Page 63 of Highland Guard
“Inside?”
“I dinnae ken, but something just irritated my eye.”
“Tis summer, there’s been no snow all day,” Kieran gently wiped a tear away. “Wife, dinnae weep. It breaks my heart that I caused it.”
“You did not. A bit of dust floated by.”
“Naomi, stop lying.”
“I’m not,” she sniffed.
Kieran whispered, “I swear to you there is nothing between me and Clara.” Kieran leaned in and kissed her lips.
Naomi pulled away and stared at him in horror. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you.”
Then her expression turned black with anger. “After tupping Clara, you want to kiss me now. How dare you?”
“I never tupped her,” he growled.
“Ha! A likely story, Kieran MacKenzie, you worthless breaker of hearts!”
“Naomi. Stop your caterwauling and listen to me.”
“I will not.”
“There was nothing between us and you want to ken why?”
“I dinnae care.”
“Well, I’m going to tell you, you stubborn woman. Because I’m in love with you. I have been since the first day you belted me with that stick of yours.”
“Tis a quarterstaff, not a stick.”
“That’s all you heard just now?”
“Yes...wait...no...um... you love me?”
“Aye, even though Clara threw herself at me and tried to, ouch—”
Naomi punched him right in the jaw before he could finish the line. “Then you can take your stinking love and—” Naomi yelped when Kieran banded his arms around her. “Let me go. I dinnae like you anymore.”
“Be quiet, you hostile wench. Honestly, can’t a man declare his undying love without being beaten to death by the woman he loves?”
“Not when he tells her how he enjoyed another woman trying to seduce him.”
Kieran slapped her backside. “Cease squirming, you banshee. I did not say I enjoyed any of it. I was going to say I was thinking about why I couldn’t, and that was because of you. The most infuriating woman on earth.”
Naomi stopped squirming even though she was fuming. She said, “Fine...tell me what you have to say so then we can go our separate ways and I never have to see your stupid face again.”
“God’s teeth, you are the bane of my existence. Were you this much trouble in the abbey?”
“Aye, the sisters made me do penance a lot.”
“I believe it,” he grumbled. “Now look at me and sheath your claws.”
She glared and asked, “Do you still love her? Regardless, I need to know if you would have had a chance if not for our marriage.”
