Chapter 28
You sold her off. Now she belongs to me. And if you do anything to prevent me from taking her back, you will regret it.
Elspeth pressed herself against the wall in the darkened hallway, and prayed that no one could hear her heart hammering in her rib cage, or her too-short breaths.
It was eagle-eyed Mairi who’d seen Struan in the ballroom first. She’d alerted Ellie in a low voice, but by the time Ellie really believed that he was here, in Edinburgh, at her family’s party, he’d suddenly left the room.
It had taken a little while to escape the room and follow him, but at last, Ellie had heard his voice down a hallway.
The sisters advanced as much as they dared, and then hid in the next room, listening hard.
She didn’t know what they were discussing until the last moment when Struan raised his voice and declared her his lost property.
She couldn’t hear her father’s response, if he made one.
All she knew was that Struan would not see reason.
He obviously rethought the choice to allow her to return home, and was now intent on dragging her back.
They held perfectly still as they heard the door slam shut and heavy footfalls moved down the hallway. Struan was leaving.
She turned to Mairi, whispering, “Did you hear that?”
Mairi nodded. “It was hard not to. That is a man who could be heard across the city.”
“What am I to do?” asked Elspeth. “I don’t want to go back to his house, but I have no choice. I was so na?ve! I wanted so badly to believe. I wanted it so much that I ignored better sense, which would have told me that such a thing only happens in fairy tales.”
“I read all your letters to me. You thought you were in a fairy tale,” Mairi pointed out. “You praised him to the skies.”
“Yes, but that was before I knew the truth. When I was still trying to be an ideal wife, imagining that I had an ideal husband.”
“Well, to be fair, it sounds as though he was ideal in many ways. You wrote that he was kind and attentive, and treated you well and even indulged you with gifts and other kindnesses, which you have certainly not had an excess of in your life.”
“You’re taking his side?” Elspeth asked, aghast.
“I am merely repeating what you wrote. You sounded very much in love.”
“That was because I didn’t know he’d essentially purchased me as if I were a side of beef at a market.”
“Oh, you’re so tender you would surely be veal.”
Elspeth smiled despite herself. “You know what I mean. He kept me ignorant because it made me more biddable.”
“You were always biddable,” Mairi said. “You prided yourself on how you leapt to obey virtually any order or even request.”
“I am as God made me,” said Elspeth.
“No, you are as you made you. Over the course of a lifetime and with Father’s reinforcement, yes.
Even when you were little, you always looked so happy to be told what to do.
I would sit and scream, and have tantrums and say no, no, no.
But you, my sweet sister, simply stood up and said yes, yes, yes.
It’s really no wonder why our father offered you as the bride.
You’re the one who would never object. But as it happens, maybe this was an inadvertent favor on Father’s part.
The man you describe in your letters, and even who you talked about once you got here again, seems to be a rare example of a man who thinks he’s not above a woman. ”
“He thinks he’s above me if he claims he can pick me up and drag me back to his home.”
“Would it be more pleasant if he knelt at your feet and asked nicely? Yes. But he’s correct in that both the law and the rules of our society will uphold him in every instance. And he came here, Pest. He followed you.”
Elspeth sighed in frustration. “We must find some way to escape, both of us.”
Mairi gave her a sad smile. “We’ll think of something. Stay here a moment, will you? I want to have a few words with Father. You can slip down the hallway once you hear the yelling.”
Ellie waited until she heard Mairi address their father in an imperious voice, then pull the door closed.
She took a deep breath, counted to ten, then stepped out of the side room…only to run directly into Struan.
“What the…” he muttered.
He’d taken hold of her shoulders by instinct, but Ellie knew the second he realized it was her.
He tightened his grip as he glared down at her. “What are you doing here?”
“This is my family’s house. What are you doing here?”
“I had a few more things to say to your father.”
“You’ll have to wait for Mairi to finish now. Besides, it sounded like you said enough before.”
“You were listening?”
“You weren’t exactly discreet as you were demanding your property back.”
His lips twisted. “Never mind what I told him. We need to talk.”
Ellie tried to shrug him off. It was impossible. He was already directing her back into the darkened side room, kicking the door shut with his foot after he moved in.
“I don’t want to talk to you!” Elspeth insisted.
“Too bad.”
“We have nothing to talk about. You made yourself clear the last time we spoke. You don’t care about me in the least, and you never want to see me again. And yet, you followed me. Why?”
“You know why.”
Part of her—most of her—prayed that this would be an apology. An abject recusal of everything he’d done before. A begging for forgiveness.
She should have known better. The man standing in front of her now knew exactly what he’d done. But not a flicker of remorse showed in his face. He was simply retrieving his stray.
“You told me I could come back home,” she whispered. “You told me to go.”
“Aye, I did.” He looked her over, and seemed to take in her appearance for the first time. He moved one hand to toy with the sapphire necklace she wore.
“It was in the jewel case in my trunks that got packed,” she said, as if he were about to accuse her of stealing it. “I didn’t know about the case till I arrived here. They belong to you, I assume. Your family…”
“I didn’t come here for the stones,” he said shortly.
“Then what?”
