Page 92 of Dark Seduction

Claire stepped back, breathing hard. “I want an apology.”

He was rueful. “Aye, I be sorry.” He hesitated. “Yer a great beauty an’ I have eyes. But I ken ye love my brother an’ that ye’ll never come to me.”

Aidan started, glancing past her.

In dread, Claire turned.

Malcolm’s expression was thunderous.

Claire steeled herself for a battle. How long had he been standing there? How much had he heard? But her heart ran wild at the sight of him. “I fought at your side in the woods and I killed one demon,” she said tersely, in self-defense.

He strode over. “Ye had God’s will on yer side—that one time.” He turned a dark glare on Aidan. “I be her lord, not ye. I command her, not ye.”

Aidan said quietly, “If she’ll be alone, without ye, she’d better be able to fight.”

“Aye, an’ I’ll be the one teachin’ her,” Malcolm said flatly.

Aidan nodded. “As ye should.” He turned and walked off.

Claire slowly met Malcolm’s eyes. “You’ve changed your mind!”

Malcolm smiled, but coldly. “I am not as pigheaded as ye keep sayin’.”

If Malcolm was capable of changing his mind, there was hope for them, Claire thought. But he was still distant and upset. “What made you decide differently?”

“I dinna trust ye,” he said bluntly.

Claire flinched. “What does that mean?”

“It means ye have no respect fer my orders, fer me.”

“I respect no one as much as you!”

“I’m leavin’ ye at the abbey, but I dinna trust ye to stay put. I won’t be with ye to guard ye. Ye have the need to be able to defend yerself now—and t’ kill evil, if ye can.”

This was what Claire had wanted, but not this way, with him so angry. “Thank you.” She hesitated. “Maybe one day, you will understand that I am exactly the kind of free-thinking and independent woman I should be,” she said seriously. “Malcolm, just as you must do what you think best and right, so must I.”

His face tightened impossibly. “And is being with Aidan best fer ye?”

“How long were you watching us?”

His mouth hardened. “Long enough.”

Shit and double shit, she thought, panicking.

“Long enough to ken that ye like my bastard brother.”

“That’s not true! Not the way you mean. He’s a friend.”

“But ye bed yer friends, do ye not, Claire?” he asked. “Did he nay make ye hot?”

“How can you be jealous of Aidan!” she exclaimed.

“I’m nay jealous o’ any man.”

“I walked in on him and Isabel and it was a mistake. I didn’t stay, damn it. You make me hot!”

He shook his head, a terrible look in his eyes, and started walking away.