Chapter 15 #2
He smiled, black lashes lowering over his crystal gaze for a brief moment. Then he was looking at her again. “So you’ve noticed that my teeth are decent.”
“For a Norman’s.” She knew, instinctively, that there was nothing she could say or do to irritate him more. And she was floundering. Afraid of his touch, longing for it, so afraid of the way he could make her feel, so afraid of what she would feel when they had taken it even farther.
He maintained his casual smile. She knew that it was forced. “Off with it,” he told her softly. Even his voice touched her. Burned within.
She shook her head. “This isn’t fair at all. I—”
“You swore to meet me here, in payment for your freedom. Then, you promised to keep that first vow in return for the courtesy of escaping the fortress. Come, my love, be bold, be reckless, be daring. Gentle, sweet, sensual—and silent, as you promised.”
She wasn’t silent. Beneath her breath she began to revile him with every cutting word and oath that would come to her mind. But as she swore, she wrenched the gown over her head. It fell to her feet, and she was left with the cloak of her hair as her only garment.
He stared at her a long while. His eyes seemed black, but his expression remained impassive.
Then he smiled. “Now. Come to me.”
Again, she began to swear.
“Great Adin’s daughter, afraid?” he queried, arching a brow. “But then, you’re missing your knife and sword tonight, you’re without your weapons.”
“So are you.”
“Never,” he told her gravely. “Come …”
She stood before him. He took her hand and brought it to his face.
She trembled as he moved her palm, and kissed it.
It seemed a surprisingly tender gesture, and it took her off guard.
Naked, she was very aware of the steel structure of his body, of the supple ripple of muscle as he drew a line down the length of her spine, bringing her closer.
“Feel free to seduce and repay me at any time,” he murmured.
She tensed, ready to slap him. He laughed, fingers gentle upon her jaw, lifting her face to his. “M’lady, you kiss me …”
She wasn’t certain if she managed the act, but their lips were touching.
She didn’t feel the kiss so deeply, for she nearly jumped a mile at the touch of his hand.
Moving over her, the length of her, breasts, ribs, waist, hips, belly, breasts again …
she nearly shrieked aloud, she felt as if she shook inside and out, the heat that filled her was unbearable, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand, couldn’t move, could just feel him …
Then he suddenly set her from him. She willed herself not to waver, stumble, fall.
He was staring at her, eyes almost black in the firelight again.
“Well, so you do know how to pay your promises,” he said flatly, adding softly.
“And you are very near the absolute perfection legend claims you to be.” He lifted a hand, incredibly, dismissing her.
She just stared at him for a moment. Then it dawned on her that he didn’t intend to demand any conjugal rights that evening. He had forced her to do all this just to prove that he was now the great laird and master. It was revenge, indeed.
“You bastard!” she said quietly.
“Maybe. Maybe you’ve simply run me ragged, and I don’t choose to wear myself out wondering where I shall be looking for you next. Go to bed.”
Teeth grating, she didn’t move. Her fists were clenched at her sides to keep them from flying. She couldn’t have moved had she tried.
He let out an oath of impatience. “Don’t you ever simply accept something that you want in silence and good grace?”
“Accept your kindness, in silence?” she queried. “You’re right that none of this is kindness or consideration. You’ve chosen not to believe or trust me—”
“Surely, you can see my point!”
“You think that I might be carrying another man’s child, and you will annul this marriage without blinking if it is so.”
He didn’t reply.
“Well, you didn’t wish to be married, did you? You have your mistress. God alone knows what other women. But tell me this, my great Laird Lion, what is to stop me from seeing other men in the future?”
He straightened from his stance against the table, ice as crystal as glass.
He took a single step toward her, and she would have backed away from his menace had she time.
He reached out and lifted her chin with a touch so forceful she nearly cried out.
He lowered his lips nearly to hers and spoke in a controlled whisper that frightened and chilled her more than any shout could do.
“The past, my lady, is the past; it is what has happened already, before I was in your life. I would not condemn you for it, indeed, I have, at times, almost felt sympathy for your longing to be free. But if I ever suspect you of a lover, m’lady, I promise you, he will be dead within the hour, and should you survive my wrath, you will live forever-more with all the independence and freedom you might desire—alone in a stone tower. ”
She stood dead still, returning his stare, not fighting his grip.
Perhaps he realized his own force. He released her and stepped back.
She longed to leap forward in rage, rip into his face, pummel it into little bits and pieces.
She was afraid to touch him. She clenched her jaw again until it hurt and controlled her fury.
“Well,” she murmured, “I shall revel then in the independence you have given me now, my laird husband. And naturally, sir, I do thank you for this time, and of course, for refusing to allow us to be entertainment for the king’s drunken guests.”
“Don’t thank me for refusing that spectacle. It was not so much a kindness to you; I simply didn’t intend on humiliating myself,” he said irritably. “Go to bed, get some sleep. I am anxious to reach Blue Isle.”
There were more things she might have said.
She remained furious with the game he had played, and furious that he thought her a liar.
But her anger was impotent. He had what he wanted.
He was laird of Blue Isle. And he would have his children.
But the children would wait, because he wanted to be certain she wasn’t carrying another man’s child.
She wondered what had so convinced him that she’d been with another man, when she had sworn that she had not.
He doesn’t trust me. That much is obvious.
And painful, she thought suddenly. What a way to begin a new life.