Page 67 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
As she limped down the corridor, she heard someone pursuing her. Before she could turn to look behind her, a strong hand was on her lower back and another around her arm. She relaxed instantly.
“Ye shouldnae be up,” James said angrily as he maneuvered her bodily into a chair at the side of the corridor.
She winced, holding onto her leg.
“That isnae helpin’, James,” she said reproachfully, rubbing at it. “I was quite capable of walking before ye manhandled me.”
“What are ye doin’ out of bed?”
She looked up at him. The mask of the laird was fully in place—all fury and authority. The vein in his temple hadn’t abated since he returned from the village and his jaw was clenched in a hard line.
Maisie wasn’t sure how tobearound James now. They had finally consummated their marriage, which had been beyond anything she could ever have pictured, and yet she felt as though they had regressed into their earliest days. He looked at her as though she were a nuisance he had to put up with.
She rose from the chair, irritated that she needed to lean on him to find her balance.
“I am out of bed because I wanted to see what Mrs. Murray has done. Some lady of the house I am. I have barely left my room for two days.”
“Maisie,” he said in exasperation, “ye were sliced through the leg with an arrow. The servants will manage.”
She let go of him. She had wanted him to insist she would be a good lady of the house—that she would be able to fulfill herduties well. But he had dismissed it as though the servants didn’t even need her.
“What is wrong?” he asked stiffly, lowering his voice. “Is this about last night?”
“Nae,” she said with too much weight behind it. “I am tired and worried about what might happen at the feast.”
“We will have guards at every door. All of the highborn families have been invited, and they’ll come if they ken what’s good for them.”
“What if ye’re wrong, what if the man who attacked me was just some bandit wanting coin?”
“Then why did he follow ye? A lone woman on a horse. He would have been better placed to follow me and Harris?”
“Because I cannae defend meself like ye. I have nae strong muscles and a sword. I left the castle with nothin’ but me horse.”
She paused as something changed in his expression, and she looked up at a pleased smile.
“Strong muscles?”
She scowled. “Ye ken how strong ye are, ye can pick me up and throw me about—” she blushed furiously; she had not quite meant it in that way.
He laughed, smoothing the crease between her brows with his thumb.
“It was nae a criticism, lass; I am glad ye think me handsome.”
Maisie shook her head but could not help laughing. “That is nae what I said!” she insisted.
He was staring at her when she stopped, a soft expression on his face. He brushed her cheek.
“I didnae ken ye had dimples, lass, ye dinnae laugh with me too much.”
Maisie straightened, shaking away the easy familiarity she had felt.
It isnae real.
“If this marriage is to work in the way ye say, we should try to be less angry around each other, and more accomodatin’,” she said.
“Ye’re right, lass. I ken I have been damnably busy these last few days. After the feast, let’s agree that we’ll eat together atbreakfast twice a week too. That way if ye dinnae see me in the evenin’, I can see ye at the start of me day.”
Maisie felt a pulse of pleasure at that.
