Page 9 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
Lord Turner had been sweet and attentive, promenading in the park and paying great compliments to her father and mother. He had even gifted Sophia with a beautiful white horse as an engagement present.
Then they had married, and everything changed. The Duke was obsessed with continuing his line and expected her mother to bear him a son almost instantly.
When Lydia arrived, his frustration grew, morphing from exasperation into anger, and, eventually, contempt.
“At least we know you can bear children, and you are not entirely useless—when will you give me a son?”
The Duchess had lived in torment for months, her body unable to give him what he asked for, and the Duke’s bitterness andanger had only grown from there—until he had taken matters into his own hands.
Lydia’s jaw tightened as her mother stood up straighter beside her, smoothing her hands nervously down her skirts. Lydia turned to see her father striding toward them over the lawns.
There was an excitement in his gait that had not been there before.
This is really happening. The Laird has offered my father for my hand, and he has accepted.
“Very good, Lydia,” the Duke said, his tongue poking out to wet the corner of his mouth as he nodded in satisfaction. “I would have preferred to choose your husband alone, but I admit you have chosen well. I had not anticipated that alairdwould come to this auction. No doubt he heard of your beauty and could not stay away.”
From anyone else, that would have been a compliment, but her father only ever saw beauty as a way to control people.
“Yes, Father,” she said routinely. “So, you have accepted him?”
“I could hardly refuse, he is exceptionally wealthy. Laird to one of the largest clans of Scotland.”
“Did you see his scars, Papa?” Tommy piped up.
“I did!” the Duke said, soundingpleased. “Quite the warrior, too, it would seem. A good choice. Excellent!”
He had not looked at Lydia once, his eyes on Tommy as he held out his hand and took his son back to the house.
That is it then. I am bought and paid for. I have done my duty in his eyes.
Lydia’s mother looped her arm in hers, and they began a leisurely walk back to the house.
“What will become of all the other suitors?” Lydia said, more as a distraction than any actual interest.
The Duchess scoffed. “They will leave. Some might say they should never have come. One of those men isseventy.”
It was rare for her mother to speak ill of anything her father did. The Duchess had learned to toe the line early in their marriage and rarely criticized him.
“I shall lend you some undergarments,” the Duchess continued. “The Scottish winters can be very severe, and you will not have the right clothing when you arrive.” The arm around hers tightened as they reached the house. “Are you ready for what lies ahead, Lydia? He is… an unusual choice.”
Her mother’s voice was tentative, small, and quiet as it always was when she questioned the Duke’s will. Lydia would giveanything to hear her stand up to him—even if only once in her life.
Perhaps that is my role now—to break free of him once and for all, even though my mother never could.
“Yes, Mama,” she said, feeling the nerves rush through her once more at what she had agreed to. “Quite sure.”
They made their way into the drawing room, where the remainder of the mingling attendees were wandering out of the room. There was a large red stain on the carpet where Lydia had spilled the wine, and she winced at the sight of several maids being forced to clear it up.
Deep male voices could be heard in the entrance hall, and her mother led her swiftly through the room toward them.
The Duke and the Laird were standing opposite one another, the difference in their heights almost comical. Her slight, short father looked like a child beside the gigantic Laird.
After a moment, that steely blue gaze found hers again. The scars on either side of his face were all the more vivid in the soft light behind.
They are an inch from his eye, no more. Who did that to him?
Lydia could not suppress a second shudder at how they could have been made.
