Page 52 of Hunted By the Hard Highlander

Her eyes never left him. Her gaze was impossibly soft, and she was wearing the kind of expression that told him she understood the gift he was giving her. In fact, he suspected she understood more than she would ever let on.

Her battles were nae on a smaller scale, and they were nay less important. She feels her losses just as acutely.

“Aye,” Hendry confirmed, his hand tightening into a fist on his knee. He held her unblinking gaze, refusing to shy away from the reality of the world they were living in, the conditions that he had been forced to operate under. “Every survivor came to the mountains, leavin’ their homes, fields, and memories behind. So many hated me for abandonin’ the village. Even more hated me for splittin’ up families and movin’ them into this old castle.”

“They have the luxury of dwellin’ on their emotions,” Aurora said, immediately understanding his plight better than anyone else ever had. He almost expected it when he felt the invisible connection between them digging in even deeper. “Ye had to think about how to keep as many of them alive as possible. They only saw that ye were pullin’ them from their homes.”

“Some of them understood,” Hendry said, his eyes drifting to the window. He swallowed around the pain of the loss, still as raw as when it had first happened. He had simply gotten better at maneuvering around it. “Others still daenae like what I have done. But they helped construct this cabin. They respect the herbs that I tend. And they ken that from now on, nay one in clan Anderson will die for lack of medicine again.”

She was quiet, her lips turned downward as she considered his words. In her lap, she clasped her hands together, looking down at them as if she expected them to hold answers she did not have. He watched her, waiting, for what, he was not sure.

“Those who obeyed me,” he said after a beat when the silence threatened to stretch too far between the two of them, “they are the ones who survived.” His eyes were locked on her, holding her emerald gaze. He shifted his stance, pushing away the vulnerabilities that had pushed themselves to the surface. “Will ye keep obeyin’ me now?”

“I daenae ken if I will,” she said, the corner of her mouth tugging upward. She had transitioned just as easily, turning his warning, what could have been construed as a desperate plea, into a challenge.

He knew that he should have expected it from her.

Henry moved toward Aurora then, stepping so far into her space that he could feel the heat coming off of her. Her head leaned back, maintaining eye contact with him almost stubbornly. He could see her pulse fluttering just beneath her skin, calling to him like a forbidden fruit.

“I was tryin’ to keep them alive,” he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. His tone dipped lower, scraping his bottom register. “I am tryin’ to keep ye alive. Do ye understand, lass?”

Her breath caught, and her eyes widened. She opened and closed her mouth, stopping to swallow as if her tongue was suddenly too big for her own mouth. Then, she murmured, “I… Only…”

“Will ye obey?” he asked, leaning forward to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “That is what I am askin’ ye, Aurora.”

The action was impulsive, a touch that he had not intended on giving that had forced itself into being anyway. He could not explain even to himself what had prompted it. Even still, his hand lingered by her cheek. His body was so close to hers, all it would take to press himself flush against her would be a single step.

As if prompted by his treacherous mind, his other hand reached forward, his palm lying flat against her waist. He was weak to her, unable to stop it even if he truly wished to. A shudder ran through her, and she pitched forward, her lips parted. He felt himself drifting into her space, drawn closer to her like they were two magnets drawn helplessly to one another.

This lass has always been trouble.

* * *

Aurora could not think straight, her thoughts swirling around uselessly in her mind as she tried to reorient herself within the current moment. Every single nerve in her body was focused on the place where Hendry was touching her, his palm warm and strong. Steady.

She wanted it to roam, to pull her in closer.

“What…” she began, her mouth and throat drier still. She swallowed around it once more, overly aware of the way Hendry’s eyes tracked the movement, her face heating up even further. She was being examined, and she did not have the first idea of how to get herself away from the scrutiny. “What do ye want of me… me Laird?”

When his hand tightened on her hip, a sound that was almost embarrassing slipped through her lips without her permission. If it had not been for the answering, low, animalistic noise from his throat, she might have wished for the floor to swallow her whole. Instead, she let the gap between them close, let herself be pulled against him, feeling the muscular press of his form against her own softer one.

Saints, I forgot just how strong he is.

“All of ye,” Hendry growled before he surged forward, capturing her mouth in a heated, hungry kiss without any further warning.

This time, his lips against hers were so much more insistent, so much more desperate than their last kiss. It was as though he had been holding himself back for longer than they had even known each other. She felt the weight of his unspoken request, understood that he was offering her a part of his soul that no one else had ever seen.

Aurora’s hands came up, grabbing hold of his shoulders to anchor herself in the moment. If she had not, she worried that she would float away with just how sharp the levity in her chest was. She kissed him back just as hard, just as enthusiastically, letting her body tell him all of the things that she did not know how to say with words yet. She felt as if she could not get enough of him.

She knew that she would never get enough of him.

Without breaking the contact, he turned them around smoothly, walking Aurora toward the cot in the corner of the cabin closest to the hearth. When her calves hit the frame, he lowered her onto the edge. Then, he knelt in front of her, his hand drifting down from her waist to her ankle.

Her breath hitched when she felt his touch against her bare skin, the callused pad of his finger rubbing against previously untouched flesh. They parted from their kiss, only giving themselves a few millimeters of space. It was enough that they could meet each other’s half-lidded eyes, see the evidence of the other’s unspoken lust and desire. The shared air between them seemed to only grow warmer with the intensity of her need. Her eyes fluttered open and closed, struggling to meet the intensity of his own heated, sultry gaze.

“Hendry…” she said, her voice broken with emotion. “I…”

“Aurora,” he said, the sound of his voice sending a shiver of anticipation down her spine. It was a promise and a warning all at once, and she wanted every bit of the danger it would bring.