Page 30 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

Eloise stiffened, her hands tightening around the fur covers beneath her. Was it possible that she and Murdoch could marry after all? What would that life even be like?

She imagined walking down an aisle toward him, greeting him at the altar, only to be met with another one of those kisses she could not stop thinking about. There would be celebration, dancing with more pipers, and more stolen kisses and brushes of hands. The excitement led to a flash of what the wedding night could be like. She saw herself on the bed where she sat now, but she was wearing nothing, with Murdoch above her. Her legs were around his hips as he entered her. Her head tipped back moaning his name as he drove the two of them together.

“Eloise!”

“What?” She looked around at him again, praying he had not noticed how quick her breathing had become.

“What are we going tae dae?” He marched around the bed. She scrambled to kneel up at the very edge, trying to catch his eye, but he looked anywhere but her as he paced. Sometimes his hands went for his hips, other times they went for his waistcoat, haphazardly adjusting it in his stress. “I dinnae wish tae marry. I cannae dae it.”

“Why dae ye object tae the idea of marriage altogether?” He glanced at her briefly, that now familiar glare set upon her. “I’m beginning tae think yer glare isnae something tae be so frightened of.”

“Ye think nae?” He halted in front of her, standing at the foot of the bed as she knelt between the two posts, her hands on either one as she stared back at him.

“Ye trying tae intimidate me now?” She smiled a little. “There is nothing so frightening of that glare.” It grew deeper still. “I could get rid of it.” She felt mischievous as she smiled at him, nearly at his tall height.

“Ye want a wager on that?”

“Let me see.” She leaned toward him and kissed him so fast that he didn’t have time to respond. It was a mere brush of their lips together, yet it had the same effect their other kisses had done, making at tingle pass through her body. As she moved back again, she caught sight of the shock, his eyebrows shooting up across his temple. “I win our wager,” she said with satisfaction.

“This isnae the time fer jests, Eloise.” He walked away from her, returning to his pacing. The thought that maybe the kiss had had no effect on him at all made her sink down on her haunches. Even as she tested the waters, he pulled back from her.

Whatever I feel here, I feel it alone. He doesnae feel the same way.

“Ye havenae answered me question,” she murmured.

“What was it?”

“Ye ken what it was. Why dae ye object tae the idea of yer father pushing ye intae a marriage so much?” she urged, resting her chin in the palm of her hands as she sat cross legged.

“I…” He halted, his back to her as he faced the fire. He kicked a log into the fire, watching the flames spit and dance into the air.

“Ye prefer tae stay silent when ye dinnae wish tae talk of something, dae ye nae?” Eloise observed, though part of her argued against it, even as she said it. For all of Murdoch’s usual reserve and silence, he had not been so reserved with her over the last few days. He’d been a different man; one of strength and mystery.

Her eyes lingered on him far longer than they should have as he slowly turned around to face her, putting his back to the flames.

“I was tae marry once before.” His words startled her so much, she knelt up on the bed again. “It was a few years ago now. I was tae marry Harper’s sister. Me father was keen fer an alliance between the clans.”

“Ye were in love?” Her stomach knotted, for some reason, she wasn’t sure she wished to hear his answer.

“Nae exactly.” It was an enigmatic answer, leaving her reeling as he faced the wall and rested his hands on the mantelpiece, looking into the flames. “Something happened tae her. After that, I just… I dinnae think I can marry again, least of all someone I care fer. Aye, if I could dae the whole construct, satisfy my father’s wishes and be married conveniently, maybe then that would be something. Yet I willnae care fer a bride again.”

Eloise’s hands shook as they fidgeted in her lap. She didn’t know what to be more shocked at, the idea that Murdoch was to marry once, or that he had cared for a woman. She felt strange sitting on his bed, where another woman should have sat, to have kissed him at all, when another woman should have kissed him. Another woman should have danced with him tonight and listened to the raucous applause of people celebrating Murdoch and the woman he had truly cared for.

I shouldnae be here, but she is sadly gone. Did she die? Is that what Murdoch hinted at?

Feeling small, she slid to the end of the bed and stepped off it, leaning against one of the posts. A mad idea occurred to her, one that could satisfy his need to marry for convenience, whilst ensuring Avery and Scarlett never found out what she truly did.

It has tae stay hidden, nay matter what the consequences, even if that means binding me tae a man who has refused tae care fer a woman again.

“Well, if ye are happy tae marry for convenience, I ask ye this, Murdoch.” She waited until he lifted his head, clearly paying attention to her words. “What if ye and I were tae marry after all?”

CHAPTER TEN

“What did ye say?” Murdoch tripped on the rug as he spun around to face Eloise, one hand flying to the mantelpiece behind him to keep him upright. The stone was warm because of the fire, hot beneath his fingers. “Eloise?”

She did not look at him but stared somewhere into the distance of the room. With one arm looped around the bedpost, she leaned into it, her face set in sadness as she chewed on her lips.

“Eloise?” He released the mantelpiece and crossed toward her. “Dae ye nae realize what ye just asked me?”