Page 72 of Highland Ruse

Delilah found herself in the confidential quiet of Kaid’s chamber once more. The spicy scent of him lingered in the air, declaring everything his, from the ornately carved chairs before the fire to the massive bed.

It was the bed which constantly drew her attention.

There was something very intimate about being in a place where a man lived, where he slept.

Her gaze flicked toward the bed.

Where he loved.

She tried not to let her heart wince at the last thought.

“Our plan needs to be a quick one.” Her voice seemed almost too loud for the comfortable silence in the room.

Good. She needed the distraction from the thoughts of the innocent kiss she’d bestowed upon him the last time she was here, and how she’d wanted so much more.

But now was not for loving. Now was for war.

For saving the MacLeods from another massacre.

Her gaze shifted from the bed to the shuttered windows where the night loomed black beyond.

Kaid stood close to her. She could sense the nearness of his body against her back.

Delilah forged her resolve into iron before she turned to face him. “It was Lady Elizabeth’s father who paid me to stand in her place. He knows nothing of you—only that MacKenzie has enemies who might use Elizabeth as a means to get at him.”

She didn’t mention Sylvi or Liv, or even the other girls who had not come on the journey—there was no need. Keeping their secrets was the least she could do for them after this incredible betrayal.

“But Lady Elizabeth is still traveling toward MacKenzie,” she continued. “We have little more than a week before she arrives at Edirdovar Castle.”

Kaid frowned. “It will take two days to reach it from here.”

“I know,” Delilah replied. “I’d done all the calculations. It’s two days for a man on a horse, but I’ll be playing a lady who rides in a carriage. The trip will take closer to three days. I’ll have to leave in the morning. If I can get there quickly, it will allow more time to find Torra. I want to be gone before the true Elizabeth arrives.”

Kaid stiffened and shifted his gaze from her.

“I dinna like it,” he said finally. “I thought we’d have more time.”

“Time would give us nothing, but a longer wait for everything to be resolved.” She was right, of course. She knew as much, and certainly he did as well.

But he stared hard at her with emotion burning bright in the blue of his eyes. “I dinna like that ye have to do this.” He stepped toward her, close enough for his body to blot out the heat of the fire and replace it with his own.

“It’s your plan.” Her voice was softer now, unintentionally so—as if her body was aware of an intimacy her mind had not yet caught.

He brushed his fingertips against her face. She closed her eyes to better revel in the caress. Her lips lifted in a coy smile. “Do you really think I’d let him hurt me?” She opened her eyes and found him staring down at her with a sad expression.

“I dinna want ye there alone. I want to be with ye.” He continued cupping her jaw and stepped close enough for her skirts to tickle against his shins.

“You know you cannot.” Delilah stared up at him, wanting him to see the truth in her words as she spoke them. “But you can trust me.”

“I do trust ye.” His thumb stroked against her cheek, and something desperate showed in his gaze. “But if something happens to ye and I’m no’ there to protect ye—”

“Nothing will happen to me.” Delilah spoke with confidence. For surely it was easy to don when the chaos of reality lay outside a closed bedroom door.

He stared down at her for a long moment before his mouth came down on hers, hungry and fierce.

Surprise only caught her for a brief moment before she let herself be drowned in the lust she’d been pushing off since their arrival at Ardvreck. She slid her fingers through the silkiness of Kaid’s hair. Their kisses were frantic with lips and tongues and teeth.

Her nipples tingled beneath her bodice with each excited brush against his chest, and the place between her legs pounded with a desperate need.