AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The memory of his insolence boiled her temper, and Orla pushed him away with all her strength and slapped him soundly about the face. ‘Get your hands off me, you filthy worm.’
Wolfric rubbed his cheek as though it were nothing, turned to the crowd and spread his arms out. Then with a smile, he said, ‘It seems the lady is a bad loser.’ A few titters of nervous laughter followed the undignified spectacle, and Orla was just bracing to slap him again when Wolfric grabbed her wrists in a fierce grip and whispered in her ear. ‘Best calm that temper, lass. You belong to me now, so you need to get on my good side.’
‘You don’t have one, you wretch, and I will never belong to you or anyone,’ hissed Orla. Their eyes locked, neither prepared to look away, and heat spread up Orla’s face. His face was dirty, his hair unkempt, and his manner uncouth. He was the last man she wanted for a husband, handsome or not, and there was something feral about him. His black eyes seemed to penetrate her soul and sent a stab of quivering fear to her belly.
‘Unhand my daughter,’ screeched her mother, breaking the spell. ‘You are not yet wed. Get away from her.’
Wolfric dropped her wrists and bowed low. Orla felt as though she was on fire.
‘A thousand pardons, Lady Gordon,’ he said in a butter-smooth voice. ‘Forgive my ardour, but with such temptation before me, how could I not succumb?’
Why, the mocking, arrogant oaf.
Orla’s mother grabbed her by the arm, steering her away from Wolfric Munro. ‘Come. Let us get away from this rabble,’ she said, giving him an acid look but Orla could not seem to move her legs.
‘Now, Orla!’ screeched her mother.
As she was hurried inside the keep, Orla could have sworn she felt Wolfric’s eyes boring into her back, his kiss still burning her lips, but when she turned back, he had been swallowed up by the crowd.
Chapter Six
‘There must be a way to put aside this outcome and prevent the marriage, Dunbar,’ shouted Ada Gordon. She had been carrying on at some length in this vein, and her tirade was by no means exhausted.
‘And how do you suggest we do that, wife, when we declared to one and all that the winner would receive her hand and the damned land?’ said Dunbar, jabbing a finger at Orla.
‘But Wolfric Munro did not win. I did,’ protested Orla.
Her mother rounded on her. ‘As if that counts for anything, you foolish, wilful girl. You are but a woman, and you had no place in that contest. Oh, the shame of it. What sins have I committed that God should plague me with such a hoyden for a daughter? This is a disaster, and it is your fault. Shame on you and all of us, for the Munros are the last kind of match I want for a daughter of mine. They are all thugs and thieves.’
‘What do you mean ‘thugs and thieves’?’ said Orla, dread rising in her as her parents continued to brush off her protests. She poured some brandy and downed a glass in one gulp to steady her nerves.
‘Oh, you will find out soon enough, lass,’ said her father. ‘I lay the blame for this firmly at your door, missy. If you had not scuppered my plans by your defiance and blatant disregard for anything approaching seemly behaviour, we would not be in this mess. Everyone thinks us complicit in this, as if we planned some kind of ruse to humiliate all our friends and allies. I cannot go back on my word, and now I must suffer the Munros in my family, merging their bloodline with ours.’
‘Aye, we must all suffer it, for what else is there to do, Dunbar?’ said Ada.
‘Nothing, it seems. But, Ada, this marriage is unthinkable, a disaster of biblical proportions.’ Her father sat and put his head in his hands. ‘I had a good deal of money on Robbie winning, and all lost now.’
Orla’s patience snapped. ‘Well that, you cannot lay at my door, Father. Robbie did not win because he is a preening peacock who is arrogant enough to underestimate his rivals. He was not good enough, so that was the flaw in your plan from the start. And I never wanted to marry Robbie in the first place.’
‘Well, you should have wanted to, lass, for that would have made an excellent match, and now you are headed for wedlock with that animal instead. If only you had shown Robbie the least bit of encouragement, he might have tried harder.’
‘Aye, you are right, Dunbar,’ said Ada. ‘Wolfric Munro has the look of a mad dog and the most deplorable manners, just like his father. We cannot allow him to soil our precious daughter and our good name.’
‘But we will have no good name if we back out now. I will be shamed, Ada. Those folk down there are angry with me. They could turn nasty, you know.’
Orla’s mother paced and then raised her eyebrows. ‘What about this? We insist on a long engagement. Aye, stretch it out. Say the lass is shy, innocent, and frightened of marriage. In the meantime, we bribe or threaten Rufus and his son into spurning her.’
‘Aye, ‘tis possible. Aye, we could do it. And it would give us time to think.’
‘But I would be spurned before all in the county,’ said Orla.
‘Better to be a spurned bride than a Munro and to have to share that villain’s bed for the rest of your life,’ snapped Ada. ‘Now begone, for I cannot look at your face any longer.’
Her parents put their heads together and began talking in hushed voices, and Orla rushed away in a temper, longing to punch something. Unfortunately, she barged straight into Bryce, who was obviously eavesdropping outside, and he did nothing to improve her mood.
‘Your ardent suitor is down below demanding to see you,’ he said abruptly.
‘What? He cannot. I will not. How dare he!’
