lady began to say something more but paused and held her words behind her teeth. A minute later, she did the same thing—began and paused. When she did it for a third time, he spoke instead.
‘Just speak your mind, lady. Between us. Tell me what you wish to say.’
‘I mean no insult, sir. I have no intention to embarrass or insult your laird and chief. I just cannot marry you.’ He could hear her trying to remain calm and failing as her voice hitched on the words.
‘Is there someone else, lady?’ he asked. ‘Or do you have some other objection? Give me some reason that I can understand, for I have no wish to marry an unwilling bride.’ And he did not.
‘I cannot marry you,’ she repeated.
‘Mayhap if you’d remained in your father’s house and discussed this before the betrothal, we could have made an agreeable arrangement. Now, though...’ he said.
‘Nay, pray do not say it is too late now?’ she asked, turning to face him. The grimace of pain told that she’d forgotten that injury in moving.
‘The betrothal is legal and sound. I fear it is too late.’
Rob waited, waited for tears, waited for angry words, waited for some emotional reaction from her. None came. All he heard was the sound of her ragged breathing. Once more she turned away from him, tucking her face into the pillow.
* * *
A thought occurred to him in the night some time later, as they both yet lay awake in the dark.
He’d not wanted this marriage. She wanted it not. So, why would he force this? It spoke of a disaster in the making. And problems and conflicts every step of the way. He would not even have a marriage of convenience, he would have a marriage of catastrophe.
‘I will speak to your father when we return. ’Tis clear to me that we do not suit. My laird will offer suitable compensation for breaking the betrothal contract and handle the issue.’
‘Truly?’ she asked, her voice now filled with hope. And that stung worse than any of her words so far.
‘Aye. I want no unwilling wife.’
Then silence filled the cottage, broken only by the occasional crackle of the fire or burst of wind outside. He thought she might have fallen asleep as he still tried to do.
‘I thank you, sir. I will always be grateful for the mercy and good will you have shown me when you have every right to treat me otherwise,’ she whispered.
Again, her words stung him. However, he’d spoken the truth. It would be easier to return to her father and his laird with a specific reason for breaking the contract, but Rob knew Brodie would have his back in this...or in anything he asked him to.
He rolled to his side and found himself drifting to sleep.
* * *
At some time in those last few hours before dawn, she turned to him and he slipped his arm over her, drawing her closer. He drifted in and out of sleep until the sound of swords being drawn got his attention.
Opening his eyes, he found Ramsey MacKay and six of his warriors standing around the pallet where he and Eva lay.
Where the MacKay’s daughter lay naked in the arms of her betrothed husband. Where Eva MacKay sighed his name before opening her eyes to find her father standing above them.
Her reaction—a loud, shrill scream that filled the cottage and made him squint—was something Rob could understand. But it was the MacKay’s soft words that bothered him more.
‘Well, I guess ye have no objections to taking my daughter as yer wife after all, Mackintosh. Welcome to the family.’
The door to her chambers slammed open and the maid helping her with her bath let out a shriek. With a nod of his head, her father ordered the maid out and closed the door behind her. Eva knew there would be a reckoning, and it appeared to be at hand.
‘You are quite bold for someone with so much to lose,’ he said quietly. Too quietly. ‘I told you what would happen if you did not do as I said. ’Tis the little bastard who will pay for your sins, daughter. All I have to do is send the word, and she will die.’
Eva grasped the sides of the tub, unable to breathe or reply.
He stood next to the large wooden tub and glared at her. There was no way to hide herself or to leave the tub. Her ankle was much improved but would not hold her weight yet. So, she was trapped here until he left and the maid returned.
‘’Tis a good thing he is willing to overlook your disobedience and stupidity and wilfulness,’ he began. ‘And a good thing he does not know you are nothing but a lying, ungrateful slut who does not know when to keep her mouth or her legs closed.’
She made the mistake of opening her mouth then, determined to find out what he’d done with her child, but he slapped her with the back of his hand. Her head bounced back against the side of the tub.
‘God knows, I have been too lenient with you. ’Tis your mother’s fault—she coddled you and allowed you too much say,’ he said, grabbing her by her hair and dragging her over the side of the tub. Unable to stand, she tried to crawl away, but he grabbed her arm and pushed her to the floor.
‘You dare demand that I tell you what you want to know? You dare threaten to reveal it to the Mackintosh’s man if I do not?’ He held her down with one strong hand on her back, and she could not move from his hold.
‘Mayhap if you’d been strapped well when I found out about that boy and what you’d been doing, you would have lost it and saved me such trouble.’ Only then did she see the long leather strap in his hand.
Eva tried to grab for some covering, but she was too far from the bed and from the stool where the drying cloths lay. He did not wait before striking her, laying it hard on her back and buttocks. She screamed against such pain, but it had no effect on him.
‘I have him where I want him. You will not speak of this to him,’ he said in a lower voice. ‘Or your child will not live to see the first anniversary of her birth.’
The threat took away her breath then, against Mairead and against Rob. She tried to bear it in silence but could not and screamed with each blow. Four lashes delivered with a heavy hand and he’d reared back to hit her again, when the door opened. Already out of breath, her father called out over his shoulder rather than stop.
‘I’m seeing to my daughter. Get out now,’ he called.
‘She is my wife.’
Rob.
Eva could only curl up in a ball there on the floor. The pain in her back and her buttocks took her breath away.
‘Then learn from my mistakes, Mackintosh. She needs to be taught obedience. She only understands the strap. Used often and used well.’ Her father swung once more, wrenching another cry from her.
Eva
