Chapter 16
Boyd shoved the door open.
It crashed against the wall with a bang, and Boyd filled the doorway like an avenging angel, his chest heaving, his eyes blazing with fury.
"Bella!"
Inside the cozy interior, Bella jumped so violently she nearly dropped the water pot she'd been holding. Her head whipped around, eyes wide with shock.
Then, impossibly, inexplicably, her face spread into a smile.
"Boyd!" Her voice was warm, delighted. "Ye're back!"
She actually looked happy to see him. Her eyes lit up, her whole face brightened, and for one disorienting moment Boyd felt the breath knocked from his lungs.
But then his gaze swept the interior and landed on Tobias, who'd risen from the small table, a honey cake halfway to his mouth.
Boyd's momentary confusion evaporated in a surge of pure, possessive fury. A low growl rumbled from his chest.
Tobias's eyes widened. Then, instinctively, he moved to place himself between Bella and Boyd.
That protective movement infuriated Boyd.
"Get away from my wife!" he snarled.
Tobias raised a brow. "I will when ye calm down."
The cocky son of a bitch wasn't even afraid. Instead, Tobias shoved the honey cake into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and crossed his arms over his chest.
That caused Boyd to fume even more.
"Ye better leave before I gut ye like a fish." Boyd's voice was low, dangerous.
Bella's smile vanished. She put down the water pot. "Boyd! That is no way to talk to Tobias. He is a guest."
"A guest?" Boyd's laugh was harsh. "Alone. In a secluded cottage. How convenient."
Bella flinched as if he'd struck her. "What are ye saying?"
"I'm saying my wife should not entertain a male guest she meets in secret!" he roared.
Bella gasped in shock.
Tobias lowered his arms, his hands clenching into fists. "How dare ye insult yer wife like that," he said, his voice shaking with barely controlled fury. "She has been nothing but kind, and she would never be unfaithful to ye."
Boyd flinched at his words, but Tobias wasn't finished.
"But if ye must ken, laird, there are many men, me included, who would happily call yer wife their own.
She could easily find comfort elsewhere.
Heaven kens she deserves it after the way ye've treated her.
But there is no way in hell yer wife would do that, because she doesn't have a cheating bone in her body! "
The silence that followed was deafening.
Boyd's jaw clenched when he replied, "How. Dare. Ye. Who are ye to talk to me about my relationship with my wife?"
"What relationship, Boyd?"
The quiet question came from Bella, and it was louder than any shout.
Boyd turned to her, and the look in her eyes, pain and anger and bitter resignation, made his chest constrict.
"What relationship?" Bella repeated, her voice stronger now. "Ye come here making accusations, but where have ye been spending all yer nights, husband? With whom? Perhaps 'tis I who should be angry at ye."
Boyd remained silent, unsure how to respond.
Tobias shook his head slowly, relaxing his stance as he looked between them. "I think 'tis best I leave," he said quietly. "I can see despite yer husband being an arrogant horse's arse, ye both still love each other."
Tobias moved toward the door, paused, then turned back to the table and took the entire trencher of honey cakes. He winked at Bella. "No point having these go to waste."
Then he brushed past Boyd, giving him the evil eye on the way out, and left.
It took all of Boyd's self-control not to smash Tobias in the face.
But he couldn't do it. Despite the circumstances, he respected a man who wasn't afraid to call out his bad behavior for Bella's sake.
That was rare indeed. It made Boyd realize the level of loyalty his wife had garnered from members of his clan in such a short time.
He was both proud of her and annoyed. It seemed everywhere he turned he was being reprimanded for neglecting his wife.
And rightly so.
The silence stretched between them after Tobias left.
Boyd turned to find Gilroy and Darach in the doorway, drawn by the commotion.
"Return to the Keep," he commanded, his voice deadly quiet. "My wife and I require privacy."
"Mistress—" Gilroy started.
"Now!" Boyd demanded.
They ignored him and waited until Bella gestured that she was well before they left.
Boyd caught the silent exchange, and he was part proud and irritated that even his own guardsmen had switched loyalties to his wife.
Boyd shut the door and locked it.
"How dare ye," Bella said finally, her voice trembling with rage. "How dare ye come here and insult me like this. Tobias has no ill intentions toward me, nor I toward him. He was kind enough to fashion me a knife. That's all. How dare ye suggest otherwise!"
Boyd growled. "What am I supposed to think when I return home hoping to see my wife, only to find her shacked up in a bothy, getting cozy with a braw man instead of waiting for me!"
"Shacked up?" Bella's eyes blazed. "Ye truly think so little of me?"
