Page 4 of The Highlander's Inconvenient Wife
Pausing with a frown on his face, he gave her a strange look. “Did ye…” His words trailed off as he looked over her shoulder and into the dungeon. “Did ye clean up in there?” He seemed shocked that anyone would take the time to neaten the cell when they were being held captive.
She looked over her shoulder at the neat floor and pile of hay that had been stacked in a perfect rectangle. Her makeshift broom leaned against the wall in the corner with a heap of dust and grim at the bottom of the bristles. Even the walls seemed cleaner once she had run the bristles over the stones.
“Well, you left me in here for hours with nothing else to do,” she snapped at him, feeling slightly sheepish at having cleaned a cell. There was just nothing else she could think of to pass the time. “You could have at least given me a book to read or something.”
“Never mind.” He shook his head in disbelief and turned to leave.
“By the way,” she called after him. “Will you be bringing my belongings down here, or are they waiting for me upstairs in my room?”
“What?” he turned around with a completely defeated look on his face. It was clear to her that her behavior was puzzling him in a way that left him at a loss.
Good.She thought it was never a good idea to show anyone that you were scared. You always had the upper hand in situations if people thought that you were not scared, a motto that had served her well in the past.
“My belongings. I had a trunk full of clothes with me on my carriage,” she stated as a matter of fact.
“Dae ye nae grasp the fact that yer a prisoner?” he asked her with his head cocked to the side. “Ye dinnae seem to understand the seriousness of the situation ye are in.” He looked at her for a second. “Ye are having me on, aren’t ye?”
“I am most certainly not,” she said seriously. “A lady needs her things.”
“The coachman drove away with all of yer things when we took ye captive,” he explained. “Ye have nae more things; I dinnae eve ken if the laird will keep ye alive.” He muttered under his breath about annoying English women before turning the corner and leaving her all alone once again.
Heaving a sigh, she leaned her forehead against the cool steel of the bars. Nothing was making any sense to her at present. Why would the coachman leave her behind, taking all of her belongings with him? And where on earth were Avery and Darragh? Surely, they knew she was coming. She had posted the letter before leaving London.
Feeling her anger grow, she shut her eyes and raised her voice, “Is anyone else there?”
“Aye, I am, sweetheart. I heard that ye were looking for me,” A deep and ominous voice called to her from the shadows, sending a wave of chills down her spine.
Joan’s eyes shot open as she stared at a neat pair of black leather boots.
3
Jasper watched as the woman’s bright blue eyes shoot open in shock. She had clearly not been expecting him to be standing there. He was pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful she was. The blue of her irises was flecked with green, and her golden hair was braided down her back. Even in her dishevelled state, he could see that she was stunning.
Her porcelain skin resembled the skin of a peach. The sculpted features were angelic, to say the least, with a fine nose and cherubic lips. Jasper’s eyes moved down her slender form as he noticed the way her damp dress clung to her curvy hips, displaying the hourglass figure that made his breath catch in his chest. She was quite shorter than he was while still being tall for a woman.
“You are not Darragh,” she said in confusion as she took a step back and looked him up and down, tilting her small chin in the air.
Right, an English lass,he thought to himself when he caught her accent.
“Aye, my name isnae Darragh,” he agreed with her as she looked him up and down as if appraising a piece of jewellery. He didn’t know who Darragh was, but he suddenly took an instant dislike to the man. He was an incredibly lucky bastard if he was allowed to touch this lass, whoever he was.
“Are you the laird of this castle?” she asked fearlessly as she looked him in the eyes, making him respect her for not backing down. The woman was feisty, to say the least.
“Aye, ye are correct again, lass,” he replied, thoroughly amused by the situation at hand. It had been ten years since anyone had been caught roaming his land. Even longer since anyone dared to look him in the eye. He’d almost thought the guards were lying to him when they said that a woman had been taken captive. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but a feisty English woman with a flair for danger wasn’t it.
“Great, if you are the laird, we can finally discuss the situation at hand.” She walked closer and laced her hands through the bars, displaying her delicate fingers.
Jasper immediately noticed the lack of rings.
“The situation at hand?” he asked with one eyebrow raised as he crossed his arms over his chest. He found the way she held his gaze utterly fascinating. It was hard to find anyone that would look him in the eye without focusing on his eyepatch and the scar that ran over his eyebrow. The way she squared up to him without any fear felt like a breath of fresh air. He would have thought her a formidable foe if she had been a man.
“Yes, the situation at hand,” she complained. “Your brutish guards have manhandled me without giving me a chance to explain. I am a lady from London; I should not be treated in this manner.” She looked around her surprisingly neat cell in disgust. “Or kept in a place like this.”
He briefly wondered if one of the guards had taken pity on her and cleaned the floor, an unlikely scenario that he’d take up with them at a later stage.
“Oh, did they nae make ye feel welcome, me lady?” he asked as he held back his mirth. There was something highly amusing about the fierce English woman challenging him even though he could probably carry her over his shoulder with ease.
“I can see that you are mocking me,” she said irritably. “It’s clear that you do not have any manners yourself. So, if you would just let me out, I will be on my way, and you will never have to see me ever again. My coachman took a wrong turn, and we ended up…” Her words were cut short as he smirked at her.
