Page 46 of The Highlander's Inconvenient Wife
Sharply sucking the air through her teeth, Joan allowed her body to be guided up as he pulled on her hair, forcing her to drop the fistfuls of mud and relent to his command.
“Get in the carriage,” he hissed in her ear with sour breath before shoving her forward once again with slightly less force than before.
Biting back the angry words that came to her mind, she quickly placed her hands on either side of the open door in an attempt to stop him from forcing her inside. There was still hope while they were in Scotland; she’d buy every second of time that she could if it meant that Jasper and his men would find her. “I shall not go with you!” she snapped at him. “I love Jasper, and there is nothing you can do about it!”
“I thought you might say something like that, being the strong-willed filly that you are,” he said smugly with a bitter note in his voice.
Feeling a sharp tip digging into her skin just below her ribs on her back, Joan froze as he chuckled. Her heart began to beat faster as she shut her eyes against the pain, too afraid to move.
“I thought that might change your mind.” He gripped her hair once again, yanking her back as he laughed in her ear. “Don’t think that I will hesitate to use it, my sweet. I may have chosen you, but it won’t cost me anything to replace you. Now get inside before I get angry and change my mind about making you my wife.”
Gritting her teeth, Joan fought against the fiery pain in her neck that shot down her spine as he pulled her head back and then shoved her forward. The force caused her to stumble again as she hit her knee on the sharp edge of the step. She could feel the hot blood seeping through her dress.
“I can easily say that I went after you, but unfortunately, I was too late. It would be all too easy to convince everyone that you fell prey to your Beastly Laird, given his reputation. No one will think twice about my story — not when I dump your body beside his castle and alert some poor sap like MacAdair.” He used his boot on the back of her leg to coax her into the carriage.
“There’s a special place in hell for people like you.” She turned and glared at him as she climbed into the carriage and took a seat. “You won’t get away with this; somehow somewhere, you will pay — in the next life if not this one.” Thinking on her feet, she dove for the handle of the opposite door and yanked on the metal in the hopes that it would provide her with a means for escape.
Laughing, Edwin watched as she struggled with the handle. “I wouldn’t bother if I were you, my love. I’ve thought of all the possible ways you could escape; believe me when I say that there is no way out,” he declared triumphantly with his nose in the air.
“Hell is too good for you,” she said bitterly as she let go of the handle and glared at him. Her body filled with hatred for the vile way he was treating her. It was one thing to capture a lady but an entirely separate matter to torture her.
“Be careful, my sweet,” he sniffed haughtily as he fixed his coat, taking the seat opposite hers. “That kind of talk won’t fly once we are married; bedsides, soon you will be joined to me in holy matrimony, and your soul might very well follow mine once we are dead.” He gave her a wolfish grin before sticking his head out the window and barking orders at the driver. “Walk on!”
Joan felt the resentment bubbling up in the pit of her stomach as the carriage rattled into motion, making her sway in her seat. “How can you live with yourself? Have you no pride or honor?” she asked darkly as she clutched the soiled fabric of her dress above her knees. “Is there no humanity within you?”
“Don’t you talk to me of pride and honor,” he snarled at her with an intense look in his eyes. Her words seemed to have struck a chord within him as an angry look marred his features. “I know more of pride and honor than you could ever hope to learn.” He turned his head to look out the carriage window as the trees gave way to open marsh on either side of the road. “You’ve lived in nothing but luxury and good standing with the ton for all of your life; I wouldn’t expect you to understand my motives,” he spat bitterly.
“Why don’t you try me.” She clenched her jaw in anger. “You might just have a chance of gaining my sympathies before we start with this farce of a marriage,” she added sarcastically. There was no situation or reason on the face of the earth that would make her forgive him for destroying her chances of a love filled marriage, but at least she could buy some time to think of a plan if she kept him talking.
“My father spent his life chasing wealth and notoriety amongst the ton.” He stared off into the distance at the passing scenery. “When the family’s coffers were finally emptied by his excessive spending and extravagant lifestyle, he turned to gambling at some of London’s less sophisticated establishments.” A single vein bulged in his temple as he spoke.
Joan could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke of his father and the life they had lived before his death. She knew from the gossip mills that the late baron had lost his life in a tragic accident that had been rumored to be more than just an accident. She’d felt desperately sorry for them at the time, yet she hadn’t realized who Edwin was until he recalled the memories at present.
“Debtors pounded on our door from morning until night, causing my mother to fall ill and lose her life before my father lost his.” He clenched his jaw in anger. “The ruined reputation of the family was more than she could bear in her final hours. He left me mountains of debt after his death — debts that I now have to pay if the family’s honor is ever to be restored to its former glory.” His eyes focussed on something in the distance as if he could already see what life would be like once he succeeded.
A wave of nausea swept over her body; even after hearing how difficult his life had been, she couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry for him. “That doesn’t mean you can just upend my life,” she retorted. “Your actions are inexcusable; it doesn’t matter what you went through in the past. You can’t just destroy other people’s lives to redeem your own. Selfishness won’t lead you anywhere in the end.”
“Tell me,” he said after examining her face for a moment and leaning forward. “You have a little sister, do you not?” he asked her with his hands on his knees.
Joan felt a wave of shock run though her body; the depths that this man would go to never ceased to surprise her. “I swear to any man that cares to listen that I’ll cut your throat if you ever even so much as look in her direction.” Her blood boiled as she thought of her little sister and the bright future that lay ahead of her. “I won’t even hesitate to end you.”
“Calm yourself,” he said tiredly as he rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat, straightening his body as the carriage bounced over rough earth. “There’s really no need for your theatrics. I may be a monster in your eyes, but I’m not heartless. I would never consider marrying anyone as young and hopeful as your sister. No, I only meant that I love my younger sister as much as you love yours,” he seemed sincere as he spoke.
Joan felt taken aback as he opened up to her; although she would never want to marry him under any circumstances, there was still a small part of her that felt sorry for his plight. He wasn’t entirely evil, just misguided in his attempts to look after the remnants of his crumbling family.
“Securing my marriage to a family as powerful as yours will open the doors for a suitable and prominent marriage of her own. So, you see, my sweet. You may not understand my motives, but they aren’t entirely selfish,” he said with his nose in the air as he turned his head to look at the cliffs as the carriage made its way through a mountain pass. “You may want to learn what drives people before you judge them so harshly.”
Joan heaved a sigh as she turned her head in the opposite direction. She felt a small amount of sympathy for the man, yet she couldn’t help but think of her love for Jasper. No other man would ever fill her heart in the way that he had done. She’d love him with every fibre of her being until the day she died. Nothing and no one would ever change that, no matter what sacrifices she had to make on her end.
Jasper… where are you?
Her heart called out to him as the carriage took her further away from the man that she loved. She’d accept her fate if that was how it had to be, but she would never stop loving the Beastly Laird. There would always be a part of her heart that yearned for Scotland if she didn’t manage to escape.
* * *
“Here!” MacAdair called over his shoulder as he held his hand up and brought his horse to a stop in the clearing of a forest. “This is where we met with Grandison.”
Jasper reined his horse in and dismounted as he quickly assessed the area. The woods were quiet as an eerie breeze blew through the bushes. It was clear to him that there had been a scuffle, but it wasn’t clear where it had ended. The damp earth was crossed with feet and other marks that weren’t easily identifiable.
