“I do not fear your father,” he said.
The silence on the other side of the door frayed his nerves and sliced at his composure.
He leaned closer to the door. “I want to see you, Seona. Ineedto see you.” He had thought of naught but her during the past few days. ’Twas why he’d spent two days searching for Haldane… to keep her safe from the knave.
“Seona?” He didn’t want to try the knob and enter without an invitation, but she sore tempted him to do just that. With his luck, she’d barred the door.
What seemed to him a long while later—though it could have been seconds—the door opened. Seona’s tear-filled, dark blue eyes tore at his soul and stirred his protective instincts. He pushed his way inside the door and closed it back.
“Nay,” she whispered, backing away. “You cannot come in here.” Though her words were quiet, they were intense, her eyes wide but reddened from crying. “What if Aunt Patience should see you?”
“Seona, why are you suddenly so distraught? Tell me why you said what you did.” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words, for he couldn’t imagine never seeing her again. Never touching her. Never kissing her.Nay.Such thoughts were likedagger stabs to his heart.
“I told you,” she said. “My father is a cruel and brutal man. If he finds out we have talked and kissed and… other things, I fear he will kill you.” She closed her eyes and tears ran down her cheeks.
At the moment, he didn’t care if his life was in danger. All he wanted was to see Seona, to touch her, to hold her.
“He is not here,” Keegan said.
“Nay, but his sister is. Aunt Patience will tell him everything. She was spying on us. She saw you give me the bluebells.”
This was all caused by the bluebells?Saints!Lady Patience was a she-devil.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “What matters is—”
“Nay. I cannot see you or talk to you,” Seona insisted. “You have to leave.”
Keegan’s chest ached and his possessive urges rose to the surface. Nobody was taking Seona away from him. To do so was the same as ripping out his heart. He couldn’t live without his heart… nor without Seona.
Ifshewas the one rejecting him, that was something altogether different. But he didn’t think that was the case. She was crying because she cared about him.
Seona backed away. “Go, Keegan,” she whispered.
But he didn’t. He watched her retreat. This spurred his instincts to pursue her, to capture her, to make her see he would never abandon her.
He took a step closer. “I fear no man, not even your father.”
“Well, you should.” She retreated behind a chair.
“Why are you so afraid of him?” Keegan’s own father was a loving, jovial man. Of a certainty, Conall MacKay could be vicious in battle, but with his family, he was warm. However, Keegan knew all fathers were not like him. Evidently, Seona’s father was just the opposite.
“He could have his menkillyou, Keegan. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
His muscles tensed at the potential threat and the challenge. “Not without a fight. And I wager I’d take a few of them out before they did me in.” He stepped forward again.
“Keegan, please.” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“The MacKay guards always watch my back.” He hoped thatwould ease her mind… though he was well-trained in protecting himself.
She looked down, appearing suddenly defeated, her unbound hair shielding most of her face. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but you leave me no choice.”
Warning prickled at the back of his neck. “What?”
“Last year at home, I danced with a man, the youngest brother of the MacSween chief. My father disapproved because he did not see him as suitable. Aunt Patience said there was a rumor started that MacSween kissed me and it grew out of proportion. MacSween was murdered a short time later, in Inverness. My father probably ordered it done. Do you understand what I mean now?”
“Aye, your father is ruthless, and he will not approve of me.” Keegan had already guessed her father would have a negative opinion of him, since he was not a chief or titled. Still, that would not dissuade him from asking for her hand. If her father attempted to kill Keegan for his boldness and his interest in Seona, then he’d best be ready for retaliation.
“When I go home, I want you to stay here,” Seona said.
