Page 136 of Bride of Ice
He had failed. Humiliated himself. And blamed it on her.
But to admit that would shame them both. So it was up to Hallie to make things right.
Archie sat back on his haunches, clamping his shriveled member between his thighs. “We’ll have to try again.”
She didn’t want to try again. Not when he’d been so unchivalrous. Besides, things would work out better this way.
Earlier, waiting for him to return from the garderobe, she’d worried he’d discover she wasn’t a virgin. She’d planned to deceive him. Now there was no need.
“That won’t be necessary.”
She drew the dagger.
He tumbled back with an exaggerated gasp, his hands cupping his crotch. His reaction might have been comical if she weren’t so utterly disappointed at the thought of being saddled with a simpering coward for the rest of her life.
Wincing only slightly, she pricked the tip of her middle finger with the point of the dagger, just enough to let a single drop of blood well from the wound. Then she smeared it across the linen.
His mouth went round in awe.
“No one has to know,” she confided.
She gathered up the stained bedsheet, slipped from the bed, and left the bloodied linen in a pile outside the door as evidence of her claimed virginity.
When she returned to the bed, he was still gripping his crotch. He need not have worried. She had no interest in dealing with that part of him further this evening.
“’Tis been a long day,” she said, forcing an encouraging smile to her lips. “We’ll try again on the morrow.”
As it turned out, the morrow was no better. Nor was the next day. Or the next.
Despite his best efforts—in various positions, in broad daylight, in complete darkness, warm from a bath, shivering in the cold, fully clothed, completely nude—nothing could keep him interested long enough to endure coupling with her.
A lesser woman would have deemed herself inadequate. Indeed, Archie would have had her believe it was her fault. Though he stopped short of accusing her outright, there was an edge to his muttered curses of frustration. Not once did he blame himself for his shortcomings.
But she knew better. Archie’s incapacity stemmed from his overarching anxiety…about everything.
To his credit, over the span of the next several weeks, he overcame a few of his fears.
With Brand’s guidance, he was able to develop some skill with a bow.
Gellir reluctantly taught him how to throw a dagger, and Archie hit the target about a quarter of the time.
Isabel convinced him to fish, although she had to tie the worm on the line for him, since he had an aversion to dirty, wriggling things.
He was never able to fight properly. His lunges and spins looked more like carole dancing than battle moves. But Rauve at least showed him how to brandish a sword. Hallie supposed Archie could at leastlookfierce standing atop the castle wall.
He also developed an affinity for Ian, which somewhat softened her heart toward him. The fact that he could listen to her little brother’s philosophies with patience and examine his inventions for hours on end did much to mollify her frustration with him.
Archie happily helped Ian with his experiments. He clapped with glee when one of Ian’s parchment birds sailed successfully across the courtyard. He cooed over the geared pulley Ian fashioned by hand out of wood and rope. He nodded his approval of Ian’s sketches, ruffling the lad’s hair with almost fatherly pride.
If only he would do the one thing that would make him arealfather, Hallie might be less aggravated by her situation.
Now, not only was she wed to a husband she didn’t love.
She was stuck with a man who couldn’t perform his one most critical task. Giving her children.
Chapter 35
Colban hadn’t found what he was seeking in Edinburgh.
