Page 41 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
James’s reaction was not what she had expected. He stalked toward her poking a finger at her as though she were a child.
“Ye kent why I had to leave,” he said just as angrily. “I told ye it was clan business.”
“It was ourwedding night,” she thundered, throwing the book down behind her on the chair, “ye truly couldnae get someone else to handle things for one single night?”
“Nae! I couldnae. That isnae how I dae things, and it never will be.”
Maisie scoffed. “Ye left me without a word of explanation, and I woke up to an empty bed nae kennin’ if ye were injured or lyin’ in a ditch somewhere!”
He gave a hollow laugh. “I am nae so easy to kill, lass.”
“Ye really dinnae ken why I am angry?”
“Ye should understand me position.”
“Yer position?” she shouted, throwing up her hands in outrage. “Ye mean the one ye remind me of every minute of every day?How could Ipossiblyforget? Ye left me there as though I meant nothin’ to ye.”
She shut her mouth at his look, desperately trying to keep a check on her temper. She realized, belatedly, that she had been screaming at the top of her voice in easy hearing distance of dozens of servants. She could just imagine the gossip now.
‘There was a full-blown argument, and they didnae share a bed on their wedding night—trouble is brewin’ in their marriage already....’
“Ye have nae idea what it is to be the laird of these lands and care for so many. Ye were a spoiled child all yer life, indulged by yer faither. Ye come here, preachin’ to me about what I should prioritize.”
“I am yer wife.”
“And I dinnae need ye!”
James froze.
What the hell are ye doin’ treatin’ her this way after last night? Ye are bein’ an arse.
Maisie’s face twisted into a scowl, and she made to walk past him, stalking to the door.
He lunged after her, but she threw him off with a snarl. She reached the door in two easy strides before he managed to land his full weight against it.
They stood awkwardly like that for a full minute, neither of them moving. James had his head pressed against the top of Maisie’s shoulders, her back to him as one hand held the door handle. James’s hands pushed it shut with all his weight.
“Forgive me,” he said swiftly. “I didnae get any sleep, as ye well ken, and I am nae myself. Maisie. I am sorry. I didnae mean that.”
She spun around. “But ye did, did ye nae? That’s what I failed to understand. Ye dinnae need a wife for anything but a bairn, and ye cannae even allow yerself enough time with me to produce one of those.”
Her words were a hiss, even more mindful of the servants now as she fumed at him.
“Ye are one to talk. One minute tellin’ me nae to touch ye and insistin’ on separate rooms and then beggin’ for me to pleasure ye the next.”
He whispered the words, and this time, he could see the effect they had on her. She might have been furious with him, and she had every right to be, but reminding her of her lust only stoked those flames higher.
“I may nae have been able to claim ye last night, but that was one of many still to come. Are ye honestly tellin’ me that if I bent ye over that chair ye were curled up in, ye wouldnae scream me name and beg for more?”
Maisie huffed, but it sounded unsteady. Her eyes kept flicking up to his lips and back again.
“I ken ye are angry,” he said his hands smoothing over her waist. “I didnae say ye shouldnae be, but dinnae ye think I was the more sorry of the two of us?”
He slowly lowered himself, little by little, until he was at a similar height to Maisie, his thumbs rubbing over her stomach as he came level with her.
“I finally had ye before me, all that glorious skin and that beautiful body, and I was wrenched away to bandy about the hills with a bunch of drunken men.” He saw a tiny smile twitch at the corner of her mouth. “Ye think I wouldnae have rather been with ye, tastin’ yer flesh, pushing inside ye and feelin’ yer heat.”
She let out a shuddering gasp of air. “Ye are a wicked man.”
