her head to look at him. It seemed that every time he came into her life, she was helpless. Now, worse than helpless, for she was naked on the floor being beaten by her father.
‘Then I will see to it,’ he said to her father.
The tension in the chamber heightened as she waited to see what her father would do. Ramsey MacKay was not used to interference with his wishes or to being ordered about, so she held little hope that he would cease now. Eva dared a glance to see what would happen.
‘I agreed to the betrothal. I agreed to the marriage. She is mine, to do with as I please and no longer under your authority, MacKay. Or do I tell Brodie Mackintosh that you reneged on the contract?’
When she dared to peek, Rob had crossed his arms over his chest in a frightful pose. His face grew dark and threatening, and Eva was not certain who was most in danger: her or her father. She shivered at the sight.
‘Very well,’ her father said, relenting. He tossed the strap to Rob and crossed the room to the door. Staring at her, he began, ‘Do not allow her disobedience to go unanswered. You will rue the day you did not make certain she knows who is in control of her.’
Eva dipped her head again, unable to look at his face and see his hatred of her. She cried now, unable to control her tears in the face of the pain and humiliation.
‘Give me your hand,’ Rob said.
‘Please, I pray you leave,’ she whimpered.
‘I said give me your hand.’
Eva pushed herself up and held out her hand as he’d ordered. Her hair dripped on the floor and was a tangled mess over her face and shoulders. It was long but not long enough to hide the rest of her from his sight. She was not certain what he planned to do, for he had reason to continue the punishment for her sins against him.
He took her hand and then helped her to her feet, careful to keep her weight on one foot. Then he lifted her up and carried her to the tub. Placing her in the still-warm water, he stepped away, never looking at her. Eva held herself away from the side of the tub, not resting back now, but hugging her knees.
‘I will send your maid to you so you can finish your bath, lady,’ he said. ‘We will speak our vows before the evening meal and leave in the morning.’
She nodded, surprised at his gentle touch and treatment.
‘I have to say I am confused.’ He reached for the latch on the door and turned back to face her. ‘You want to refuse marriage to me and remain here with your father, knowing what will happen to you. What would keep you here, Eva, rather than taking the chance with a man who has done nothing to harm you? I think it must be something very important indeed.’
He paused then, and she wanted to tell him. She wanted to explain that this had nothing to do with him. That she needed to be here to seek out her daughter before her father moved her so far from her reach that she would never find her. The words were there—she owed him at least that. She struggled to keep the words within her. Eva just could not take the chance that her father would hurt her child...as he already had Eirik.
She looked down at the water that swirled around her and said nothing.
When she looked up, he was gone. Shuddering from the pain and humiliation, Eva rocked in the water. Her father would kill her daughter, she doubted it not. But what had he meant about Rob?
She remembered Rob’s promise to end this betrothal, a promise made in the dark of night just before her father had found them. However, with her lying naked and next to him on the pallet, there was no way to talk their way out of it. The marriage was a fait accompli because of those circumstances, with the witnesses and those who would swear to what they’d seen.
And the villagers who would tell that Rob had cared for her for days alone.
Had Ramsey MacKay arranged it all, then? To trap Rob into having no choice? For surely a report back to his laird that he’d compromised the MacKay’s daughter would result in the marriage going forward. No MacKay would speak to an outsider about last year’s incident and her disappearance for several months. A bit of hysterical laughter escaped her then, echoing around the chamber.
It would not surprise her at all, for he was a master at manipulation and deceit.
A soft knock on the door warned her of her maidservant’s arrival. The girl approached slowly and then gasped.
‘Oh, my lady,’ she said. ‘Let me get some ointment for your back,’ Nessa said. ‘And a cool cloth for your face.’
Her face was the least of it, with her back and buttocks burning in pain from his blows. She accepted the cloth and held it to her face as Nessa saw to her injuries.
Did she have any choice in this at all? If she spoke of it to Rob, her father would deny it and punish her through her daughter. If Rob backed out of the contract over it, there could even be war between their clans, or the Mackintosh could seek retribution in some other way.
And what of her daughter’s fate?
Her father had sworn that she was some place safe and would be raised well. Eva might never see her again, but she would be safe. Mayhap that was the price she would have to pay for her sins?
Running away had not worked. Eva was in exactly the same position she’d tried to avoid by escaping her father.
Seeking her daughter on her own had not worked. Her heart broke as she knew she’d failed.
Trying to protect the man she loved from her father’s wrath had been a terrible mistake and had ended horribly, a cost her soul must bear forever.
Eva hissed when Nessa washed her back, no matter that the girl had a light touch in the task. The pain brought her back to her predicament.
‘Just see to my hair now, Nessa,’ she said. ‘You can see to those when I dress.’
As the efficient maid washed her hair, Eva faced the unspeakable realisation that her only way out of this was to protect her daughter. She would have to take her father’s word that he would not harm Mairead if she did as he ordered. And it meant forcing the Mackintosh’s man into a marriage he did not want.
Between the devil and the deep sea, Eva made her decision in that moment.
* * *
After shaving and dressing in his finest shirt and plaid, Rob strode down to the hall, needing something to drink after the scene in Eva’s chambers. His hands shook in fury as the image of Ramsey taking a strap to Eva repeated in his mind. He wanted to strangle the man for such a callous act. Especially now that Eva was Rob’s.
He stopped. Buffeted by the servants and others in the corridor who were not expecting him to do so, he leaned against the wall, out of the way.
When the hell had he decided she was his?
Thinking back over the last days, Rob realised that when he’d rescued her from the cave and took her to the cottage, he began to accept the idea of it. That was why her pleading words to escape him bothered him so much.
The idea of being forced in to marriage had angered and repelled him at first. Just as it clearly had Eva.
It
