Page 36 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
The two of them rode in an open carriage while the crowds congratulated and wished the happy couple well.
Are we a happy couple?She wondered.I am not even sure which version of him I have wed.
After several hours of feasting, it was finally time to leave the festivities and retire for the night.
Maisie bid farewell to her father, who would be leaving first thing in the morning to return to Glasgow. James accompanied her, standing behind her dutifully as she embraced her father, holding back her tears.
“I am so proud of ye,” he whispered. “I shall write and let ye ken how things have gone, but I am hopeful, Maisie.”
“I love ye, Da,” she said softly, and he simply nodded his head, as he always did. A kind smile curled across his features until he backed away, turning to James.
“Ye take care of me wee girl,” he said, surprising Maisie with the force of his words. Her father’s eyes were all polite indifference, but there was a hardness there too. “She is me only child, and me pride and joy.”
Maisie’s throat was tight. James stood forward extending a hand.
“I shall, Mr. Brown, she will be well looked after.”
Maisie caught a strange expression in her father’s face then, perhaps sorrow?
‘She will be well cared for’,is hardly a glowing endorsement for a loving partnership.
Her father nodded, giving one last final glance at Maisie before James placed his hand on her lower back and led her from the room.
As soon as the door was shut behind her, she felt a shudder of anticipation and nerves rush through her. Despite their agreement, she was not sure if James would abide by her rule, especially now that it was their wedding night.
Part of her wished that he wouldn’t and would take the decision out of her hands, having her as he wanted and giving her more of the pleasure she had glimpsed earlier that day.
Another part was scared to get too close to him.
Nothin’ good will come from pinin’ after a man who will never be with ye.
Was she pining after him? She craved more of the sensations he’d roused within her, but she wasn’t sure she even liked the man!
He led her up the stairs to her room, but they bypassed it, going straight to his bedroom. She bit her lip as he opened the doorwaiting for her to step inside, trying to tamp down the nervous energy that was running through her.
James clicked the door shut behind him. Maisie eyed him nervously. Her lips were still haunted by their kiss that afternoon. If he kissed her that passionately again, just how was she ever to resist him?
“Ye are mine, now,” James said, slowly taking off his jacket, his gaze black in the dim candlelight. His eyes had the same animalistic quality in them that she had seen before. She began to tremble uncontrollably.
He looked huge as he stood before her, the léine against his chest falling open to expose the golden skin of his torso. His large hands hung at his sides as he took a step forward, keeping his gaze fixed on her as he did so.
“Have ye reconsidered yer terms?” he asked, his voice low and menacing in the silence of the room.
She shivered. “What dae ye mean?”
“Yer conditions were that we slept in separate rooms. Ye are here now, are ye plannin’ on holdin’ to that?”
Maisie’s eyes flitted to the door that she knew led to her room through the narrow corridor.
“Ye said that this would be a marriage of convenience,” he added.
“Aye, as did ye.”
“But I won the game.”
Maisie’s heart drummed wildly in her chest. “Ye did nae such thing.”
“Prove it,” he said, with a glance toward the chess pieces still scattered across the floor.
