Page 54 of Highland Ruse

This woman was her.

Her heart swelled. She turned page after page and found new drawings, all of her.

She stopped on one where her head tilted in contemplation and her fingers lingered over her lower lip. Her skin was flawless save for the freckle, every line smooth and perfect.

He’d drawn her beautiful. The way she’d always wished she could be.

She swallowed and turned to him.

He stared at the ground and the muscles of his jaw showed in hard lines against his cheek.

“You drew me.” Delilah held up the book, though he hadn’t bothered to look up.

He remained silent.

She knelt down beside him. “Kaid.”

His gaze rose to hers, displaying the impact of her betrayal—the injury, the offense.

“Why did you draw me?” she asked.

He studied her a moment. “Because ye’re beautiful.”

Her heartbeat staggered.

He thought her beautiful enough to draw her again and again and again, the way lovers in stories did. The way real men did not.

And yet he had.

She wanted to speak, but found the words thickening in her throat. She swallowed against it. “I’m sorry.”

He smirked. “I am too.”

A distinct heat welled in her chest and rose into her cheeks. She remembered the touch of his lips to hers, the press of his body cradled between her legs, the tenderness of his stare, as if she’d been the only woman he could ever love.

If only they were different people in a different world.

His stare went hard, reminding her they were not.

“Who are you?” he asked finally.

She shouldn’t have replied, but knew herself how hard it was to wait for answers. He’d been considerate with all her questions. She would afford him the same courtesy.

“My name is Delilah.”

Donnan chuckled behind Kaid. “I dinna think that could be more fitting.”

Kaid tossed an irritated look over his shoulder.

The barb struck her deeper than she should have allowed. Their ire would not keep her from completing her task.

She looked down at the journal still clasped in her grip.

Nor would the pretense of love.

Even the suffering of Kaid’s people could not.

“You gave us the courtesy of being captured without being bound. Can I do the same?” she asked. “Will I have your word you will not run off?”