Chapter 24
“What is this, Husband?” Rosalyn shrieked. Lachlan’s hands were violating her. “You promised I would not be treated like property. Stop this at once or I will scream,” she threatened, slamming her thighs shut on his hand.
Lachlan grumbled something and finally took his hand away.
Rosalyn lay there on her stomach, with her face turned away from his body, taking deep breaths, grateful to be freed from the suffocating pillow and his domination. What happened to the gentle man who’d wooed her hours ago?
“Do not think you can keep me from my marital rights, woman,” Lachlan said, breaking the silence and her brief respite.
Rosalyn refused to answer him. Instead, she rolled off the bed, then backed away.
When she reached the hearth, she lowered to her knees facing the bed. Boiling inside with anger, the flames licked her back and fueled the fire inside her belly.
Shaking with anger, she addressed him from the safe distance. “I made it clear, this was a marriage of convenience and there would be no consummation. If you refuse, I’ll go to the king and the bishop at this hour. I will wake them and demand an annulment. Do you understand?”
The bulky shape that dominated the bed did not move or speak for the longest time. Rosalyn couldn’t imagine that he’d fallen asleep, so she stayed perched on her knees in front of the fire like an animal ready to run. Ready to sprint to the door if he came too close.
Just then Lachlan leaped from the bed to his feet, startling her out of her thoughts. The lapping flames of the fire quickly revealed he was sporting only his manhood and nothing else.
As he approached her, his chiseled abdomen muscles rippled. She wanted to keep her eyes on his face, but it was clouded in darkness. The glow of the fire illuminated his lower half, drawing her attention there instead.
He stopped in front of her. “Woman, I do not wish to bring all of Edinburgh Castle to our door at this hour, so I will accept your refusal. And if that is your condition of marriage, so be it, but you must agree to my condition as well.”
She didn’t move or speak for a few moments and refused to look up at him as she contemplated her options. This time she didn’t care if he’d experience pain from being full with need.
Let him suffer.
When she continued her silence, he broke it for her. “Your lack of words speak for you. And now that you’ve had a good long look at what you could have had, I’ll leave you. But I will be back in the morn. Be ready to travel. To Fyvie.”
To Fyvie? A spark of hope flickered in her heart. Was he drunk? Perhaps that’s why he was acting like a demon possessed.
“Aye, I see the delight in your expression. To Fyvie we shall travel, but your condition of this marriage is to make me laird of Fyvie and chieftain of the clan. Of all Aberdeen. I must have your full backing and support.”
His condition is what he meant. What of her rules? But if he was drunk, this was not the time to argue with him.
His demands crushed her spirit and she was reminded of the day they’d first met, when they were tied together in the dungeon of Berwick Castle. When she found out he wanted Fyvie. Of course it wasn’t just Fyvie he wanted. He wanted the lairdship all along. A new surname and a new start.
At her expense.
These were her choices? Give up her bed or give up her claim to her clan?
After a short little prayer for guidance, Rosalyn knew what to say. “I accept your condition so mine can be honored as well.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Now that we both understand each other, get out,” she demanded.
Turning away from her, he snatched his trews and boots from the floor and quickly dressed in silence while her cheeks and body cooled off. Grateful, at least for now, that she would keep Lachlan’s out of her bed.
Without even a nod or a goodnight, he stomped out the door as if he hadn’t won. What did he expect? To have it all? Her love and Fyvie?
While she was settling back in bed, deciding to sleep with her clothes on just to be safe, the key turned in the lock.
Rosalyn sighed. Lack of trust would be a hallmark of their marriage if it started this way on day one. Just as she’d been shackled to her him on the day they’d met, the first day of the marriage held the same promise.
As the sleeping herb finally began to take effect, Rosalyn was grateful she’d been awake enough to fend him off. Why had he tried to force himself on her moments ago, when evidence was required earlier in the day?
With the little clarity she had left, Rosalyn realized she’d been a fool and was determined not to be fooled again.