Chapter 17 #2
“What is this about, Jamie?” Gawain sighed. “The lad says she’s spoken for, but she says nay.”
“So she does.” Jamie’s tone softened. “But I’ll thank you to withhold your interest until she says nay to me, as she has to my brother.”
“I’ll say—”
Sheena was cut short by a warning pressure from Jamie’s fingers. She wasn’t fool enough to test the man just then. If he wanted to hear her answer when they were alone, so be it.
“You’ll say what, lass?” Black Gawain prompted. But when she shook her head, he didn’t press it. “No’ made up your mind, eh?” He leaned back reflectively. “Well, well, so that’s the way of it. I must say, I never thought to see you and Colen fancying the same woman, Jamie.”
“It has been known to happen in many families,” Jamie replied, his casual tone a little forced.
“So it has,” Gawain agreed. “And what of Jessie Martin? I thought—”
“’Tis over,” Jamie said curtly.
“Is it now? But does she know that?”
“You ask too many questions, Gawain. This is none of your concern.”
Gawain smiled. At that moment Jessie came hurrying over, looking provocative in a blue silk gown. She gave Jamie a bright smile. He swore silently. He hadn’t had time to speak to her, and now Sheena was there. Sweet Mary!
“Dinna leave, Sheena.” Jamie squeezed her hand before letting it go. “I want to talk to you when I’m through.”
She looked at him beseechingly. She understood who this woman was, and what she was to Jamie.
“I know what you’re about to do, Sir Jamie, and I’m asking you no’ to do it on my account. You’ll regret it.”
He smiled at her gently before he left the table to intercept Jessie, steering her to the hearth. Sheena sighed. This mistress of Jamie’s was a strikingly beautiful woman. She did not deserve to be treated so callously. Sheena’s guilt grew when voices were raised.
“You canna mean it, Jamie. ’Tis too soon!”
“Lower your voice, Jessie.”
“Nay! I’ll no’ go!”
“You will!”
“Och, God,” Sheena gasped, covering her face with her hands. “How can he be so cruel?”
“Dinna waste your sympathy on a slut, lass,” Black Gawain said.
“I would have expected more charity from you, sir,” she said stiffly.
“Och, now, dinna look at me that way. Jessie Martin is a calculating, deceiving woman. She’s only getting what she deserves.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our Jamie wanted naught to do with her,” Gawain explained. “He knew her game and what she was after. Anyone who knows Jessie does. But she was out to have him, and there’s only so much enticing a man can withstand.”
“I’d prefer no’ to be hearing of this.”
“I only thought you’d be wanting to know, since you’ll be taking Jessie’s place.”
Sheena’s eyes flared. “He’s no’ asked me to be his mistress,” she said indignantly.
Gawain looked suitably shocked. “Forgive me, lass. I was only assuming…I mean, Jamie’s sworn never to marry without trying his bride first.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sheena retorted.
“He’s asked you to handfast then?” At her reluctant nod, Gawain chuckled. “Well, well, I never thought to see it. He’s no’ handfasted ’afore, you see. He’s never found a lass he’d be willing to commit himself to.”
“I dinna see handfasting as a commitment,” she said sharply. “’Tis only free license for an immoral love. I dinna believe in—”
She was cut short as a hand dug into her hair, yanking so viciously that her chair toppled over and she found herself on the floor.
She couldn’t move. The wind had been knocked out of her.
She could see the face of her attacker above her, a face contorted wildly by rage, an ugly visage replacing the beauty she had seen earlier in Jessie Martin.
A hand with its bent fingers and long nails was coming at Sheena’s face, yet she couldn’t seem to move, to cry out.
She could only stare at those clawlike fingers, mesmerized as they got closer and closer… .
The hand was gone. Jessie stumbled backward, yanked away by Jamie.
“Enough!” Jamie roared. “Or I’ll lay you out as I’m tempted to do!”
“I dinna care!” Jessie cried. “You turn me out for this tart your brother brought home. Why?”
“I’m no’ obliged to explain to you, Jessie. ’Tis over and that is all you need know.”
“I’ll no’ stand for it!” the woman screeched. “You used me, Jamie!”
“No more than you did me,” he replied, his voice controlled and cold. “You’ll be paid for your trouble, if that is what worries you.”
“Curse you, Jamie MacKinnion!” Jessie hissed, her green eyes gleaming fire.
“You’ll be regretting this, I swear you will.
And she will, too!” Jessie turned her murderous eyes on Sheena.
“You’re welcome to him, for he’ll be treating you this way as soon as a new lass catches his eye. The man is a faithless bastard!”
Jamie gripped her arms and shoved her away from him. “Gawain, if you please, take her out of here. And find someone deaf to escort her home. I wouldna wish this hagborn tongue on anyone who can hear.”
Gawain was thoroughly amused. He chuckled as he moved to take Jessie’s arm. “She just needs a little reassurance. I’m just the one to give it to her, if you can do without me for a day or two.”
“Suit yourself,” Jamie said. “As long as you know what you’re doing.”
Black Gawain laughed as he took Jessie out of the hall.
She went willingly enough, her confidence restored by a new admirer.
Gawain listened to her indignation with only half an ear.
Cruel, selfish, fickle were just a few of the words Sheena overheard before the hall quieted.
What had happened was unbelievable. The humiliation. The scorn. All so unnecessary.
“Sheena.”
All that she was fighting to control was revealed in the look she turned on Jamie. “How dare you subject her to that? How dare you subject me to that?” Her voice was but a whisper, but filled with such outrage that Jamie was taken aback.
“I didna know she would make such a fuss. Are you hurt, lass?”
“’Tis a fine time to be asking!” Sheena’s voice rose. “You had no right to insist I stay here and be put through that.”
“That isna why I asked you to stay.” His temper was wearing thin, and, quickly, she lowered her gaze. She was provoking him to the very thing she feared the most—his anger.
“I think enough has been said and done this day.” She spoke very softly.
“Now what is this?” he demanded. “So much anger canna disappear that easily. If you wish to shout at me, do so. Dinna hide your spirit behind a meek surface. I’ll no’ stand for that, Sheena. Dinna pretend wi’ me.”
“Very well, Sir Jamie,” she said stiffly. “I hate what you just did, and agree with everything that woman said of you. I asked you no’ to do it, but you wouldna listen to me. Now you’ve no one, for you certainly don’t have me.”
Jamie grinned, surprising her. “We’ll see about that, lass.”
“There’ll be no handfasting!” she snapped, infuriated by his easy humor.
“We’ll see about that, too,” he assured her. “Now come, you’ve no’ eaten.”
Sheena ignored his outstretched hand, exasperated by this new mood of his. “I’ve no appetite now. If you’ll excuse me….”
Jamie sighed. “Very well. But you’ll be riding with me today. Be ready in an hour.”
“Nay!” she gasped.
“Be ready, Sheena.”
She walked away. Another order, and one she would have to obey. She could challenge him only so often, she knew. The man misused his power cruelly. Yet how much could she do about it?