Page 67 of The Dragon Laird’s Obsession

I mind.

Not because she had removed them. Because she had somehow managed to make him notice they were gone.

“Saints preserve me.”

He strode toward the door determined to find and speak with her. She could not simply alter a man’s chambers whenever fancy struck her.

There had to be…

Pain exploded beneath his bare foot.

“Hell,” he hissed sharply and jerked backward.

Something small rolled across the floor. Gordon looked down.

Brochan.

The hedgehog blinked up at him with complete innocence before indignantly curling into a little ball.

Gordon stared.

The hedgehog stared back. “How…”

He looked around the room. He covered his face with both hands.

Heavens.

He had spent the entire day avoiding Ailis and deliberately choosing the longest patrol routes. He had chosen to remain in the village longer than necessary, inspecting fences that Malcolm had already declared satisfactory and anything to stay away from the keep.

Anythin’ to stay away from her.

He had told himself it was discipline. Yet the moment he stepped into his chamber, he had noticed her absence before anything else.

His throat tightened as he realized he missed all of it.

I miss her.

And he did not know what to do with that feeling.

Gordon rose to his feet with Brochan in his arms and gently stroked the hedgehog while staring around his chamber one more time. A knot twisted in the pit of his stomach as he realized the place did not feel right.

Nae anymore.

He moved without thinking much of it afterward, heading out of his chamber and down the hallway to find Ailis.

Gordon slowed when he reached the end of the hallway and noticed a chamber door standing open. Brochan leaped from his arms as he neared the door and dashed into the chamber. From outside, Gordon spotted Ailis inside the chamber with Lileas, and they laughed together.

His heart melted as he watched the sight. Her hair wasn’t in its usual Highland plait today. It flowed free down to her back in numerous waves, and they bounced as she moved.

Lileas said something that made her laugh again, and this time, she tipped her head back. He saw her lips part and felt his head spin as a surge of energy swept through him.

The sensation left a shiver in its wake, and he allowed the feeling to rush through him while he watched her.

What am I to do now?

Gordon knew with certainty now that his plans to send her away had failed. He could not deny that to himself anymore.

The whisper of rain came sometime after supper. It wasn’t the wild sort that battered castle walls or howled through the Highlands with the voice of winter.