Green was not her favorite color, and it was the first time she was proud of wearing it. The gold embroidery on the entire fabric made the dress look elegant. The low V-neck cut showed off her neckline and top of her breasts.
“Really?” Isla asked Moira. “I do look beautiful?”
Moira nodded. “I am sure the Laird willnae be able to take his eyes off ye. Nay man in there will be able to take their eyes off ye.”
I wonder if the same goes for Jack.
Moira herself was a beautiful woman. She had long blonde hair and her eyes were the same shade as Jamie’s. Isla especially loved her smile. It flashed her dimples and made her look like a little child.
They entered the Great Hall together, and the music stopped at the same time. Truly, heads turned in their direction and Isla inhaled sharply when her gaze landed on Jack.
He was looking at her too, and his lips were slightly parted. The hand holding his quaich stopped above his lips, and a second passed while they looked at each other before he averted his eyes first and drank deeply from the quaich.
Isla kept her chin high as she entered the Hall.
“Ye should sit by the Laird’s side,” Moira told her.
When Isla reached Jack’s side and sat, she cleared her throat and leaned close to him a bit. “When does the dance start?”
Jack glanced in her direction, and she smiled. “I want to show off the new skill I learned.”
Jack smiled too and shook his head. “The dance starts when I give the order for it to start.”
“And when is that?”
Jack rose to his feet and lifted his quaich. “A toast,” he announced, and the Hall fell silent. Isla looked around and saw there were a lot of people looking in their direction.
Most of them wore different colors from the red and black Jack’s Clansmen wore. She could identify some the Clans by their colors.
Green belonged to Clan Mackintosh, blue was for the Calloway merchants who were a part of the Kirkpatrick Clan, and black was for… her thoughts trailed off for a second as her eyes stayed on the man who had joined Jack to stand and toast to their betrothal.
“To many blissful years, Laird Humphreys.”
Black belongs to Clan Kirkpatrick,Isla thought as her heartbeat gained speed and her pulse skyrocketed. This was it… this was her chance.
Suddenly the thought of spending hours dancing and talking to strangers seemed appealing for the first time to Isla. Tonight she could talk to Laird Kirkpatrick and find out what she could about the Clan the first owner of the medallion had been married into.
Jack had finished the toast before he extended a hand for her to stand. They shared the first dance, and she matched his rhythm and steps perfectly.
“You look amazing tonight,” he told her before he twirled her around the first time. Isla was closer in his arms than the first time now, and she pressed her hand over the hard wall of his chest.
“And you clean up nicely yourself,” she replied. His hair was a little bit shorter than it was the previous day, and he had also trimmed his beard. Isla’s gazed drifted to his lips for a brief second before she met his eyes again.
“Who knew you were this good at dancing?” he asked. His voice sounded too husky to her, or was she imagining it?
“I’m a fast learner.” She lowered her own voice as she replied, and she became strongly aware of her own heartbeat.
A tiny gasp left her when his arm moved around her waist and brought her closer to him. The move stole Isla’s breath away and made her tremble inside.
Her eyes met his, and for a second she forgot everything else on her mind. Her entire being and body was fixed on him and the intense look in his eyes.
Time passed as the music continued in the background. Isla could barely hear it now because she was completely enveloped by his nearness. His scent clouded her judgment. She even forgot that she was to find a way to dance with Laird Kirkpatrick.
Being in Jack’s arms like this made her feel like a different person. There was that magnetic pull between them again. It made her lean closer to him, and she closed her eyes when he did the same.
His hot breath tickled her face and made her draw in a long, deep sigh. The pit of her stomach quivered in anticipation, her lids remained closer, but his lips never came.
Isla expected a kiss, but the song came to a slow end, and cheers erupted in the crowd. She realized she was breathing heavily again when she opened her eyes. Jack hadn’t moved from where he stood.