Page 86 of Dark Seduction

“That is the plan,” Claire said pleasantly, aware of Royce now staring at her. Maybe a frontal attack wasn’t the best idea. She heaped her plate and started to quickly eat.

“Actually,” Royce said darkly, “Lady Claire misunderstands. I will escort her to Iona in the morning.”

Like hell, Claire thought furiously. Was this Malcolm’s new plan?

“Iona is a beautiful island,” Isabel said. “Will you join me in the solar after we eat? I am almost finished with my needlepoint. I have a tapestry I wished to start, but you can begin it if you want.”

Claire looked at her blankly. She was not going to Iona with Royce; she was going to Dunroch with Malcolm. “Actually, I don’t sew.”

Isabel looked at her as if she had the plague. “You cannot sew?”

“I’m afraid not,” Claire said. She returned to her food, eating as fast as she could. Chairs were pushed back. Royce was pouring himself wine, but Malcolm was stalking from the hall. She took one more bite, preparing to run after him.

Royce seized her wrist. “Ye’ll be his death,” he warned in English.

“I thought we were friends,” Claire cried.

“I like ye well enough. But ye ha’ the power to turn him to evil, Claire, an’ I willna allow it.” His gray eyes blazed.

In that moment, Claire felt his authority. This man was a Master who could leap time, taking life if he so chose, and had other powers she had yet to comprehend. She had crossed the line and he was not her ally now. But at least he intended to protect Malcolm from the dark.

Still, Claire did not like his attitude. “Take your hand off me,” she warned. “And I mean it.”

His eyes widened.

Claire thought about taking her Taser and giving him a damn good shock.

Royce’s expression tightened and he released her. “Ye be ready to leave at dawn. Ye go to Iona, whether ye wish it or nay.”

Claire knew a threat when she heard one. “I guess you’ll have to knock me out the way Aidan did last night. I also suggest you tie me up. I do not follow your orders.” She stood, furious now, while Royce looked even angrier and taken aback. If he was expecting a meek and docile medieval wench, he had another think coming.

Claire strode across the hall in the direction Malcolm had gone. Her anger actually felt good. Anger, she realized, was empowering; fear and doubt were not. She was going to cling to it.

Malcolm was heading for the stables. For one moment she watched his back, all anger vanishing. She was afraid he was leaving, then and there. He disappeared into the stables. Claire lifted the calf-length brat and broke into a run.

He was saddling up his gray stallion as she burst into the stone-and-timber barn. “You cannot be leaving.”

He faltered, his strong hands on the animal’s leather girth. His back rigid with tension, he did not look over his shoulder at her. “I dinna want ye here. There is nothing more t’ say.”

“There’s plenty more to say!” Claire cried, and she almost shouted, I love you.

She breathed hard, hoping he hadn’t heard her.

He slowly faced her, looking just as taken aback as she felt. Hoarsely, he said, “Why canna ye ken? Ye’ll be safe at the abbey.”

He had heard her. “I understand that you are trying to protect me. But who will protect you?” she asked roughly.

He was aghast. “Ye canna protect me!”

Claire dared to reach out and touch his face. He jerked away. “Iona is a temporary solution—but it’s no solution at all. You are important to me. I can’t let you face Moray alone, Malcolm. I have to help. Your soul is at stake.”

He shook his head. “Ye’ll be my downfall, Eve to my Adam. Ye willna help, ye can only hurt. An’ if I dinna hurt ye, Moray will.”

That was one irrefutable point, she thought, but she was willing to take the chance. “I won’t lie,” she managed to say thickly, “not that it’s even remotely possible with you eavesdropping on my thoughts. I am scared, but not of you. Even though that sexual animal last night is scary as all hell, he’s a part of you—and I trust you, Malcolm.” She tried to smile at him.

He smiled cruelly back. “And will ye trust me when the sun goes down? Will ye trust me now, if I tell ye I am thinkin’ not about yer words, but your hot, wet body an’ yer powerful life? I meant what I said earlier, Claire. I can still feel ye in my veins and ye dinna ken the power it gave me—or the lust.”

She flinched, but her heart picked up a terrible different beat. Her skin began to tingle. An aching began, purely physical, purely sexual. “You are trying to scare me. Are you also entrancing me?”