Page 15 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
She pursed her lips.
James hesitated. “I guess that suits a lass named Thomasina.”
Her jaw clenched. “It’s Miss Brown or Maisie, nothing else,” she snapped, then swiftly closed her mouth, looking a little embarrassed by her outburst.
Och, she is feisty indeed.
“My mistake,Maisie,”he said, pronouncing her name carefully and rolling it around on his tongue. “Why did ye pick that name?”
“Are ye askin’ me to answer, or orderin’ it?” she said, and he gripped the arms of his chair so tightly he might have broken them in half.
“I am askin’,” he managed through gritted teeth.
“Well then, my answer is that it’s nae yer business, m’laird,” she said, sitting back in her chair and glowering at him.
He took in her form as she did so. Even by candlelight, she was strikingly beautiful.
James finally lost the battle with himself and stood up, walking toward her and stopping just short of her chair. He enjoyed the power he felt in this position, towering above her as she sat meekly in the chair before him.
He reached out a hand to grab her chin, but she leaped to her feet as he did so. She skirted around him swiftly and backed up toward the door she had entered through.
“Just because ye summoned me here, dinnae assume I’m free for ye to touch me,” Maisie said, glaring at him.
“I see,” he said. “Well, like I told ye before, if ye are willin’ to be wed to amonster, then that monster may have ways of tamin’ ye to do his biddin’.”
She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
“What is it, lass, dae ye have a problem with me way of catchin’ a bride?”
“Ye mean the cattle auction ye had out there?”
Despite himself he did balk at that reply. It was true, that he had not been entirely in favor of Marcus’s proposal, but he had not quite thought of it in those terms. He saw little difference in what he had done today and courting women at a dance. It was all a game to impress—how were the questions so different?
“So ye have a problem with the contest?” he growled, walking around the chair and leaning against it, trying to tamp down the raging desire to stop her insolent mouth with a kiss.
“Aye, I do,” she said, standing her ground. “It’s ridiculous to put women on display and make them compete for thehonorof yer hand in marriage. Is me only value in how I might manage a household or raise children?”
She is even more beautiful when she is vexed.
“And what if it is?” James asked, taking a step forward just to watch her take another step back.
She looked scandalized. “I refuse to be a part of this absurdity,” she said. “I get dragged here, against me will, forced to perform like some kind of animal, and then put in this room alone with ye? The gall.”
She’s nae wrong,James mused to himself. The more she defied him, the more he wanted her.
“Fair enough, off with ye,” he said, dropping his smirk and replacing it with a stoic mask. “Go and join the rest of theanimals.”
He didn’t need any more time to decide. She might not want him, but he wanted her, and he was determined to have her—whatever it took.
Maisie turned on her heel and stormed from the room, unable to believe the arrogance of the man.
She could not believe he had tried to take her chin in his hand as though he were disciplining her. The very thought of it made a thread of need uncurl inside of her, and she tried to push it away, feeling angry at her own body’s reaction.
Why dae the most handsome men have to be the most high-handed?
She had wanted to strike him but had held herself back by an inch. Her chest felt tight, and there was a knot of tension throbbing in her right shoulder that would not abate.
She was worried that she had not done enough to dissuade him. Why did he ask to speak with her privately? It had served no purpose, and he had not asked to speak to any of the other girls.
