The Laird’s Hellion Virgin (Untamed Highland Brides #1)

Chapter 1

“Ihave had enough! If ye daenae marry the next laird I find for ye, ye will nay longer be me daughter!”

It was far from the first time that Hamish Reid had threatened his daughter with being disowned. Though it was perhaps the first time that Emily ever thought her father was being serious about it.

The statement alone should have been enough to humiliate her. Standing in the room with them was her mother, a witness to her embarrassment, but even she didn’t look like she believed him.

Normally, Emily would have shrugged off the threat, thinking that it was nothing but empty words. But seeing the way the vein in the side of her father’s neck was starting to bulge, and the way the tips of his ears were turning purple with rage, her sarcastic comments stayed behind her teeth.

“What would ye have had me do then, Faither?” she asked in a level voice that surprised even herself. She made to place her hands on her hips defiantly, but the warning click of her mother’s tongue stopped her. “Stay where I wasnae wanted?”

Hamish scoffed loudly. “Aye, I’m quite sure that ye drove the man mad to the point that he had nay choice but to throw ye out.”

“Husband, our daughter has had a very long evening, perhaps it would be best for all of us to rest on it and think of what to do in the morning?” Iona offered gently in an attempt to keep the peace.

Hamish shook his head once more. “Nay, I willnae be swayed this time! And is that nae something? Ye should have married the first match I secured for ye a year ago. Then, we wouldnae be here at all. Ye would be in yer own keep, and the problem of another man!”

Emily wouldn’t pretend that the words didn’t sting.

The two people standing in the room with her were the two people who were supposed to be on her side under all circumstances.

If they truly loved her, they would have accepted her with open arms, knowing that she had not been happy where she was before.

She didn’t care for her father’s claim that she was a problem to be dealt with.

She wasn’t a child and would not be spoken to as one.

“Ye are going to say something that ye’ll regret, husband,” Iona warned, her voice lowering.

Normally, Hamish was a far more level-headed man than he was at present. Emily might have had more patience to explain herself, were it not for the fact that she had been riding for hours to make it here and that her whole body ached from the hard journey.

“We werenae even betrothed for any length of time. It shall nae injure yer reputation, Faither, if that is what ye are worried about,” Emily said with a sigh.

Hamish rounded on her. “Nay, that isnae something that I am afraid of. Ye have already ruined yer reputation a long time ago! Running off yer mouth, doing whatever ye please! Ye are worse than the untamed phillies in the barn!”

“So, now I am a barn animal as well as a beast of burden, is that right, Faither?”

There was no longer any point in attempting to pretend that her feelings weren’t hurt. She didn’t see how there was anything wrong with what she was doing!

Was it truly such a terrible crime to wish that the man she bound herself to for the rest of her life was somebody that she could at least tolerate?

She didn’t think that she was delusional enough to think that she would magically find herself paired with her true love, but marrying Magnus would have been the last thing either of them wanted. It would not have been hard on her alone, given the circumstances.

Perhaps if her father were willing to sit down and listen to her, then she could explain.

“It is abundantly clear that ye have nay respect for me or for the future of this clan!” Hamish bellowed. “Why should I continue to offer ye the benefits and protection of living under me roof, if ye willnae even hold up yer end of the bargain and do the one duty that I have asked of ye!”

And there it was. A reminder that she wasn’t worth any more to him than her marriageable quality. An object for barter.

Emily did her best to swallow down the pain that surfaced. There had been a time when her father had looked at her like she was his pride and joy, an equal. But now? That all seemed like a distant dream.

Her jaw clenched so hard that her teeth hurt.

Her hands balled into fists at her sides.

It wasn’t as if her former betrothed, Magnus, had been unkind to her.

If anything, he had been overly hospitable.

But he wasn’t in love with her. He knew that he would never be able to fall in love with her.

His heart belonged to another, and she would never choose to stand in the way of such a kind man’s happiness.

No political alliance was worth that, in her opinion.

“If ye would let me speak!” she huffed, her voice straining to remain even.

“I didnae give ye permission to speak!” Hamish snapped. “Ye have brought shame upon our clan!”

“If something so small can bring such shame, Faither, then—”

“Silence!” Hamish growled, with a pointed finger.

Emily steeled herself and kept her chin jutted in defiance. If he had wanted a meek daughter who would fawn and primp all hours of the day, then he ought not to have raised her in the way he had chosen to raise her.

“Listen to me, lass. If ye disrespect another laird, this roof will nay longer shield yer head,” Hamish said through clenched teeth, his hand practically trembling in anger.

“Ye will have nay dowry, ye will have nay property or protection. I shall have ye excommunicated from the clan, and none shall give ye shelter here.”

“And ye will just cast me into the wind?!” Emily gasped. She was far too angry to fully realize the implications of his threat.

“As if ye willnae be just fine on yer own!” Hamish scoffed. “Since ye ken that yer own path is better than any that would seek to protect ye! Any laird that I partner ye with would provide ye a lifetime of comfort!”

He truly had no idea what he was saying. Nor what he was attempting to condemn her to.

Emily’s eyes rolled despite herself. It was not that she didn’t appreciate everything that she presently had. She loved her home, she loved her clan and her family, even when there were moments like this when she clashed with her father.

“Ye will be married. I give ye till the snows at the end of the year and nay later,” Hamish insisted. His tone said that his word on this was final, and there was no other way about it. “Whoever asks for yer hand next shall have it. I am finished with these games.”

Emily scoffed again, ready to retort, but the look in her father’s eyes and her mother’s warning headshake stopped her. “Fine, Faither. I understand.”

Hamish nodded and turned sharply on his heel, before storming out of his study, leaving her alone with her mother.

Emily stepped into her mother’s waiting embrace with a knowing wink and a smile. “But what if they daenae want to marry me?”