She bit her bottom lip, tempted to drop the chemise instead. She nodded, and Thor released her. He turned away once more, and Greer’s lips twitched at his own modesty. She realized he wouldn’t touch her much more than he had unless they were married. She shook her head before she donned the white linen gown that covered her to her toes.
“I’m covered.”
Thor turned around as Greer reached for her Gunn plaid. He snatched it and stormed over to the fireplace. He barely caught himself before he tossed it into the flames. He had no right, but a mere glance at the plaid’s color and pattern threatened to push him into a rage that would terrify Greer. She would never trust him if she saw the ferocity of his feelings toward her clan. Most of his enmity over the years had been from his friend’s death and a little from his past with Greer. Now, nearly all of his abhorrence came from what he suspected had happened to her.
“I willna. That’s nae ma decision.”
Greer joined him at the fireplace and took her plaid back. She stared at it before shifting her gaze to the flickering flames. It tempted her just as much.
“Thor, I canna change who ma people are. Ma father and the lairds before him may have been despicable, but ma people are just like everyone else. They wish to live in peace and security. They arenae to blame for ma family. That’s why I still have ma plaid. But I dinna want to wear it anymore. I dinna feel like one of them the way I used to.”
“Because they wouldnae let ye be laird in yer own right?”
“That was to be expected, even if it is frustrating and insulting. I dinna want to be forced into marriage with a mon I dinna ken just to have the right to eat at ma own table or sleep in ma own bed.”
“Ye will never sleep in that bed, Greer. I’ll burn the fucking thing before ye touch it again.”
“Ye are vera adamant aboot something ye dinna ken aught aboot.”
“Then explain it to me, Greer. Explain to me why I saw those restraints, why ye said what ye did that day on the bluffs. Tell me the truth, so ma imagination can stop running wild.”
“Because the truth is so much worse. I can promise ye that.”
Thor pulled her back against his broad chest. He wanted to devour her all over again, but this wasn’t the time, despite how his cock tried to convince him otherwise. He wanted to carry her back to the bed, strip the chemise from her, then kiss each and every inch of her. Kiss away the painful memories from each scar until all she could remember was how much he cared about her.
“I’ve already told ye. I need to ken what I did, even if it wasna intentional. I hurt ye even when I wasna with ye.”
Greer inhaled, filling her lungs, before she slowly exhaled and pulled away from him. She nodded and turned the chair closer to her toward the other one. Thor did the same. She dropped her plaid to the floor as she perched on the end of hers, while Thor filled his. He leaned forward and took her hands in his.
“Greer, I meant what I said. I still love ye. I always have. I didna think we could have a future, so I was prepared to love again and marry someone else. But I can never give ma whole heart to a wife like the men in ma family do when they wed. Too much of it still belongs to ye.”
“I felt the same. Except, I never expected to love the mon I married. I hoped for a good one who might treat me well and even love me. That’s so selfish, but I canna move beyond our past. But, Thor, do we love the person we once knew? The person we thought the other would become? We dinna like each other now.”
“Do ye really dislike me? I told ye, I dinna trust ye. That’s mostly true. That’s what makes this hard. I admire the woman I ken now. Ye were always strong, wee one. But I dinna ken anyone braver than ye. I still see all the goodness in ye that I did when we were younger. I’m scared ye’ll betray me again.”
Greer’s gaze hardened as she snatched her hands away. “I didna betray ye. Ye betrayed me. Ye immediately thought the worst of me and turned yer back on me. Ye refused to listen, so certain ye kenned everything. Ye abandoned me, and the mon I called Father raped me for eight years because he kenned I’d been with ye. He let his men have me. So ye wish to ken why there were restraints on the bed, it was so I wouldnae kill maself or the men. It was so I couldnae fight back. That was ma future after ye rode away, leaving me branded a whore and carrying yer bairn.”
Greer was breathless by the time she revealed only a portion of the nightmare her life had been. Thor didn’t appear to move, not even to breathe. She’d never seen the energetic man so still.
“We were going to have a bairn?”
“Until Edgar beat me till I lost it.”
Tears filled Thor’s eyes, and she had a moment where she wished to console him. But anger and resentment coiled around her. Why should she make him feel better?
“Why didna ye tell me? Did ye ken that day?”
“Nay. Nae until I was miscarrying.”
“Ye were still ma—”
“Nay, I wasna. Ye repudiated me the moment ye got on that horse and rode to yer men. Ye told me ye never wanted to see me again. Ye told me ye hoped I had the life I deserved. I certainly did.”
“Do nae ever say that again, Greer.” Thor’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “I would dig him out of his grave to kill him all over again.”
“Edgar—now that I’m free of him, and ma real father is nay longer a secret, I dinna ever want to call him Father again—kenned I wasna truly his since I was a wean. He saw naught unnatural aboot what he did. He loathed me because he was forced to acknowledge me as his own, but he had nay male heir.”
“Did anyone ken what he did to ye?”
