My Highlander, My Love

Aftershocks

The musicians started to play, and many danced on the dance floor, while others walked around and socialized. The MacAlisters mingled with the Bruce clan, and there was great conversation and laughter throughout the courtyard as the evening wore on.

It was a magical evening, with mouthwatering lambs on spits, and enough ale to go around and fill each and every goblet tenfold, for Michael spared no expense at this festival, wanting to make the Bruce clan feel welcome, and start a relationship that hopefully will last a life time, it was his fathers dream to maintain peace between the two clans.

Hundreds of servants walked around passing out appetizers to the guests, and making sure that every goblet was filled to the rim. The chefs chopped the meats right off the spits and platters of roast lamb was being served around the courtyard.

It was a glorious night of drinking and dancing under the star filled night sky, and Michael looked around nervously for his betrothed, wondering were she had run off to. She didn't look to happy to be here today, and he didn't blame her, he wasn't excited either, but they both had their obligations to their clan to fulfill the wishes of their parents.

Not wanting to be accused of abandoning the chiefs daughter, Michael looked around for his betrothed, but could not find her anywhere. Last time he looked, she was following him around like a lost lamb, and he hated that with a passion. She was annoying him, and he slipped away from her, but that was hours ago, and now he grew desperate to find her, before he angered her father.

After checking around the whole courtyard twice, Michael decided to go look in the gardens, mayhap she was hiding in there, he thought dryly, already annoyed with her, as he marched angrily through the rose path. He almost turned around to leave the gardens, thinking that it was too dark here for any woman to want to be here alone, at this time of night, he thought, but as he was about to leave, he heard someone crying by the water fountain, and he made his way silently to see who that could be.

Standing behind his betrothed, he watched as she cried softly, and for a moment he understood her pain, but when his ego took over, he thought that it was he that should be crying not her! He walked angrily around to face her, and when she noticed him standing in front of her, she stopped crying and looked away embarrassed that he had caught her crying pathetically like a child.

"Please explain to me why you disappeared without telling me where you were going! I so hate to be wasting my precious time chasing around a child who does not know how to behave around her master!" He barked with arrogance.

Kyra narrowed her eyes at him, and pulled herself angrily off the bench on which she sat on and said, "You are not my master, nor will you ever be! Know that the only reason I am here is because I was forced to come! Further more, if you raise your tone of voice to me again, I will have no choice but to report it to my father, and hope that he does the right thing and call off this arranged marriage!"

Kyra watched in horror as the giant warrior threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"How dare you laugh at my me!" She said angrily. "I will not stand here and be disrespected by you!" She said, and she turned around and marched away from him.

Michael was quick to grab her arm and pull her up against his muscled chest, and for a second, his anger was forgotten as his heart did a double take when her body came into contact with his. He let her go instantly and pushed her away from him, as the electrical current traveled through his body, shaking him to the core. Kyra too, was feeling similar shocks throughout her entire body, and was left speechless.

Time stood still as they both tried to recover from the aftershocks, not knowing what had just transpired through them. They were both left confused, until Michael was quick to think that she had tricked him in some way to believe that he was feeling things which did not exist.

"Do you use trickery with all your male friends, to get them to want you?" He asked her, wanting desperately to end this fiasco, wishing his father had not obligated him to marry this wench hundreds of years ago.

At first, Kyra did not know what he was implying, and when she realized what he meant, she seethed with anger.

"You flatter yourself "master"" she said ironically, and bowed before him to irritate him, and she succeeded.

Michael's huge calloused hands turned to fists at his sides, as he tried to control his anger. It wouldn't be good for his clan if he gave her the beating that she deserved, her father would boil with rage, and the peace treaty would end.

"Come back with me to the festival, or they will notice our absence and come looking for us!" He growled.

"I don't take orders from you! We are not married yet, and I am going to make sure we never will be!" She yelled.

Michael raised an eyebrow and said, "Be careful wench, if I pull back from this marriage deal, you will be left a spinster, for no one in Scotland would marry a scarred faced, big mouth like you!"

"You think yourself mighty handsome don't you? Well guess what, you're not! I have seen a man who looks like a Greek God, and he craves me!" She said.

And that did not settle kindly with Michael, knowing that there was someone out there better looking than him on his land. "Oh yeah, and this Greek God wants your badly." He said sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact, we are lovers, I have given myself to him!" She lied, just to wipe the arrogant smile off his face.

Michael grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, "I was told you were a virgin! I will not have a whore raising my children!" He barked.

"Then tell my father that you don't want to marry me, end this now!" She yelled.

Michael was besides himself with anger, that he was stuck with a scarred faced woman, who was not even a virgin! He was tricked, but he knew that he could not back out now, for if he told her father that he will not marry her because she isn't a virgin, mayhap she will claim that he was the one who deflowered her!

He closed his eyes for a second to compose himself, and when he opened up his eyes again, he said through gritted teeth, "We will marry in one months time, but know this, I will make your life miserable! You will wish that you had never met me!" He warned.

Grabbing her by her arm he pulled her with him across the garden and back to the festivities, both of them missing the electrical sensation that was happening again throughout their body's as they touched, because they were to angry to notice it.

All kinds of wild thoughts crossed through Michael's mind as he marched them back to the courtyard, and right before they entered the yard, Michael let go of her and plastered a fake smile on his face, and walked like a gentleman next to his betrothed. Speculators watched as they came out of the darkened garden , and thought that the two were having sweet moments together in private.

Michael noticed that everyone was watching them as they walked to the middle of the courtyard, and to cover up the anger they both felt, he pulled Kyra with him to the dance floor, and wrapped his strong and possessive arms around her, and danced with Kyra, a slow tune that was now playing. A crowd gathered around to watch them dance.

Michael leaned his head down to Kyra and whispered in her ear, "put a smile on your face and let them think you are enjoying this, do not let our clans to be at war with each other again." Kyra knew that his words were wise, and did as she was told.

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