Page 8 of Married to the Icy Highlander
“I’ll be happy to help ye with yer bairn,” Ceana answered easily. “I already have a braither whom I love dearly. That’ll be nay issue.” She paused to consider for a moment, a smirk curving her lips. “And I bet the poor lass is in need of female company if she spends all of her time with an insufferable man like ye.”
His smile faded as she spoke. It felt a little bit more like she was closer to victory in this matter.
Before she could say anything else, he lifted his hand. “Five, ye are nae to talk back to me. Ye should obey me.”
“I’d rather die,” she muttered instantly.
The Laird’s smirk returned. He watched her carefully for a long moment in a way that made her squirm in her seat. He leaned forward, encroaching on her personal space.
She was sorely tempted to lean away or to move back in her chair to keep some distance between them. But if he was trying to make her uncomfortable, she wasn’t going to let him win again. It might be a white marriage, but there was no way she was going to lose herself in it.
His face was only an inch from hers, and her heart leaped into her throat as she gripped the arms of her chair. She couldn’t allow herself to break eye contact. What was the point? Was he going to… Certainly not. He wouldn’t kiss her like this, would he?
She lifted her chin.
She must be insane. Touched in the head.
He didn’t kiss her. He turned his head at the last moment to whisper in her ear, his voice deep and husky in a way that sent goosebumps all over her body. When he spoke, his lips grazed the shell of her ear, and his breath ruffled her hair.
“Ye’re sure? Ye might like it.”
All of the air was sucked out of the room.
She felt as if her mind was swimming. But her stubbornness, mercifully, won out.
“I wouldnae want to seek ye out nor talk to ye, even without yer little rules,” she spat, wishing that it sounded more convincing. “If ye have a library here, ye probably willnae hear from me again!” She crossed her arms over her chest to create more space between them. “As for the heir…”
Oh Lord above, she needed to stop blushing so furiously. She felt as if her face was about to burst into flames at any moment.
She had never had this problem before. She was not a girl prone to blushing and stammering.
“I willnae lie with ye unless I’m sure me family is taken care of. Ye must have heard about our… condition. I want our debts cleared, so me maither can keep her home, and I want the distillery to keep runnin’ until me braither is of age and can take over.”
The Laird arched an eyebrow as he leaned back against his desk once more. “Is that it, then?”
Ceana nodded. “Yes. That’s me only condition.”
“So… ye’d sell yerself for money?”
She balked. The way he said it was justso lewd. If she could have reached him, she would have slapped him soundly for that comment. She wouldn’t have let him stop her either. But she kept thinking about her mother’s face. The pure embarrassment that had shadowed her eyes as Ferguson staggered out of their cottage.
If this was what she needed to do so she would never see that look on her mother’s face again, then it was a small price to pay.
“I would sell meself so me family doesnae have to suffer the same fate as me!”
Perhaps that was a bit too harsh.
“Dinnae fash yerself about such things, Ceana,” the Laird said simply. “Ye and yer family will receive a monthly allowance.” Hewaved a hand as if it was such a simple matter that it should have been obvious to her. “This isnae a prison, me dear. I told ye, I intend to make ye me wife, and I meant it.”
“I… I dinnae ken what to say,” she murmured. “Thank ye, M’Laird. Since… since it is all arranged, then I expect to hear from ye soon?”
She rose to her feet, nodding her head politely in his direction and intending to leave, but he grabbed her by the upper arm to stop her. He was still standing so close to her that she could feel his breath on her skin.
“We’re nae done yet. I need ye to understand that ye will be mine, Ceana. I’ll expect ye to make yerself available to me at any time in the first month, anywhere I like, to perform yer wifely duties.”
It was barbaric, the way he was commanding her time. And yet she was flustered all the same. It made no sense. She couldn’t look away. She ought to yank her arm free… and yet she couldn’t stop picturing what it might be like to lie with a man like him.
“And after the first month?”
