The Arrow: A Highland Guard Novel (The Highland Guard) (19 page)

His instincts rebelled, but he pushed them aside. “It was just a kiss, Cate. Don’t read anything more into it. Nothing has changed.”

Cate stared at him in shock, noting the stubborn set of the jaw that she could still feel scratching against her neck and throat as he ravished her. Just a kiss? Nothing has changed? How could he say that after what happened? She might be innocent and inexperienced, but she was not stupid. That kiss had meant something—and not just to her. He had felt it, too, though he might wish her to think differently.

Aye, that’s exactly what he wanted. Her eyes narrowed. “So you felt nothing special, is that what you are saying?”

She was rewarded by a wicked spark of green in those heavenly eyes. “I think you know exactly what I felt.”

Her gaze dropped instinctively, and even knowing he was trying to embarrass her didn’t stop her cheeks from heating at the memory of how he’d felt between her legs. An ache fluttered low in her belly, but she wouldn’t let him distract her. “Ah, yes, only lust, isn’t that right? You know it’s funny, but I don’t recall your kiss with Seonaid or Màiri or any of the other women I’ve seen you with looking quite the same. But then again, I’m no expert on the subject.” She smiled. “Although I hope that will not be the case for long.”

His expression changed so quickly, she didn’t have time to react. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him, his gaze penetrating. “What are you talking about? I told you there won’t be a next time.”

She smiled sweetly, despite the fingers digging into her arm and the furious, gritted-teeth expression of the menacing-looking warrior trying to stare her down. “With you, perhaps.”

His eyes turned so dark they almost looked black. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Carefully, she unfurled his fingers from around her arm, and then brushed at the spot as if his touch had been merely an annoyance and was not like a brand upon her skin. “What do you think it means? Now that I’ve had my first kiss, I wonder what I’ve been waiting for. It was quite nice.”

“Nice?” he blustered, obviously not happy with her choice of adjective.

“Aye,
quite
nice, but then again, unlike you I have nothing to compare it to. Yet.” She quirked a brow, eyeing him suspiciously. “I’m also rather curious as to what comes next. I do have the feeling you were forgetting something.”

For one moment she thought she’d pushed him too far. He looked like he couldn’t decide whether to shove her up against the nearest wall and finish what they’d started or bend her over his knee.

He did neither. But his gaze pinned her like hot green stakes. “I didn’t forget a damned thing. And you won’t be finding out what comes next until you are married. As long as I am your guardian, you will not be kissing anyone
—anyone
—do you understand me? I’ll not have your reputation besmirched—”

She gave a sharp laugh. “That is a bit ironic coming from you, isn’t it? It was just a kiss, remember? And as the only man I would consider marrying has made it clear he has no wish to marry me, I will not be marrying anyone. I’m sure my reputation can withstand the potential damage of a few harmless kisses.”

Her skin prickled from the heat of his gaze. “Do not press me, Cate. I know what you are trying to do, and it won’t work. I will not change my mind.”

She met the challenge with one of her own. “Is that so?”

His jaw clamped down so hard, she thought his teeth might crack. “Aye.”

She held his gaze. “We shall see.” She started to walk away, turning back when she remembered what he’d said. “What time should I be ready?”

Clearly, she’d confused him. For once he looked ruffled, and she decided she liked it—liked it quite a lot. The thought that she could unbalance the untouchable Gregor MacGregor sent a distinctly heady thrill of feminine power shooting through her.

“For what?”

“You were going to teach me some new moves.” She paused. “On the practice yard.”

“I know what you meant,” he snapped, although it was clear he’d been thinking about moves in a different place.
“After the midday meal. I have some business to attend to in the morning.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” she said.

By the way he gritted his teeth, she assumed the feeling wasn’t mutual. That he was obviously not looking forward to being in close proximity to her put a distinct bounce in her step as she walked away.

Just a kiss, ha! She’d never thought she’d see the day, but Gregor MacGregor, the most feared archer in the Highlands, was scared—
of her
. He was fighting the inevitable with everything he had, but it wouldn’t be enough. She knew that as well as he did, although he wasn’t ready to admit it yet. But he would. It might take a few more of those “just” kisses to prove it to him, but what was between them was special. For the first time, Cate felt as if her dreams were truly within reach.

Ten
 

Gregor watched her flounce away and wondered what the hell had just happened. He looked around the practice yard, expecting to see trees unearthed, crates turned over, and hay scattered all over the place. All signs of the maelstrom that had just knocked him off his feet. Maelstrom Cate.

What had come over him? This was Caitrina.
Little
Caitrina. The lass he was supposed to be responsible for. The lass he was supposed to protect. From the beginning, he’d felt a strange protectiveness toward her, but that sure as hell didn’t include nearly ravishing her in the courtyard.

What could he have been thinking to kiss her like that? He hadn’t been thinking. That was the problem. He’d been too busy feeling—bloody incredible, as it turned out. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before. He’d never lost control like that. He didn’t lose control. And sure as hell not from a kiss.

The worst part was that she knew it, and thought it meant something.

It meant something, all right. It meant he wanted to take her to his bed and swive her senseless, not marry her. But as he couldn’t do the first without the second, he was going to have to pretend that kiss had never happened.

As if that were possible, when every time he looked at her he’d be thinking of how sweet her mouth had tasted, how silky her tongue had been sliding against his, how
tight her body had felt under his hands, how firm her breasts had been, and how she’d made all those eager, breathy gasps in his ear as she’d rubbed against him.
Wantonly
.

Don’t think about it
.

