Page 69 of Her Reluctant Highlander Husband

“I am your wife,” she agreed. “But don’t I deserve a chance at love?” she asked. “Haven’t I lived as a prisoner for long enough?”

“A prisoner?” he snapped. “You may come and go whenever you wish.”

“Then I wish to go with my father. I wish to live the life I should have had if he’d been able to marry my mother and give us both a home in England. A life with suitors who would offer for me, not because of what advantages our marriage brings with it, but because they want me. Me.” She swallowed down the acute longing the words had burned into her heart.

When he opened his mouth, she expected him to say a final no. So she sealed her lips over his to stop his words. He kissed her roughly, his hands pulling her closer. She wanted to believe he loved her. Wanted her to stay because he couldn’t live without her, but she knew better than to give in to silly, girlish dreams.

He’d told her his heart was broken beyond repair. He’d warned her against trying. He’d tried his best to protect her from disappointment and pain, but it hadn’t mattered in the end. She’d still fallen in love with him.

When the kiss faded, she spoke against his lips. “Please think about it. Don’t say no until you’ve thought it over. Please?”

He nodded and brushed past her without a word.

She packed her few things. No matter what he decided, she’d already made her choice. She was leaving Dunardry.

And the man she loved.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bryce was furious when he stepped into the hall. He searched the crowd, finding his quarry. Glaring at the viscount, he stormed up to him, barely refraining from grabbing him and dragging him outside.

“A word alone, my lord.” He didn’t even bother to make it sound like a request. He’d interrupted the man’s conversation with the dowager duchess of Endsmere, but he couldn’t care about that. The woman already knew Bryce was a barbarian.

“Very well,” the viscount agreed. Not that he had much choice. Bryce would have gladly carried him from the hall if he’d refused. The viscount was a large man, but Bryce was seething with anger and could have easily dragged him off.

“What seems to be the matter?” Dorien asked when they’d crossed the bailey to stand near the kitchen.

“What’s the matter?” Bryce had made a new habit of repeating everyone. “My wife told me of your plans to take her back to England and have our marriage annulled.”

Bryce detected a moment of surprise before the man nodded. “Yes. She said you would be quite pleased to be free of her. I daresay, you don’t seem to be pleased at all.” Did the man’s lips curve up on one side? Bryce studied him, but it was gone too quickly, if it had been there at all.

“Nay. I’m not pleased. Far from it. She’s my wife. In every sense, if you take my meaning.”

“Yes. She told me she’d lain with you.” The man swallowed and looked away.

Bryce wanted to laugh. Dorie hadn’t lain with him as much as they’d coupled like rabbits on any flat surface available, and some walls and doors as well. But this man was her father, so Bryce skipped the details.

The viscount cleared his throat. “While it’s not favorable circumstances, it doesn’t prohibit an annulment. There are ways to procure your freedom.”

Bryce didn’t know why the man was making it sound like he was doing Bryce a big favor taking his wife off his hands.

“Just like that, you ride in here and take her away with you? And I’m supposed to just sign a document as if we’d never been wed?”

The viscount leveled a gaze at him. “I was under the impression you did not want to wed in the first place. You told me yourself you had no feelings for my daughter, save protection and providing for her. For those reasons alone I am forever indebted to you, as they were far more than what she’d been given by the McCurdys. And for that reason I’m willing to procure an annulment at considerable expense, to free you both from the bonds neither of you wanted. My daughter will be free to start over. A new name, a new country. She can walk away from the Highlands as my daughter. She’ll be loved and well cared for. With a chance for real happiness.”

Bryce stepped away, running a hand through his hair. He needed to find a way to stop this. “She’s my wife,” he repeated, as if this time it might make a difference to someone.

“She’s my child,” Dorien countered.

“And your child could be with child. My child,” Bryce pointed out.

He hadn’t wanted children. Hadn’t wanted to risk losing something precious ever again. But he hoped now she was carrying his babe, if only so he could keep her with him.

Of course the man had thought of everything.

“We’ll wait to make sure she’s not increasing before we proceed in procuring the annulment. If she is, you need not worry. I can still take her with me and help her raise the child. We can simply say she’s widowed.”

“The hell you will. You’ll not take my family from me.” He’d already lost one family. He’d damn well not lose another.