Page 76 of The Dragon Laird’s Obsession

Lileas appeared with the solemn expression of someone deeply offended by the accusation. Brochan was nestled in her lap. She scrambled out from behind the barrel and marched toward them.

“I was only hidin’ because I thought ye would be cross if ye saw me out here with nay supervision” She climbed directly onto the wall between them then proudly lifted Brochan. “Are ye cross with me, Me Laird?” she asked, batting her lashes as she looked down at Gordon.

“Nay,” he answered her as his heart softened from her hesitant smile. “Nay, I am nae.”

“Do ye want to hold Brochan?” Lileas asked next as she held the hedgehog out to him, and Gordon froze.

Brochan waddled after them like a tiny Highland warrior, his brown-and-cream quills bristling proudly along his back. Gordon did not think taking the thing was a good idea, but Lileas’ eyes held his with that brightness he could not resist. Eventually, he took Brochan and nestled him close to his chest. He heard his brother’s light chuckle as he held the hedgehog, and Lileas beamed with excitement like she had wanted him to do this all along.

“Will ye two dance at the games?” Lileas asked suddenly, sliding into the tiny space between them as if she belonged there. “I heard the servants in the kitchen talkin’ about it. They say there will be dancin’ and music, and the Laird will fall in love with Ailis. They say ye will have nae choice.”

Lileas’s plain curiosity as she retold the words she heard to both Gordon and Rowan made Gordon’s insides prick with another flush. It was almost as if the words made him nervous.

A faint color climbed the back of his neck. He cleared his throat and found an urgent reason to study the hedgehog he held.

Rowan came alive with laughter at his side, though, and when he turned to look at his brother, he laughed some more.

“I love this bairn,” Rowan said.

“Will ye dance at the games too?” Lileas asked Rowan.

“Aye, wee one,” Rowan replied with a smile to her and rubbed her hair, ruffling the golden strands a little. “With me wife and daughter.”

“Ye have a daughter?”

Rowan answered with pride this time. “Aye, I do. Her name is Elspeth. She is about yer age. I think ye two will be good friends.”

“Me too,” Lileas said with a wide grin at Rowan, and when she faced him with that full smile, Gordon felt his heart stutter in its usual rhythm.

“What about ye, Me Laird? Will ye dance?”

“Absolutely nae,” Gordon told her.

Lileas pouted immediately. “At least dance with Brochan and me.”

“Ye willnae be dancin’ either, wee one. Ye are much too young to even be at the games, and ye will only…”

The girl’s pout deepened as she batted her lashes at him then folded her arms across her chest.

Gordon looked at her, and the tears were already misting in her eyes. He did not wish to terrify her or worse make her cry.

“All right, wee one,” he finally said. “Ye will dance, and I will dance with ye.”

Her expression lifted almost immediately, her eyes regaining that spark that made them dance. “And Brochan?”

“He will dance too,” Gordon told her.

“Thank ye, Me Laird.”

She flung her tiny arms around his neck, and he stiffened. Every muscle in his body locked at once, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides as though he had forgotten what they were meant to do. He stared down at the dark curls pressed against his chest.

He did not know what to do with a little girl’s arms wrapped trustingly around him, so he simply sat there, still, until she pulled back. He cleared his throat once. Then again. Neither did anything to restore the dignity Lileas had just stolen from him.

As though summoned by his name, Brochan wriggled against his arms, climbed onto Gordon’s knee, and settled comfortably in his lap.

Gordon stared down at him. The little creature curled into a ball.

Rowan laughed as Gordon realized that his brother was watching him.