But he was still tracing the line of the necklace…until his fingers dropped a few inches lower to the edge of her bodice. “This is one of the new dresses you ordered.”
“And you paid for. Does it meet with your approval?”
“In part.” His gaze drifted down to her décolletage, and Elspeth felt the heat in it. Her body responded instantly.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s covering what I want to see.” He cupped her breast, his hand burning through the fabric, his thumb finding her suddenly hard and aching nipple and circling once.
Elspeth’s reaction was embarrassingly needy, a moan ripping up her throat as she arched her back to press into him. Why did his touch feel so perfect? She hated him, but she wanted this touch, this intimacy that no one else could offer.
“You like that, wife? Or are you just playing a part?”
“Not playing… Oh, God, when you touch me,” she gasped out as he continued to tease her breasts.
“What do you want? Say it.”
She closed her eyes, hating her weakness, her desire for him.
“Say it, Ellie,” he told her, his breath on her ear, his voice deceptively soft, even gentle. “You want me. Say it.”
“I have not forgiven you. This is only…fucking,” she gasped out between desperate breaths as he pleasured her relentlessly, his mouth hot over her exposed skin.
“Then fuck me,” he told her, yanking her skirts up to get access to her throbbing core. He cupped the triangle of curls between her legs.
Elspeth’s heart pounded in anticipation.
“Do you want to be fucked, Ellie?” he asked.
“Yes!” she hissed. “Yes, I want you to fuck me. I need to feel you.” She needed to hear him call her that sweet name again, the one he’d decided to use for her.
He exhaled, and she realized how tense he was, how ready to snap. He wants me too, she thought.
Struan moved his hand slightly, slipping a long finger between her legs, stroking with maddening slowness.
Ellie practically cried out at his touch. She was so aroused that it was almost painful as the tip of one finger slid over the nub at her core.
“Fuck, you’re dripping,” he said, the words coming out as a growl.
“I…am.” She could confess that. It was undeniable. “Don’t make it be for nothing.”
He’d been working at his own clothing until he could free his cock. He pushed toward her, not entering her, just pressing his length between her legs, sliding along that slick fold, teasing her with all that hardness.
She bucked her hips, trying to capture him somehow. As if she could ever make the giant pinning her down do anything other than what he wanted. “Struan, please. No more torture.”
“Is that what it is when I don’t fuck you? Torture?”
“It’s torture either way, so we may as well do what we both want.”
With a low sound, he shifted so he could slide into her, filling her so that she nearly cried out as the pleasure burst through her. And then he braced her against the wall and took her.
It wasn’t elegant or measured. It was pure carnality. And it was exactly what her body craved.
She reached her peak so fast she wasn’t ready, and almost cried out.
Struan covered her mouth with his to keep her quiet, his kiss rough and hot, without a trace of tenderness.
He finished a second later, his whole body hard against her own. She was pressed between him and the wall, and it wasn’t comforting or comfortable, and she didn’t care. She’d needed that release so badly.
“Fuck, Ellie, you feel so good,” he said then, his voice raw, his breath fast and his heart thudding so she could feel it when they were pressed so close together.
He took a deep breath, then seemed to come to his senses. He withdrew, then set her down on the floor again. She could stand, barely. Her dress was in complete disarray, and she could only imagine the state of her hair.
Struan put his hands on her head, her face, as if unable to stop touching her. When his fingers grazed her bruised cheek under her hair, she winced.
He saw her reaction, frowned. Suddenly, he swept her hair away from her face before she could stop him.
He went still when he saw what her hair had been hiding. “Did I…just now?” he asked, confused, alarmed. Then he registered that the wound was older, already healing. His eyes narrowed. “Who.”
“I got into an argument with my father,” she explained hastily. “I goaded him. He’s never struck me before.”
“He never will again.” Those words were practically bitten off.
“I won’t give him a reason again.”
“No. He won’t do it again because I’ll fucking kill him if he does. And I’m telling him that now.” He looked to the door.
“Because I’m yours?”
“Yes, you’re mine. And he’s an ass. Go to your room and pack some things. You’re leaving this house with me.”
“No.”
He turned back to her. “What?”
“I can’t go with you. I don’t want to.”
“Ellie, he hurt you.”
“So did you.”
That hit its target. She saw the fire go out of his eyes, even as he said, “I could make you go.”
“Then make me. If you want to bring your lost property back to your house, if that’s why you’re telling me to be obedient and follow you like a whipped dog, make me.”
She was shaking as she spoke, sure she’d gone much too far. Would he just pick her up and stalk out of the house with his prize, like some ancient Viking warrior? Defiant was the last thing she wanted to be, but the only thing she could be now.
Struan just stood there for a moment, maybe also stunned by her refusal, maybe just unsure of who to be angry at first.
Then he turned away. “I’m hunting down McGregor. If you insist on staying in this hellhole, at least freshen up before you set foot outside the room. We wouldn’t want people to think we were up to anything.” That last past was said with a sneer.
And then he left.
Ellie almost called him back, but bit her tongue.
She’d reached the limit of her newfound courage.
If he returned and once again told her to follow him, she undoubtably would.
Lord, she’d just offered him her body because she couldn’t endure a few weeks without him.
How could she pretend she didn’t still have feelings for him?