Right. It was all he could think about. Kissing her had been an even bigger mistake than he’d feared. A little damaged womanly pride on her part was nothing compared to the torture he’d be suffering until he could return to Bruce.

Stalking across the yard, he ducked into the armory to retrieve his bow. He stood there looking at it for a moment before picking up a throwing spear instead. He’d been idle from warfare for too long. That was his problem. Once he was back on the battlefield, he would forget all about Cate and her madness-inducing kisses and concentrate on what he did best: eliminating targets and seeing the man whom he’d come to believe in more than any other secure on his throne.

Gregor might have joined the Guard to get away from Isobel and prove himself more than a “pretty” face, but he’d stayed because of Robert Bruce. It was Bruce he believed in, Bruce he fought for, and Bruce whom he never wanted to fail.

There wouldn’t be another disappointment like Berwick.

But he wasn’t ready for his bow yet. If anything, he was more distracted than when he’d arrived, damn it.

He cursed and was about to step out of the armory when a man blocked the doorway.

“What the hell was that about?” John asked.

For a moment, Gregor thought his brother was referring to the kiss. But realizing that was only his own guilt at work, he forced the instinctive defenses that had risen back down. “Perhaps I should be asking you that question? What did you think you were doing with Cate out there?”

John’s eyes narrowed. “What did it look like? I was training her.”

“It looked like more than training to me. It looked like you were thinking about kissing her.”

John’s eyes sparked dangerously. But Gregor didn’t heed the warning. His younger brother was a good fighter, but Gregor was one of the best.

“So what if I was? She’s a cute girl.”

This time it was Gregor who threatened. He stepped closer to his brother, his arms tensing and flexing for a fight. She wasn’t a girl, and she wasn’t cute. She was more than that. “You aren’t going to deny it?”

“Why should I?”

“Because she’s our responsibility, damn it. She’s under our protection. Taking advantage of her like that is wrong.”

“Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”

Gregor threw a fist at his chin, which John deftly blocked. The follow-up blow to his ribs, however, he did not, and it landed with a satisfying thud. Satisfaction wasn’t long, though, as John recovered quickly and retaliated with a blow to Gregor’s side. After a few more exchanges of fists, an elbow, and a knee, they were both bloody, bruised, and breathing heavily.

Gregor felt better already. This was just what he needed. “Stay away from her, John. I’ll be taking over her ‘training’ for now. She’s not for you.”

“Then who is she for? One of the men you’ve been writing to? Have you found her a suitable husband yet?”

Gregor gritted his teeth, not sure whether he wanted to answer or throw another punch. “Nay, not yet.”

“You know what I think? I think you’re jealous. I think you haven’t found her a husband because you can’t stand the thought of her with someone else. Even me.”

Gregor saw red. “So you do want her?”

“I might, if I weren’t convinced she was in love with someone else.”

Me
. Gregor stepped back, the fight suddenly out of him.
John means me
.

“
Thinks
she’s in love with someone else,” he amended.

“And you’re so sure she’s not?”

Hell, he didn’t know what to think. “It doesn’t matter.”

John gave him a long look that reminded him too much of their father.
Weak. Never amount to anything. A disappointment
. But he’d proved him wrong. The king of Scotland trusted him, damn it.

“If that is true, then do everyone a favor and find her a husband before you do something you will regret.”

“I don’t need a lecture from my little brother. I know how to control myself. I’ve had a little experience with women, you know.”

“Aye, but none of them are Cate.”

With words that were far truer than Gregor wanted them to be, John left him standing there. Cate
was
different, damn it. He couldn’t deal with her in the same way he did other women, which meant he didn’t know how to deal with her at all. He was used to giving women what they wanted—in other words, a night or two of pleasure—but that wasn’t an option with Cate. Which left him on the unfamiliar ground of being attracted to a woman and having to deal with it outside the bedchamber.

He never should have brought her here in the first place. He had no business taking responsibility for a young girl. But it was five years too late for recriminations. Now the best thing he could do was get her out of here before he did something they would both regret.

Not even Gregor’s noticeable absence from the evening meal could put a damper on Cate’s happiness. If anything, perhaps it bolstered it. That he was avoiding her only proved that the kiss had meant something to him. She assumed
he’d gone out with his bow—although oddly, she hadn’t seen him with it since he arrived.

Gregor always disappeared for hours with his bow when he was upset or needed to think. His mother had been convinced that he’d become such a good archer because of all the arguments Gregor had with his father when he was younger. Cate thought there probably was some truth to that, but natural ability, determination, and drive to be the best factored into it as well.

She wished his father were alive to see it. Though Duncan MacGregor had been dead for a number of years before Cate arrived, she knew how much his opinion—his disregard—had motivated Gregor. But he’d proved his father wrong.

His skill was truly extraordinary. She loved watching him practice and wished she’d seen him compete at the Highland Games before the war. Although from the stories of the female entourage that followed him around, perhaps she wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much.

Speaking of female entourages, when she entered the Hall for the morning meal, she wasn’t surprised to see it crowded with women hoping for a glimpse of the handsome laird. It would only grow worse in the next few days with the Christmas festivities, and then the Hogmanay feast, which was maybe why she was looking forward to neither. She wanted him to herself. Would they ever leave him alone, or would women flocking around him constantly be something Cate would have to get used to?

The thought was mildly disconcerting. She wished she’d had the foresight to fall in love with someone who didn’t make women cast their hearts—and the rest of their bodies—at him wherever he went. It certainly would be much easier on her temper. Cate had a feeling she’d be walking into many Halls over the next few years, wanting to toss more than one pretty maid out on her ear.