The Passion of London [Highlander's Love #1]

Chapter 10

He had planned to leave immediately, but when the groom brought out his horse, he knew it would be inhumane of him to subject his steed to another bout of hard riding to Cavalon Castle. Left with no choice, Connor had hung around outside, stroking the side of his steed's neck to calm it's satiny body as he waited in the cold air. The frigid winter atmosphere was nothing to him, compared to the biting cold of a Highland winter. But compared to the biting cold of a Highland winter, nothing could give him goosebumps more then the warmest of voicest calling out his name behind him.

Connor had frozen, easily recognizing her tone. He had almost choked when the sounds of feet running down steps had came after, preparing to jump on his horse and to blazes with resting when her slender fingers caught his arms. "Connor, I know you heard me, wait."

There was that tone that almost brought a smile to his lips, that firm, no nonsense tone which was a mere hint to the fire that lay beneath her usual veneer presented to society.

"I'm sorry my lady, but I simply don't think I'm in the correct state to meet you right about now. You should be inside, shouldn't you?" he tried to resist, his tone as cold and hard as he could manage without turning around to see her. He knew that one glance at her and he'd lose all self control he had. Connor couldn't risk it, not when he had nothing to offer her. How could he expect her to leave all the glitz of London society, the home she's known all her life, when he's had nothing to offer her, except for himself?

Because right now, Connor knew he was offering himself, if only he was in the position to. The girl consumed his thoughts and his dreams, her vibrant personality reminding him that life wasn't as bleak and as lost as it was supposed to be. Her half-English side almost didn't matter to him... except now, it did. Like it or not, this was Lady Evelyn Verrick, only daughter to a Viscount and with Cavalon Castle as her dowry, and a viscountancy to whoever married her. The idea of being an English lord didn't sit well with Connor, but beyond that he couldn't bring himself to get her to marry below her status when she had a world of possibilities beyond her.

No, Connor Gilroy couldn't ask that of a girl he loved.

So he gently but firmly pulled his arms away from her, not meeting her eyes once. "I came to see my Laird, to report to him of the task he told me to complete when I returned. Please enjoy the rest of the night, my lady, and I shall see you when you return to Cavalon Castle."

"Connor Gilroy, don't you dare use that tone with me right now." Evie grounded out, forcefully yanking at him. She didn't stand a chance though, her small frame barely moving the great wall of a body that was Connor's. "Connor, what is the matter with you?"

"What is the matter?" Maybe it was the proximity, or maybe it was just because her stubbornness had just surpassed Connor's ability to resist her, but he finally turned around to grip her arms, barely noticing how cold they felt as he dragged her closer to glare at her through his onyx irises. "You consume my every thought, your bare presence is enough to drive me nuts. Your laugh makes me smile, your ability to get in trouble amuses me, your passion for life makes me wish that passion was directed at me... But who am I? I'm a lowly Highlander captain who could never wish to measure up to you, so who am I to even look at you? No one, that's what."

His tirade caught Evie off guard, but Connor mistook her blinking doe-eyes as disgust, and pushed her away, frustration making him mess up his dark hair even more by running his fingers through them. "I am no one, Lady Evelyn Verrick, which is why I shouldn't even be speaking to you. Good evening, my lady."

Turning away, he grabbed on to the saddled and pulled himself on. Just as he picked up the reins however, a sudden slender finger grabbed on to his wrist, catching him off guard just in time to yank him downwards. What surprised him the most however, was the fact that what met him was a pair of warm lips that drove his heart on a wild race in his chest, thudding almost painfully. The pair of lips that molded into his felt almost like a dream, yet her green eyes sparkling as they pulled apart reminded Connor that they weren't, especially when she smiled a saucy grin at his obviously shocked face.