If that was the case, he’d have to find a way to live with it.
A clap of thunder rolled overhead and reverberated through his bones.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Lavina peeking through the narrow crack in the balcony door before she quickly pulled it back.
“Come inside,” she called. Her voice drifted on the breeze like a secret.
“Nay, thank ye,” he muttered, nestling himself deeper into his chosen spot.
He had found a cozy little nook beside the railing. In the morning light, it was hardly more than a sliver of space, but it was just enough to keep the worst of the rain from pelting his head.
“Ye cannae stay out here in the rain,” Lavina protested.
Theo shook his head and folded his arms above his head like a makeshift roof. “Nay, thank ye. If it pleases ye, I’d rather be comfortable. Besides…” His voice hardened. “I’d rather be soaked to the bone under the clouds than spend one night in a room with an accuser.”
“Accuser?” Lavina snapped, as if she were the one who had been insulted.
She pursed her lips, her temper flaring, and slammed the door shut once more.
But within seconds, it swung open again.
“Are ye seriously callin’mea liar here?”
“Well, a bee to a bonnet, lass. I’m sure the whole keep heard what ye said to me,” Theo shot back, his voice rising with frustration. “And now I’m goin’ to have to appease the council in the morning. If only ye’d just stay put…”
He dropped his arms and leaned back against the wall as the night’s events played in his mind. Lightning forked across the sky, illuminating the rolling hills in stark flashes. Rain lashed the window panes, the sound a dull roar that filled the silence.
His frustration reignited the moment his gaze fell on her again. How could she just stand there, looking the way she did—irresistible and infuriating—and not know what she was doing to him?
It wasn’t just her face or her presence. It was her scent—lavender and wildflowers, mingled with the earthiness of rain. It clung to her like a second skin and left him dizzy. Foggy. Like he’d spent the entire night drinking something far stronger than ale.
The consequences of entering that chamber now, of being alone with her, would be devastating.
He could barely contain himself as it was. If he went in there, he’d bed her within the hour. He was certain of it.
The thought sent a fresh wave of longing through him.
Lavina’s cheeks flushed red as she stepped back from the door. “And here I was,” she huffed, “feelin’ sorry for ye—havin’ to stay out in this foul weather. But ye ken what? Fine. Go on and get soaked to the bone.”
“I dinnae care. Let the storm come. I’ll nae be called a liar.”
She continued muttering under her breath as she closed the doors on him once more.
Theo glared at the barrier separating him from the warmth of his chambers. Fromher.If he wasn’t already stewing in desire, he might’ve been furious about being locked out. But the truth was, the rain was soothing. Cooling the fire raging within him.
That door? It was nothing. He could barge through it if he wanted to.
But he didn’t.
He needed the space. The fresh air. The wide open dark to clear his mind.
“Get married, they said,” he gritted out. “The lass needs a maither figure, they said.”
He scoffed bitterly. A horse would’ve made for better company.
“Would’ve been better nae to have married at all.”
Rain poured from the sky in sheets. He pulled up his collar against the cold, trying to preserve what little warmth he had left. He glared at the door, shaking his head slowly as his mind spiraled back to that fateful decision.
