Page 9 of The Dragon Laird’s Obsession

She shook her head. “Our clans are already in alliance.”

“We must strengthen our bonds further,” he explained again. “I daenae wish for this anymore than ye do; I must make that clear.”

“Then we neednae pretend to endure each other. This alliance shall be what it is, and we’ll expect naithin’ from each other. I daenae intend to allow ye the liberty to control me.”

“Neither do I wish it,” he answered immediately. “I understand if ye daenae look forward to this weddin’. Ye fled from one two years ago.”

“And ye brought me back!”

“It was me duty.” The words came out clipped and flat. There was no softness in them, and he did not bother to hide that.

Her mouth pressed tight, and he knew she thought of a reply for him. “Yer duty. Do ye think I daenae ken what duty is?”

She stepped closer, her skirts brushing the rushes, her blue eyes bright enough to cut. “How noble of ye. How very grand it must have felt, ridin’ through the rain to drag a foolish lass back where she belonged.”

Gordon’s jaw hardened. “I did not drag ye.”

“Nay?” she asked, a bitter laugh breaking from her. “Ye found me frightened and too proud to speak. Ye wrapped me in yer cloak, set me before ye, and brought me back to face every choice I had tried to outrun.”

“I did what was expected of me. And in return, ye got yer wish. Yer sister married me brother, and ye were free. But now, duty calls ye again, and it is me ye must marry.”

Gordon did not realize she had taken another step closer to him, so they were now face-to-face. In the closeness, he could see the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks and her full lashes as she blinked at him.

Gordon felt his thoughts stray as his eyes swept over her face. She was too near, and his fingers curled at his sides with a sudden shameful want to stroke a hand down the side of her face and feel that lock of hair.

It was a forbidden thought, yet it took seed in his mind.

“We shall perform our duty and nothin’ more,” he said through gritted teeth now. “I shall have nay more argument about this.”

She went too quiet for a moment, and he expected her to fight him on his words. Instead, a calm smile spread across her features.

Ailis dipped her head, all false sweetness and polished manners.

“All right,” she said. “If that is what ye wish, Me Laird.”

Gordon’s eyes narrowed. The words were obedient enough. Soft enough. Proper enough to be spoken before a priest.

But her eyes betrayed her. Bright blue and wicked, they gleamed with a mischief sharp enough to cut. She looked at him as though she had just accepted a challenge he had not meant to offer.

“I shall look forward,” she added, her voice honeyed, “to every moment of this arrangement.”

A cold unease moved through him when she added, “We will do what we must and what is expected of us.”

Gordon nodded, his own resolve tightening as she gave him one last look, then turned and headed for the door. He watched her walk away, taking in that rigid set of her spine and the sway of her skirts as she retreated.

Ailis hadn’t fully made it out of the hall when he realized the faint trace of lavender that was her scent lingered around him and tickled his nostrils.

He banished the thought.

Four weeks, he reminded himself. For now, he had to make sure not to forget what he had to do.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ailis could not stop the nerves in the pit of her stomach no matter how hard she tried. It was not a real marriage… Not in the right sense of it, and Gordon did not want it either, so that ought to help her relax.

But it did not. Because each time she thought of him, she remembered that night in his study and the way he had looked at her.

Straight through me soul with that glare that proved he despised me whole.