Four
Lachlan’s fingers pulsed where they touched Bridgette’s back. He could barely contain the lust he felt for her. He clenched his teeth and forced control as he led her toward the circle of dancers. When they got to Marion, she grinned at them both and held her hand out to Bridgette, as the women were forming a circle and would dance first. When she started to release his hand to step toward Marion, his fingers curled tightly around hers and her shocked gaze met his. This could be the last time he ever got to touch her so, and his treacherous body did not want to release her. Her mouth parted in further surprise, yet he held on for two more breaths before finally unclasping his fingers and stepping away from her.
He was determined not to watch her, but it was futile. Even as he decided it, his eyes sought her out and devoured her. She turned in the circle with the other women, her skirts flying around her. She had her arms above her head in a vee, and her hair created a red cascade behind her as she twirled. The joyous smile that spread across her face made his chest ache with the beauty of it. He ran his greedy, hungry gaze over her hips, her slender waist, and up to her high firm breasts. The need within him made him shudder. Suddenly, he felt eyes upon him, and he looked around, half suspecting to see Helena back in the great hall instead of in her bedchamber with the aching head she had claimed to have. Instead, he found Graham watching him, his eyes cold, hard, and knowing.
Shame nearly choked Lachlan, and he wanted to look away and break the contact, but he didn’t. He deserved the censure in his brother’s eyes. Graham nodded once, as if to acknowledge he knew Lachlan’s secret thoughts, but then Iain appeared at Graham’s side, glanced toward Lachlan, and said something to Graham, and then together they quit the great hall. Lachlan had no time to consider why as the women were now dancing out of the circle and in the direction of the men. Without thought, Lachlan stepped toward Bridgette, grasped her around her waist, and lifted her above his head in the motions of the dance. As he lowered her, their bodies brushed—chest to chest—and he could not stop the violent shudder that shook him.
Shock coursed through him as he registered the knowledge that she had shuddered, too. She wanted him, even as he wanted her!“Bridgette.”He released her name and winced at the sound of the yearning that echoed in the one word.
She inhaled a sharp breath as her eyes widened. “I dunnae wish to dance anymore,” she mumbled before turning and fleeing the dance floor and the great hall altogether.
He stood still for a moment as a war raged within him. He should follow her to ensure her safety, he reasoned, though the excuse rang immediately false as he knew well that Dunvegan Castle was safe. Still, he did have a suspicion that Helena’s being here could possibly have something to do with Bridgette, so it was best to keep a watch on Bridgette and ensure Helena was not up to something wicked concerning her. It was all the excuse he needed. He took the first step out of the great hall, and then the next, and two more until he strode full force across the room and out the door. He spotted Bridgette running down the stairs to the kitchens, and he increased his pace and headed, as she did, toward the door that led to the courtyard. He told himself repeatedly that he was following her simply to keep a guard on her. The lie he so willingly embraced was wicked and dangerous, but he swallowed it.
A combination of moonlight and blazing torches lit the courtyard with shafts of light and flickering shadows. He heard Bridgette before he located her. Her breaths came in quick short gasps. She darted through the dancing shadows and came to a sudden stop near a large tree. She placed her palms flat against the tree and bent forward. He quietly approached, listening to her greedy breaths that stilled the moment he stood behind her.
“Ye should nae have followed me,” she said.
Her tortured tone almost brought him to his knees and filled him with a moment of exultation followed swiftly by repugnance at himself. He was sure she felt the same pull he did. Now was the time to turn away. Now was the time to leave and grasp the honor that was swiftly slipping through his fingers like grains of sand.
“I dunnae think I had a choice,” he blurted, then cursed himself. He grasped out blindly for lies. “Ye should nae be out here alone at night.”
She turned to face him, the moon glinting over her alabaster skin and revealing an incredulous expression. “Ye followed me because ye believe Dunvegan unsafe outside at night?” Her disbelief was evident in her tone.
His lie was obvious and preposterous, but it was all he had. “Aye,” he replied, struck with the realization that he’d say anything just to be near this woman. What sort of mad yearning had gripped him that he could not rid himself of?
“Fine,” she said, her voice husky and making his groin ache. “I’ll get Graham to attend me.”
“Graham quit the great hall with Iain. It appeared they had some things to discuss.” Why could he not just let her go? He was a bad brother and a bad person.
“I think I’ll retire to my bedchamber,” she murmured. “I’ve an aching head.” She bit down on her lip as he stared at her, and he had sudden flashes of memories of other times she had bitten on her lip. Times he knew that she’d been lying, like the time four years ago when together they had lied to her brother about her locating the boar all on her own, and then the time many months ago when she had first come to Dunvegan with Marion and she told Father Murdock she had been saying her prayers one night when Lachlan knew for a fact that she had really been swimming in the loch near the beach because he’d followed her and watched her. Why was she lying now? To get away from him? Was it because her desire for him was as great as his for her?
“Aching heads seem to be a rampant problem tonight,” he said, treading in dangerous waters into which he had no right to plunge.
“What do ye mean?”
“Helena took to her bedchamber with an aching head.”
“Hers?”Bridgette cocked her lovely, dark eyebrows. “Are ye nae sharing a bedchamber?” She gasped at herself. “I’m sorry! That’s nae my concern.”
“We’re nae,” he replied, ignoring the chance to quit this conversation even though it was disloyal to the bond of brotherhood he held so dear.
“Are things nae going well with Helena?” Her voice shook as she spoke, and he wondered once more if it was because of desire for him. If so, how had he missed it all these years?
He shrugged. “As well as to be expected. How do things fare with ye and Graham?”
She matched his nonchalant shrug with one of her own. “As well as to be expected,” she replied, stealing his lie and then biting her lip.
“Ye bite yer lip when ye lie, ye ken,” he said, offering the first real truth of the conversation.
She immediately released her lip, filling the silence with a distinct pop. “I dunnae.”
“Dunnae what?” he asked, staring at her full, lush mouth. “Lie or bite yer lip when ye do so?” The desire to claim her lips with his own beat relentlessly within him.
“Of course I lie!” she grumbled. “I’m a sinner same as the next, aye, but I dunnae bite my lip when I lie!”
Her irritation that he had noticed was so charming that he chuckled. “Ye do,” he insisted and then proceeded to list all the times he could remember her doing it.
“Ye followed me to the loch the day I went swimming?” she asked in an amazed whisper. “Why?”
