Page 13 of A Sinful Night with a Scot
While the old man looked skeptical, the wedding ceremony continued, until the deed was done. In that moment, Elsie felt a great weight press down on her as a heavy sadness ran through her very soul. She was now shackled, a prisoner in her own life. The marriage was legal and binding, and in that moment, she imagined she would never be freed. Not until the laird was dead, at any rate. But running away would mean dying and she was not ready to leave this world yet.
After Keane thanked the priest, the three exited the chapel. Reaching the cobblestone outside, Keane leaned close to her ear.
“Ye are mine, now, Lady Mackay.”
Those words made her feel even worse and she stifled a shudder.
I am now Lady Mackay.
The thought echoed through her mind, and yet, though it was the truth, it felt utterly foreign to her. It ought not to really. Had the wedding occurred yesterday, she would have been Lady Gunn. What difference was there between the two circumstances? Two devils. She would then, as she was now, be married to a man she neither loved nor cared for, and her existence would, as it did now, only serve the benefit of others.
There were many times she had envied the maids in her father’s castle. For certain, they worked hard and were at the beck and call of those whom they served, and yet, they experienced a freedom that Elsie never would. Many times, she had caught them frolicking with hysterical laughter in the kitchens and courtyards, full of life, and love, and laughter. They were their own person with the ability to be themselves.
Elsie often wondered what that felt like. So much was expected of her, she hardly knew who she really was, and what she really liked. The maids closest to her often lamented the very same, for they knew the weight she carried. They also knew the cruelty of her father, for it was they who comforted her when he reduced her to tears with his cutting remarks.
Laird Mackay was not her father, but nor was he so very different. So far, she had spent less than a day with the man, and apart from a few occurrences, he had manifested the same scowling, broody, and bullying behavior. And now, she was bound to him. Him and all the demons that tortured him.
Wonderful.
Stopping outside the village tavern,The Swan, the laird declared that they would stay the night.
“The day is nearly done,” he said, looking up at the sun lowering in the sky. “We’ll have a decent night’s rest here and then continue our journey tomorrow.”
“Good,” Alisdair agreed. “I could dae with lying on a decent bed.”
The men shared a grin, and as Keane headed inside, Elsie followed, with Alisdair coming in behind her.
While the laird conversed with the inn-keeper, Elsie remained to the side, silent and out of the way. Secretly, she too was looking forward to a decent night’s sleep. In fact, with the little sleep she had managed to get, she was now feeling quite tired.
The laird handed out keys to Alisdair and the men, and then led them upstairs. As they climbed, she could not help but worry at the fact that she had not received a key of her own. At each step she took, dread washed over her, for she knew, before they even reached the door, that she was going to be forced to share a room with Keane Mackay.
He is yer husband now.
That’s beside the point.
Smirking down at her, he opened the door and gestured for her to step inside. Her heart thumped in her chest as she scanned the room. It was small with little in it other than a dresser and a double bed.
“Nay,” she said, shaking her head as he closed the door behind him. “There isnae a chance I am sharing that bed with ye.”
“Ye have nae choice,” he replied smugly. “Where else am I going tae sleep?”
She looked around the room once again. “Ye can tak’ the floor.”
“Indeed, I willnae be taking the floor,” he growled. “Apart from the fact that I just paid fer this room fer ye tae enjoy, I havenae slept in a proper bed in three days. And besides,” he swung a thick arm around the chamber. “Where dae ye really expect me tae fit?”
He had a point there, for the room was tiny.
Elsie opened her mouth to argue, but the laird shut her up.
“We’re sharing the bed, and that’s final.”
There was no point arguing. He was clearly determined, and she was not going to convince him otherwise. She nearly considered sleeping on the floor herself, but then remembered the aches and pains in her body that morning when she rose from sleeping on the ground. No. She needed a decent bed tonight.
“Then, may I at least request a bath,” she said adamantly, glaring at him in defiance. “Given the fact I was unable tae bathe this morning.”
“We’ll both tak’ a bath,” the laird replied.
Elsie’s mouth fell open and she gasped.
