Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (Highland Legends #1.5)(26)

A sensation rippled through her, and a distant memory of a wish echoed and floated away...that God would have love embrace them...

*

“Seeee...” Isobel grinned at the kissing couple while elbowing Skorpius. “Look what you did.”

Skorpius grunted.

“I’ve decided I will stop calling you Cupcake,” she declared. “Now, I’m calling you Cupid.”

His booming voice shifting into her head made her jump. “Don’t even think about it, Runt.”

She laughed. “Oh, yes. Cupid. Delicious, sweet, pink-icing covered Cupcake has now been renamed Cupid.”

He growled to her right.

It was interrupted by Brigid’s scathing quip to her left. “That angel wouldn’t know love if it dropped as a two-thousand-pound boulder on his head.”

Isobel always felt Skorpius’s presence when he appeared within the castle, but she wondered if Brigid sensed his immutable power as her sister-in-law turned on her heel and crossed to the far side of the room, distancing herself as much as physically possible from the angel. Brigid fired a scorching glare toward Skorpius that would easily flay the skin off a mere mortal.

Isobel arched an eyebrow at him in question.

His reply was a non-negotiable, imperceptible shake of his head.





CHAPTER NINE





Robert pulled away from Susanna once she’d given herself over to the moment completely. In his arms, under the assault of his kiss, she’d surrendered herself. No more fighting. No more doubts. When she abandoned all the troubling thoughts in her head and lost herself to passion, she became someone more than the woman who’d nearly trampled him in a snowfield trying to escape. She transformed into a woman living for something greater than her miserable past.

Any supposed treaty-bound right Dougal may have had to Susanna ceased to exist the moment she’d escaped her fate. With fierce determination, she’d run from that wretched life and landed straight within Robert’s shielding arms. He vowed to bury her past. From the depths of his once-jaded heart, he intended to be her present and future.

Dark blue eyes gazed up at him, her black pupils blown wide. He smiled. With a tight hold around her, since all of her slight weight had fallen against him, he pushed his arms outward, leaning her upright. “You’re glorious when you put up a fight, Susanna,” he whispered.

She swallowed, dropping her gaze to his lips. “I doona know about that, Robert, but...your kisses...rob me of the verra air I need to breathe.”

He smiled, tapping the tip of her nose with his finger. “I assure you, there’ll be plenty of breathin’ when we kiss. I doona want you passin’ out.”

Over her shoulder, he caught Iain staring at them with unveiled irritation. A discussion with his laird was long overdue. Not wanting to leave Susanna alone, he ushered her over to Isobel and Brigid, companions she seemed to like and that he could safely leave her with.

Susanna spoke up the moment they joined the two women. “Isobel, how did you and Iain meet?”

Isobel laughed and exchanged a glance with Brigid, who lifted her eyebrows. “It’s a very long and unbelievable story, one to be saved for when we have hours of time just the two of us.”

Brigid offered, “The crux of the matter is the Universe conspired against them...or for them...to make both of their stubborn minds see what was important.”

Isobel laughed. “Well said, sister.”

Robert interjected, “Ladies, please excuse me. I must talk with Iain.” He lifted his hand from the small of Susanna’s back, but curled his fingers over his empty palm once he severed their connection, immediately missing direct contact with her.

Iain waited at the entrance of the dark hallway that led beyond the kitchen and larder toward his map room. The grim look on Iain’s face, and the other glares he’d sent through the course of the night, foretold that their encounter promised to be an unpleasant one. Robert faced his laird in a relaxed wide stance with his back to the great hall.

“What were you thinkin’?” Iain asked.

“She needed refuge,” he replied.

Iain crossed his arms over his chest, dropping his chin down, glaring at him from beneath his thick brows. “You’re not offerin’ the lass temporary refuge. You’ve claimed her.”

“Aye, I have,” Robert replied.

“Is she prepared for what that entails?” Iain asked.

Robert snorted. “She’s not yet realized that I’ve claimed her. The rest will come in time.”

“We doona have the luxury of time in our world. You know that, Robert. I’ve a clan to protect, and you’ve put them at great risk by bringin’ her here.”

“I’ll settle the matter with her soon,” Robert offered.

“Tonight. You’ll explain to a woman, whom Isobel tells me escaped from her castle and everythin’ she’s known, that she’s now a prisoner here. She needs to know she canna ever leave. You’ve sealed that fate for her. Tonight.”

A sound alerted them both, and Robert turned. Susanna stood a few feet away at the foot of the stairs with her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening. She turned and ran.

“Or now...” Iain’s words drifted off as Robert tore after her.

“Susanna!”