“Kaden!” Emily shouted, thankful that they were somewhere they would not be overheard. She knew that Kaden wouldn’t want that.
She wasn’t getting through to him.
She crawled down onto him, knowing that it was a risk. She settled atop him and pried his hands off his head. She wasn’t ready for the way he started to struggle and fight against her, but she wasn’t going to give up so easily.
She tried again, leaning down over him and using every ounce of her strength to pin his arms down. Perhaps not the very best strategy that she could have come up with, but it was something she had to try.
There was no chance of her overpowering him. So she did the only thing she could think of that would make him realize he was only having a nightmare—she kissed him.
Her lips lingered against his, even as he slowly stopped struggling, and she could have sworn that she felt the moment he woke up.
“What are ye doing?”
“Ye were having a nightmare. I was… I was… I was just trying to help.”
Kaden smirked, but didn’t meet her eyes as he spoke. “Well, feel free to wake me up like that any time ye choose.”
Emily loosened her grip and sat upright, suddenly aware that she was straddling him. Her cheeks flushed with heat, and she attempted ot remove herself, but he caught her thigh.
“I’m sorry ye had to see that.”
Emily doubted very much that it was the worst it could get. “I’m nae afraid.”
She meant it, but he didn’t seem convinced.
She reached down once more and cupped the side of his face in her hand. “I mean it,” she insisted as her thumb brushed over his cheek.
Kaden heard her, but still attempted to push her off him so that he could sit upright. “This isnae what ye signed up for. I ken that.”
“It would take a lot more than this to scare me away,” Emily declared, following him as he crawled up onto the bed and fixed the bedding. She patted the mattress for Maggie to come back up and join them. “I think Maggie was frightened for ye, and it must have triggered something in ye. I willnae judge ye for it.”
Kaden still looked distant as he settled back into the bed beside her, but he allowed her to curl up against his side. She hoped for the best, because that was all she could do as her heavy eyes drifted shut once more.
But the next morning, on the dawn of their wedding, she still woke up alone.
25
Just what was wrong with him?
Last night had been a mistake that he couldn’t allow himself to repeat. That was a line that he shouldn’t have allowed her to cross.
But lying there with her had felt so right. Now, he had to worry about what came next. He had to trouble himself with what she might be thinking and how upset she might be with him for leaving her before she had even woken up.
The sun had long since started moving across the sky when he and Peter even considered emerging from the study. Peter had summoned him this morning to give the latest report on the note that was left for him after his first time with Emily. They had little to go on, but Peter had assured him that if there were any leads, they would have been followed.
“All I am saying to ye is that ye may nae have proof that it was him, but ye daenae have proof that it wasnae either,” Peter said as he tossed his hands up.
“And if I retaliate, what happens?” Kaden huffed and sat back heavily in his chair. “As the Laird, I cannae just go around throwing accusations wherever I please.”
“And if ye are correct, then justice will be served,” Peter assured.
While the man had a point, and Kaden was more than happy to go the punish-first-and-ask-questions-later route, if he was wrong and there was a second person who posed a threat to Emily, he couldn’t take that risk.
“And if it was someone else, then today would be the perfect opportunity to make good on their threat, is it nae?” he breathed.
That was the whole threat after all—that they weren’t to get married or else.
He would know if something bad had happened to Emily while she was getting ready for their wedding. He had received word that the priest had arrived earlier this morning and had everything ready for their handfasting. He had his own clothes ready and laid out in his room. There were no unauthorized people inside the castle.
