Page 18 of Married for a Highland Debt
“So you trust me?” Bettina asked warily.
“I am trying to,” he answered. “It is difficult to explain, but there was something about you...” He shrugged.
“It is hard to trust when you have been hurt, but I swear to you I will not betray you.” His voice was soft and sincere, and for the first time in a long while, Ninian Ogilvy put his trust in a woman.
9
That night, Ninian made love to Bettina once more, and again she felt little excitement. However, it was not quite so painful, and she was able to endure it, which was a better outcome than she had expected. After a while, Ninian got up and made his way back to his own room, leaving her alone to reflect on the day.
It could have been worse, Bettina thought as she lay, staring into the darkness. Alison had warned her that many men were brutal to their wives, but that had not happened to her. If this was the best she could hope for, she could bear it. After a while, she fell asleep.
Bettina went down to breakfast the next morning feeling a trifle sore, but otherwise none the worse for wear. She was wearing a pretty day dress of gray linen embroidered with daisies around the hem and neckline, hoping that Ninian would see it. It would do no harm to look her best for him.
At the bottom of the staircase, Kairstine rushed to her side, her face alight with curiosity. “Was it wonderful?” she asked, grabbing on to Bettina’s arm as if she would never let go.
Bettina shrugged. “Not what I expected,” she replied. “But neither wonderful nor terrible. I cannot explain it.”
“Did he like you?” Kairstine asked.
“I did not ask him!” Bettina replied, “I am sure it doesn’t matter to him as long as I do my duty. I have no idea how to please a man, and I am clueless as to whether I am doing the right thing or not.” Then she noticed that Kairstine was dressed in riding clothes. “Where are you going?”
Kairstine shot her sister a look of pure mischief. “I am having a ride with one of the guards,” she answered, her eyes twinkling. “I told him that I am not a very good rider, although I want to learn, and he offered to teach me.”
“What is his name?” Bettina asked suspiciously.
“Angus Watson,” Kairstine answered proudly.
Bettina cast her eyes heavenward. “Oh, I see!” she exclaimed. “That is the one with the golden-red hair and deep brown eyes, who is almost as tall as Ninian and has muscles on his muscles?”
“And is as handsome as a Greek god!” Kairstine breathed, closing her eyes in mock rapture.
“Apollo?” Bettina’s voice had an edge of sarcasm.
“Exactly,” her sister agreed. “But I suppose your husband will be joining you for breakfast?” She emphasized the wordhusbandand gave her sister a meaningful wink.
“I have not seen him today,” Bettina admitted. “I suppose he is working.”
“You have not seen him?” Kairstine was incredulous. “The day after his wedding?”
“It may be some other manly thing like archery or wrestling or showing off their muscles to each other,” Bettina guessed, laughing. She kissed her sister fondly. “Go and enjoy your ride with Apollo!” She smiled as Kairstine skipped away happily, then, hearing her stomach rumble loudly, she made for the dining room.
When she entered the big room, she immediately saw two housemaids standing by the window talking. Bettina recognized one of them as Myra, the erstwhile bane of her life, whose penetrating voice was now ringing out across the room. Immediately, the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle, but she took a sideways step behind the door in order to listen to the conversation, which proved to be very revealing.
“She wilnae last five minutes wi’ the laird!” she was saying scathingly. “She is terrified o’ him. Did ye see her face at the wedding yesterday?”
“Aye!” The other woman was older and thinner, with sparse gray hair and a lined face. Bettina did not know her name, but any friend of Myra’s was not going to be well-disposed toward the new laird’s wife! “Ye could see she was a bag o’ nerves. Here...” She gave her friend a playful dig in the ribs. “Would ye no’ like tae have been a fly on the wall when he had his way wi’ her the first time? I’ll wager she just lay there like a lump o’ lard!”
Bettina winced. This was too close to the truth for comfort.
Myra threw back her head and laughed uproariously. “No,” she said, shaking her head as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. “More like a corpse!”
This sent both of them into a shrieking fit of laughter, which in turn sent a shaft of pure rage through Bettina. With a face like thunder, she marched down to the end of the room, surprising both women in the middle of their conversation.
“I see that you find the subject of my wedding night quite funny,” she growled, watching them cringe backward, their expressions a comical mixture of guilt and fear. “No doubt if I had been there to see either of yours, I would have laughed even harder. You...” She took Myra by the collar and stared into her muddy gray-brown eyes. “You have been a thorn in my side ever since I came here. Now it is your turn, Myra McGuire. You may think it is funny to laugh about my marriage, but I now have the laird’s complete attention. One word from me, and you will be out on your ear, so I advise you to keep this”—she took Myra’s lower lip and pulled it so that the other woman squealed with pain—“shut! Do you understand?”
Myra nodded frantically, then she looked past Bettina, and her eyes grew round with fear.
Bettina twisted around to see Ninian, his eyes blazing with anger, staring at the two women across the room.
