He vaguely remembered his mother saying that either Olivia or Eileen was spoken for as well—perhaps also wed already, but he couldn’t recall.
But which Kilmartin daughter is currently pinned beneath me? Her skin is like freshly poured cream in the sunlight, dotted with the most delicate freckles like specks of gold, visible evenbeneath the hood. With her youthfulness, I’d wager good coin on her bein’ the youngest of them.
Archer inhaled deeply. “I told ye the truth last night. I havenae seen or heard from Reid, oranyMcFair, since last winter,” he said plainly. “Ye’re welcome to search me castle and the dungeons below.”
“Aye, ye’ll let me look in yer dungeons?” the woman asked.
“I’ve nothin’ to hide,” Archer said, furrowing his brow.
Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. “That cannae be. He left days ago. Headed straight here.”
Archer studied her closely. “And what, pray, was he comin’ here for? Unannounced, as it were?”
She lifted her chin but stayed silent.
His eyes traced the lines of her face. Her pulse fluttered in her neck, just over the collar of her tunic, and he let out a soft chuckle. “Ye followed him dressed like that?”
“Ihadto.”
“Ye dressed like that to sneak out of yer castle,” Archer noted.
“Aye,” she said, looking to the side.
She couldn’t hold his gaze, and it was not because she was afraid of him.
Something in his chest shifted. He didn’t want to admire her bravery. He didn’t want to notice the way the shadows caught in the strawberry blonde curls slipping free of her hood or how her cheeks were dusted with freckles he’d like to trace with his thumb.
As if sensing his struggle, she writhed again fruitlessly. “Get off me this instant!”
But he didn’t move.
“Tell me why Reid left for MacLennan,” Archer said again, his voice menacingly low and commanding.
The woman swallowed hard before she sucked in her upper lip and blew an errant strand of hair from her eye.
He pulled her hands up over her head and clasped her wrists together tightly, his thighs pinning her in place.
“Because O’Gunn announced—quite publicly—that he intended to marry me,” she huffed, every word dripping with bitterness. “Me family willnae be able to outright refuse without riskin’ war, which I believe is by design.”
“O’Gunn wishes to marry ye?” Archer asked, confused.
“Aye, and Reid rode for MacLennan to learn if there was somethin’… anythin’ that we could use to deny him without fallin’ into his trap.” Her eyes flickered, softening slightly. “Reid went to find a way to keep me safe.”
