Violet hated that nothing she said seemed to affect him. Eventually, she gathered the rest of her strength and looked him right in the eyes. “And just so ye ken, I willneverobey ye.”
His attention sharpened. “Never?”
“Never, ever. I have spent too much of me life being told where to sit, what to drink, when to rest, and what dangers were too much for me delicate constitution. I willnae trade one set of keepers for a husband with broader shoulders and worse manners.”
For a moment, Connor said nothing.
Violet held his gaze. Her heart was still beating too fast, but the words had steadied her. They had come from a place older than this day, older than Moore Castle, older than the dungeons.
She would love Jane’s son. She would protect him. But she would not become another managed thing inside another stone room.
Connor lifted his glass to his lips again. “So ye think me shoulders are broad?—”
She squeezed her eyes shut in despair. “Thatis yer conclusion after everything I have said?”
“That is all I’m choosing to hear, and it is quite adorable,” he said. “Now, go to yer room.”
Violet’s temper flared. “Adorable?”
“Aye.”
“I tell ye I willnae be ruled like a child, and that is yer answer?”
“Look, the marriage is happening, whether ye like it or nae. I willnae stop whatever makes ye feel better, alright?”
She stepped closer to the desk. “There is one more thing. I promised me sister many years ago that she would be at me wedding, if I ever got married. So it cannae happen until she arrives.”
Connor studied her for a minute, almost as if looking to see if she was lying or not. Then he turned to his desk, gesturing towards a piece of paper and a quill.
“Then ye’d better hurry with yer invitation, lass, because like I said earlier, the wedding is in a week.”
Violet looked at the writing supplies, then back at him. “And another thing.”
“There is more?”
“We will have rules in this castle.”
“We will?”
“Aye. The first one is that yewillwear clothes when speaking to me.”
Connor looked down at his bare chest again, unhurried and wholly shameless, then raised his gaze to hers. “Does me state of undress bother ye, me bride?”
“Stopmockingme.”
“What should I do instead?”
He moved before she could answer.
She held still as he came around the desk, though every sensible part of her advised retreat. The desk pressed near her hip, and the fire warmed the back of her gown.
Connor stopped close enough that she had to tip her head back to look at him. A shudder she couldn’t explain ran through her as he caught her chin lightly between his thumb and forefinger.
“What would me bride ask of me?” he asked.
Violet’s face immediately flushed. His fingers held her lightly, yet the awareness of them traveled straight through her.
“Distance,” she replied.
