Page 2 of Highland Seduction

He’d been ignoring her since they arrived. Or attempting to, at least. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to ignore Ainsley Shaw.

He looked away. One MacRob felled by the beauty of the Shaw women was enough for his lifetime. She could be prettier than any maid in Scotland—and she was. Ainsley Shaw’s voice could sound sweeter than a siren’s, and he’d ignore her still for one simple fact.

She was a Shaw. And the only thing Tor hated more than a Shaw was the fact that his sister was now married to their laird.

When the king stood, Tor let out a sigh of relief. Finally, the king would retire. Which meant the guests could do so as well. One more sleepless night in their enemy’s lair, and on the morrow he would leave for home.

And the demons that awaited him there.

Chapter 2

The peace she’d long sought would not be found here in this hall. Not this eve.

“He was watching ye again, my lady.”

Greer had been serving at Castle Shaw since she’d been born. Ainsley counted her a friend even when she did not want her advice. Like now.

“Perhaps,” she said, knowing full well he’d been watching her. Mostly because she had been watching him. Since the moment Tor MacRob had come into their hall the day before, she’d done little else.

Ainsley had heard the rumors about MacRob’s brother. His reputation had well and truly preceded him. Even his own sister had remarked that “Tor is as likely to break hearts as skulls.” Unlike her clansmen, Ainsley had put judgment of the bride aside, even though she was a MacRob, for one reason.

She clearly made Ainsley’s brother happy.

But Broden’s happiness aside, Ainsley disliked Catlin’s brother. Hated her family. Hated that their hall crawled with MacRobs. Hated having to smile for the king, pretending she did not wish to pull a dirk from the folds of her gown and stab every last one of them. Save Catlin, who’d retired for the evening with her new husband.

Hated that Tor was as handsome as rumored.

That last one irked her most of all. She wanted all MacRobs to have horns growing from their heads. To sprout devil’s tails. ’Twould make it easier to dislike them. Instead, her brother’s intended, now wife, spoke so sweetly to her that she found it impossible to despise her on sight, making Ainsley wonder if the brothers had any redeeming qualities as well.

The MacRob laird and his second smiled and toasted and jaunted through the hall as if they were friends and allies and not hated enemies.

“Perhaps?” Greer’s tone made it clear she was not playing Ainsley’s game.

“So he was. It matters little. That jawline and his clear green MacRob eyes are fooling no one. He can purse his lips and blow a kiss to every maid in the hall, I care no’.”

“Have ye assessed his every dimple then too?”

Ainsley tore her gaze from the wretched man. “Ye know I havenae.”

“I know naught of the sort.”

Swatting her friend’s arm, she attempted to steer the conversation away from Tor MacRob for once that day. “Have all of the tarts been served?”

“Aye, my lady.”

“The jugglers given their coin?”

“Hilda has seen to it.”

“She forgets, at times,” Ainsley whispered, not wishing the chatelaine to hear. Hilda had an uncanny tendency to be everywhere at once, entering into conversations when ye least expected it. Which was what made her so good at her job. But it could be quite disconcerting too.

“She forgets, ye distract. I know ye well, Ainsley, and have rarely seen ye as flustered as this.”

“I am no’ flustered,” she insisted. Ainsley prided herself on being just the opposite. Prepared for everything, leaving naught to fate. And though she might despise each and every MacRob in this hall, she’d no’ see her brother’s wedding ruined. It was Broden’s special day, one he’d eventually chosen for himself even if it did initially come at the urging of their king.

“Do ye remember the time ye were caught in the training yard, again, and Broden escorted ye back himself? And on the way, one of the new warriors who’d come from the south waved at ye.”

Ainsley took a sip of her wine. “I remember it well. I waved back and Broden promptly knocked the man in the back of the head for looking at me.”