Page 33 of The Laird's Secret Bairn

“I noticed.”

“Alright, so what’s the problem? Surely, ye’re nae… Me Laird, are ye…” She studied his face, disbelief creeping into her voice. “Are ye jealous?”

The words were a slap in the face.

Jealous. Skye was accusing him of being jealous.

He wasnotjealous. He was never jealous, and certainly not of Stephen sharing an innocent, friendly moment with his betrothed. Hisfakebetrothed.

He had to remember that this was not real. But he didn’t like it.

Stephen wouldn’t do it on purpose, but Skye was a beautiful woman. Maybe he couldn’t help flirting with her.

“I daenae get jealous.”

“Ye look jealous.”

There it was again. Skye insisted that he was jealous when he wasn’t. The lass was spinning tales as wild as the ones she had written about him.

She was mistaken. He was not jealous.

Dougal Grant did not experience jealousy.

“I look like meself.” His voice was flatter than he meant it. “I daenae care for other men flirting with me betrothed. It’s as simple as that.”

“He wasnae flirting with me. He was being pleasant. There’s a difference, though I ken ye’ve forgotten how that looks on a man,” Skye quipped, holding his gaze.

Dougal took it as the challenge it was, whether she meant it or not. She would understand what it meant when she challenged him. She might come to regret it, but there was no going back now.

He stepped closer, close enough that her breath caught, the way it always did. “Meet me tonight. I’ll explain the difference meself, if ye like.”

“That sounds like an order.”

“It is a request.” A pause. “Poorly delivered, perhaps, but a request nonetheless.”

Skye searched his face, some war playing out behind her eyes that he couldn’t name and didn’t try to. Finally, she nodded, short and quick, before hurrying back toward the game.

He had expected her to say no. He had expected her to pull away, shocked and disgusted at what he was saying. But she had done neither.

She lookedexcited.

Anxious, yes, but the excitement was there.

Dougal couldn’t forget the look in her eyes. It tempted him. Made him want to touch her the way he had touched her the other night.

He watched her go, his jaw tight, cursing himself the whole while.

Whatwaswrong with him?

He never should have made such a request, but she needed to understand what he meant. Skye was going to understand what it meant when she pushed him too far and flirted with other men right in front of him.

It wasn’t something he took lightly.

Eventually, he returned to his study and went straight to the desk, rifling through his papers. He was trying to distract himself and failing miserably. The more he searched through his papers, the louder his thoughts became.

Stephen found him minutes later, grinning like a man who’d seen entirely too much. “Lily’s never laughed so hard at a game. Ye should be pleased. I think ye should make this a yearly event. She loves it so much.”

“I am pleased,” Dougal responded.