"I found ye alone with a man. A handsome man who looks at ye like ye’re a faerie queen."
"Ye dinnae get to do this!" Bella slammed her fist on the table and shouted, surprising Boyd. "Ye dinnae get to ignore me for weeks, tell me ye'll never touch me, inform me ye'll take yer pleasure elsewhere, and then storm in here like a jealous husband!"
"Ye're my wife!" Boyd snapped.
"Then act like my husband!" Bella shot back. "Ye rejected me at every turn, made it clear ye wanted nothing to do with me. So, I made friends, and now ye dare to judge me for it?"
Bella was done being patient with Boyd. What was it the abbess said? Choose yer battles. Well, this was hers because it was the most important of all.
"I'm not judging ye. I'm angry that ye're entertaining men alone in this cottage!" Boyd yelled.
"Why? Because someone was kind to me instead of treating me like I'm nothing. Because I refuse to be lonely despite my husband not wanting my company. Does that mean I'd bed any man that gives me attention? No, because I made my vows to ye and I would never break them."
"How can I believe that, Bella?"
They were both breathing hard, circling each other like wounded animals.
It was Bella's turn to shout now. "Where have ye been, Boyd? All these nights away from the Keep. How many women did ye seek out for the comfort ye refused from me?"
"Dinnae be daft. There was no one!" Boyd snapped.
"Liar!" Bella's voice cracked. "Ye said ye'd meet yer needs elsewhere. Is that why ye're so angry? So mistrusting of me because ye easily cheat and ye believe I would as well?"
"Now ye insult me, wife! I have been with no one. I said it to hurt ye, to push ye away, but there's been no one, Bella. No one but ye. Not in ten bloody years!"
Bella stared at him with disbelief. "Dinnae lie to me. I saw ye! That night, at the tavern. Ye had a woman draped over yer lap. I'm sure ye've had hundreds more since then!"
"I pulled her onto my lap to make ye jealous!" Boyd roared. "I saw ye standing there, looking at me with those wounded eyes, and I wanted to hurt ye the way I thought ye'd hurt me. I never even looked at her again after ye left."
"Ye expect me to believe that?"
"'Tis the truth! That woman meant nothing. Because the only woman I've ever wanted, the only woman I've dreamed of every damned night, is ye!"
Bella shook her head, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. "Stop lying to me."
"I'm not lying." Boyd's voice was raw. "Do ye want to ken how I spent my nights, Bella? Do ye want to ken what kept me warm in my bed while other men sought comfort in willing arms?"
He moved closer, his eyes blazing into hers.
"I dreamed of ye," he said, his voice dropping to a rough growl.
"Every single night for ten years. Erotic dreams of ye so vivid I'd wake hard and aching, covered in sweat, yer name on my lips.
Dreams of yer body beneath mine, above me, riding me, taking me.
Dreams of yer taste, yer scent, the sounds ye made the first time I took ye at the forge.
And I'd lie there in the dark, alone, wanting ye so badly I thought I'd go mad. "
Bella's breath caught. She looked stunned.
"I'd take myself in hand," Boyd continued, brutally honest, "and try to find some release. My own hand, imagining yer touch. That's all I had for ten years, Bella. That's what my nights were like. I was alone, tormented by memories and dreams of the only woman I've ever loved."
"Boyd?" Bella's voice was barely a whisper.
"Why do ye think they call me the Monk?" Boyd said bitterly.
"'Tis because I showed no interest in women.
Even after battle I preferred my own company to the camp followers.
Women think I'm cold. Unfeeling. That I have no heart.
But the truth is ye ruined me for all others, Bella.
Ruined me because all I wanted was ye, and I couldn't have ye, and it was destroying me from the inside out. "
Bella stared at him, her face awash with tears. "Why should I believe ye?"
"Because it's the truth!" Boyd's voice broke. "Because I've spent ten years alone and celibate, imagining ye fucking Philip Gregory!"
"Who the hell is Philip bloody Gregory?" Bella screamed in frustration, her voice raw with anguish. "Ye were the only man I ever loved, Boyd. The only man I ever lay with! How do ye think I could play ye false when my whole heart and body belonged to ye?"
Boyd's voice was hoarse. "But yer cousin Paisley told me she saw ye trysting in the woods with Philip. Some men at the tavern confirmed it."
"Paisley?" Bella's laugh was wild, almost hysterical. "How would she ken anything? Her loyalties have always been to Bryce! They're thick as thieves. Bryce and Father never wanted me to marry ye and Paisley agreed with them. Why would ye even believe her without asking me?"
Boyd froze, the pieces falling into place with sickening clarity. "Bryce," he rasped. "It was Bryce."