Page 79 of Deception of a Highlander

Unease flared through Kieran. Something wasn’t right. That was not a man’s chest he’d shoved, nor was it a man’s voice that rasped for air.

His attacker was a woman.

She remained on the floor with her back slumped against the wall.

“Lift yer mask,” Kieran said quietly.

She did not respond. Her shallow panting filled the room.

“Lift yer mask,” he barked.

She flinched as his words reverberated off the walls around them. A slender white hand rose to the base of the mask and peeled the black fabric upward.

Finally, he would see the face of his would-be killer.

CHAPTER 30

There was no way out for Mariel. The time had come to let Kieran view the monster beneath. Her heart raced. No longer would he see good in her she did not possess. No longer would he seek to offer his protection and comfort. No longer would he love the woman he thought her to be.

Mariel tensed for his reaction and tugged the mask over her head.

Kieran, always so guarded, stared at her now in disbelief. His face was a mirror of everything he felt. The confusion, the shock…the horror as her betrayal hit him full force. The raw emotion in his black eyes tore through her. She should turn away, save herself the torment of his gaze. But no, she must look. She must see the product of her deception.

He’d loved her, and she’d had hurt him. He’d trusted her, and she’d threatened everything he worked so hard to protect.

“Mariel…” Her name was nothing more than a strangled cry.

Desperation seeped from the darkness of her soul, selfishly keening for the loss of the man she loved. She did not deserve him—she never had—and yet to imagine her life without him was not to imagine life at all.

“I can explain,” she whispered.

His agony slid behind a mask of cold indifference. “Stand up.”

She staggered to her feet and tried to ignore the empty ache in her chest. “Please, let me speak to y—”

“I dinna wish to hear it.”

His calloused hand looped around her wrist and twisted her arm behind her.

The wall of his solid body brushed against her back. “If ye try to escape, I’ll break yer arm.”

Mariel squeezed her eyes shut against the sting of tears. She wanted to fall against him and let the heat of his quiet strength comfort her. She wanted to soothe the hurt in his gaze with her explanations.

Despair coiled like ice in the pit of her stomach. There would never be comfort from him again.

“Let me explain,” she whimpered. The reality of her situation seeped in, and her breath came faster.

“No’ anything ye say can change what I have seen. Now walk.” His voice was flat.

She shuffled forward, not bothering to ask where he took her. She didn’t need to. Memories of the damp cellar rushed forefront to her mind. Chills raised the flesh on her arms.

Jack.

Her step faltered. He would pay the price of her failure.

Kieran nudged her forward, his hand tight on her wrist. She obeyed his unspoken command and continued despite the trembling of her legs.

Perhaps she could still save Jack. Not only did she know the rendezvous point, but she also knew the layout of Aaron’s manor from the months she had trained there. Information was all she had to bargain with for Jack’s life.