only was she mute, but she didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t only his tone of voice that was different. He was different. His speech was shortened. The warm lilting voice that made her limbs go heavy was gone. He wasn’t even looking at her any more.
So she just stood there.
‘My head’s aching and I’m tired. You can either put that tunic on or not, climb into the bed to sleep or not, makes nae difference to me.’
Feeling helpless, Mairead stared. The bed creaked as Caird adjusted himself. His back was to her now and he was partially covered with the thin blanket he pulled up around him.
It wasn’t daylight yet, but it would come and soon. There was still a chance to get the dagger, but only if she stayed. Pulling on the tunic, she climbed into bed. It wasn’t a large bed and she adjusted her position so as not to touch him.
He might be a heavy sleeper. If she hadn’t upended the stool and made a noise, she might have made an escape, but it wouldn’t do to think of her mistakes.
For now, she’d just have to wait until Caird fell asleep.
* * *
Mairead woke with the sudden awareness of the sun rising. The room was just growing light, but she did not need the daylight to see her impulsiveness had landed her in danger. Again.
She didn’t need to see at all. All she had to do was feel.
Her upper body was still contorted away from Caird, but her legs were wrapped neatly under his. Her feet were warm, which was probably why she’d slept. Her feet were never warm.
She kept still, waiting to see if Caird woke as well, but his breath remained steady and his body relaxed. He still slept.
The dagger still rested above his head.
To keep silent, she held back her sigh of relief. There was still a chance to get the dagger and walk away. Then she could grieve. She needed to grieve. Her nerves frayed more with every delay.
Carefully, almost painfully, she reached for the dagger.
‘Oomph!’
A fierce grip on her wrist, a twist of a large body and she was on her back, hand above her head, her fingers wrapped around the dagger.
‘Admiring its beauty?’
His tone was calm, but not idle.
And he was heavy. She couldn’t breathe to protest. She shoved her legs up.
‘You’re...’ She huffed.
He eased his weight, but not his hold on her wrist.
His loose hair fell forward. A long scar curved from his right shoulder into the splattering of dark hair on his chest.
And his eyes were a changeable shade of grey.
‘Answer me!’ He shook her wrist.
* * *
Caird hadn’t been thinking last night. The fact he could even remember last night was a miracle after the amount of ale he and Malcolm had drunk.
The woman lay absolutely motionless beneath him and she hadn’t said a word. But she didn’t need to.
Her dark-brown eyes were wide with fear and something else making them darker still. Her cheeks were flushed from sleep and her lips were full and impossibly pink. Beneath his hips and legs, he could feel her ample hips and buttocks cushioning him.
He had not dreamed of this woman beneath him, or the effect she had on him. She was not some fantasy conjured from the wedding celebrations.
She was like having Spring’s first ripe berry after a hard winter, and just as tempting.
‘What do you want with this dagger?’ he repeated.
‘I...was looking at it.’
It was more than that. There was the admiring gleam in her eyes, but also one of intent. ‘You were doing more than looking.’
‘Nae, it was just there. I picked it up. That’s all.’ She shook her head. Her abundant dark brown curls bounced like a tarnished halo around her head.
But she was no fallen angel. She was in his room last night. If he hadn’t been so drunk, so tired and so stupid, he wouldn’t be having this argument with her.
Instead, she would be fully and completely underneath him. Or he would have thrown her from his room and been done with all the temptation and trouble.
He might not have been thinking straight last night, but he was this morning. Now, he needed to solve the problem of why she was here. ‘Why were you in my room?’ he demanded.
She looked down, but her eyes widened and her eyes flew back to his. Her flush deepened, too. He was still naked, the thin blanket inadequate covering.
Perhaps he wasn’t thinking straight after all. He prised her fingers from the dagger and stood from the bed. Keeping his eyes on her, he set the dagger on the table by the fireplace and reached for his braies.
Mairead tried to keep her eyes trained on the man, not the dagger. What she had come for was now almost within her grasp and she felt a mixture of relief and tension. She knew all she had to do was either lie for or steal the dagger. Now was her time. Just a little longer and she’d be done with all of this.
She sat up. ‘I told you it was a mistake.’
Finishing tucking the braies, he said, ‘The room’s a mistake. Not the reason why you were here.’
This man was too intelligent to fool and too fast and strong for her to make a run for it with the dagger. A little bit of truth wouldn’t hurt.
She gave a sigh as if she couldn’t hold up the pretence any more. ‘The dagger belongs to my family.’
‘How convenient.’
Never taking his eyes from hers, he reached for the brown leather leggings.
‘I knew you wouldn’t believe me. It’s why I didn’t say anything before.’ She pushed the cover away from her legs and stood. ‘Why would you believe me? We’re strangers; the dagger has some value. But I ask, why would a lone woman enter an unknown inn at the dead of night if not to retrieve something of great value to her?’
‘To steal.’
Too true. Lowering her eyes, she rubbed her hands down the tunic to ease the creases there. ‘If I was such an expert thief, I could do it in broad daylight, within the comforts of safety. What I did was anything but safe.’
‘Maybe you’re not a good thief.’
‘Exactly!’ She looked up and gave him a wide smile.
His only response was to raise one brow.
She continued, ‘An inept thief, who doesn’t know any better or have the sense not to
