Mary stilled, poker halfway to the logs. “Best mind that tongue, Me Lady. Some truths are better thought than said.”
Scarlett laughed, short and bitter. “Aye, well, I’ve plenty of truths rotting in me head already. Best some of them get out.”
Mary turned, her lips pressed thin. “Men like him… they’ve ways. They take their time, or they take their pleasure elsewhere until they’re ready to claim their own.”
The words hit like a slap. Scarlett’s spine went stiff. “Elsewhere?” Mary paled, realizing too late what she’d implied. “I only mean?—”
But Scarlett was already standing; she already had her skirts in her fists. “Save it. If he can spare himself for another, he can damn well face me.” “Scarlett—” Mary’s warning fell flat as Scarlett swept to the door.
Scarlett stopped the first servant she passed, a boy carrying a bundle of kindling, “Where’s the Laird?”
The boy blinked with his eyes wide. “The solar, Me Lady.”
Scarlett thanked him and waltzed away. Her pulse was already hammering as she strode down the passage, fury making her limbs light.
She pushed the solar doors wide without knocking.
Robert looked up from the table, maps and parchments spread before him. Surprise flickered then settled into irritation. “Scarlett.”
Scarlett stalked forward, the fire in her blood lending her steps with purpose. “When?”
He leaned back, and his dark brows drew together. “When what?” “When am I to fulfill me part of the bargain?”
His eyes narrowed, studying her. “Speak plain.”
Her voice rose, “The heir. Ye said it was one of yer conditions. I’ve waited like some maid in the kirk, wondering when me nights will be claimed. Should I expect a note? A bloody summon?”
His chair scraped as he stood. “I’ll decide when the time is right. Not ye.”
Scarlett’s laugh was harsh. “So I am to sit and wait like a broodmare tethered in a stall, praying for the master’s hand?”
His jaw clenched, and his eyes flashed with something dangerous. Slowly and deliberately, he crossed the space between them.
“And yet,” he said, voice low, “that is precisely what ye agreed to. A wife’s duty isnae negotiable.”
Her chin jerked high, “I agreed to a normal marriage, nae to be treated like a beast for breeding.”
He stopped so close she could feel the heat radiating off him. His gaze dropped briefly to her mouth before rising again. “A beast? Nay, lass. Ye’re far too tempting for that insult.”
"Tempting?"
The word hit her with a heat she hadn't expected. Scarlett didn't let herself flinch. She kept her gaze locked on his, pressing forward before the silence could swallow her.
"Ye have a strange way of showing it," she said, her voice tight. "Lurking in the shadows and hiding behind yer maps while I rot in this silence."
His lips twitched. “Maps keep me men alive. Yer patience, or lack of it, doesnae.”
Scarlett bristled, fury and something hotter tangling in her chest. “Ye think me impatient? I’m tired of being left to wonder when ye’ll claim what ye call yers. Tired of pretending it doesnae matter.”
She turned, meaning to storm out, but his hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist. In a blink, he pulled her flush against himself, and her body collided with his chest.
The air vanished. His breath brushed her cheek, and his grip strong enough to remind her just how easily he could take.
“Let me go,” she whispered though the tremor in her voice betrayed her.
His mouth dipped toward her ear, rough words grazing her skin. “I’ll let ye go when I’m ready. Just as I’ll take ye when I choose. And when I do, Scarlett, ye willnae be thinking of bargains. Ye’ll be begging me to keep going.”
Her stomach dropped, molten heat pooling low in her belly. Her free hand jerked up, pointing blindly with her finger, a pitiful weapon against the hunger in his eyes.
