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‘Are you even going to marry me?’
‘I haven’t decided yet. I don’t think I need a wife. Women are tiresome, feeble creatures who lean on a man until they break him. You would be a hen, clucking in my ear, driving me mad.
‘So, you made another bargain you do not intend to honour.’
‘Why would I want a wife to drag through life, weighing me down like an anchor?’
‘Your word means nothing, does it Will?’
‘We’ll see, shall we? If you keep up your end of the bargain and warm my bed this night, then I will keep up mine, my love. Bear in mind, I can still catch up with Cormac and his men, or set sail and sink his ships on open water.’
‘You wouldn’t.’
‘Go on, try me,’ he spat.
‘Your pride is hurt because I said I do not love you.’
‘Then why did you lie to your brother? Why not just let him slaughter me so that you could go home?
‘You saved my life, so I owed you yours, and your men’s as well.’
‘I think you protest your reluctance a little too much, my sweet. I think you really want to know what lies beyond what I did with my tongue that night, and I think you like me, more than you can ever admit.’
‘I suffer you, Will, that is all, so drive all thoughts of anything else out of your swelled head and leave me to endure my imprisonment in peace.’
‘Play the martyr if you want, but if you sup at my table and live under my protection, then there is a price to be paid, girl.’
‘I owe you a wedding that is all. If you want more you will have to take it from me, by force, I will never give it, and if you do, once you have had what you want, I will find a way to kill you for it.’
‘We’ll see about that.’ He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to the edge of the battlements.
‘It’s a long way down, and death will be instant. So Morna, jump if you want to – if being my woman is so awful a prospect, then I’ll not stop you. But hear me. If you don’t jump, then you belong to me. You made your choice. You might not have wanted to, but you did. So now you are mine, I have rights over you, and I mean to put my mark on you. Be ready to be wedded and bedded by nightfall.
‘Get off of me,’ she hissed. ‘You have played me false. I will not marry for an alliance.’
‘That is the purpose of marriage. I turned a bad situation to my advantage. I did what needed to be done. Don’t be naive. Remember it was your idea to profess undying love for me, which I am sure you have now come to regret. Did you expect loving words and longing looks, a tame dog of a man who would run at your heels and do your bidding? Did you expect me to wed you and not get anything out of it?’
‘I expected better than a cowardly liar. I will go along with this awful plan for the sake of an alliance, but I’ll never be your woman, and I’ll never lie with you. If you want to indulge your lust, go and seek out Edana Bain, wherever she may be.’
Ah, she had exposed herself. There was a world of jealousy in her voice when she spoke Edana’s name.
‘I will return later, Morna. Make yourself pretty, for it is your wedding day after all.’
‘You are exactly what I always thought you were – nothing but a villain and a thief.’
‘Aye, and I am not planning on stopping any time soon.’
‘I was beginning to trust you, Will, to like you, even…’
‘What Morna? Love me? Impossible, for you can only have feelings for dull, honourable men you claim to not want.’
‘I don’t want honourable, I want honest – at least between us two. I thought you could at least give me that. How disappointing to find out you are no better than I first thought.’
‘You talk of honesty, and yet you lie and lie, first to your brother, then to me and worst of all to yourself. There is something between us, no matter how hard you try to deny it. It seems you have no idea what you want, woman, so let me tell you what you will get. Me, as a husband, a lover, as father to your children. You will get your duty to this clan and its people. You will serve me, as they do, and you will give me an alliance to keep this place safe from the Bruce.’
He looked back at her and almost gave in to pity. She had been kidnapped and abused, held prisoner, her brother was now gone, and she was forced to wed him tonight and begin a new life in a castle full of strangers a long way from home. Why must he continue torturing this girl, being angry at her, when all he had inside was longing, affection, admiration and tenderness? Why could he not let it show?
Old wounds may have healed, but the scars were still there, still paining him. There was Edana’s treachery, forcing him to plunge his sword into his uncle’s heart. Worse still, there was the memory of burying his father with his own bare hands and of fighting for his country at Bannockburn, only to be rewarded with the cold kiss of a Scot’s axe against his neck for his trouble. The memories flashed through his mind like scabs being peeled off, as painful as when first inflicted.
