“Ye remember me rules; they havenae changed.”
Kristen came a step closer and lifted her chin. “ButIhave. Since ye’ve returned now, ye must follow some of me rules too.”
Neil looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Is that so? Me little bride’s got teeth.”
“Aye.” She nodded. “And I willnae hesitate to bite ye.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up, then lowered. “Let us hear them.”
“First,” she said, crisp as a steward. “Every day, we will spend one hour together with the children, nay matter how busy ye are.”
He thought about it, remembering Finn’s flinch and Anna’s hand on Maggie’s fur. “Fine,” he acquiesced. “But for the rest of the day, I want me peace and quiet.”
“Certainly,” she said quickly, as if she had been expecting that.
A smile touched his lips. “Will that be all?”
“Nae even close.” The air between them shifted. “Ye will give me a child.”
He went very still. “What did ye say?”
“Ye heard me. I want a big family.” The words did not waver, only the breath between them. “It would help the bairns feel secure. It would help me as well. A home needs laughter. It needs more than ghosts.”
“Nay,” he uttered, cold as water from a winter well. “I have an heir now. I have nay need for ye anymore. And ye’re still forbidden from going to me tower.”
The words struck her hard; he could see it. She took them without a sound, as if she had learned to swallow blows. Her hands fisted in the skirt of her dress and then loosened.
“Last rule,” she said, her voice steely. “We will sleep in the same bed.”
He stared at her. “What?”
“I willnae be ridiculed again by the servants for having an absent husband.” Her mouth tightened. “We will share the same bed, at least for a month.”
His voice dropped, rough to his own ears. “Ye daenae ken what ye’re asking for, lass.”
“I do,” she said. “And I expect ye to do it, husband.”
The fire snapped. The walls drew close. Neil could hear his own breath, steady now, and hers, light and quick. A long, charged silence held.
“Fine. But nay backin’ out if ye regret it, wife. For the next month, yer nights belong to me.”
4
The words hung in the dim light, and Kristen’s breath hitched. A shiver ran through her before she could stop it. It was not from fear alone, and that scared her more than any shadow.
She lifted her chin to hide it. “It is late,” she said coolly.
Neil did not move.
She pinned him with a glare. “Go find something to do in yer precious tower; I daenae care. And if ye mean to crawl into me bed, ye can start by finding a razor. Have ye become that much of a savage?”
His eyebrows flew up in surprise, and his mouth twitched. He studied her face.
“Kicking me out of me own room,” he drawled. “Me castle has found a new mistress.”
“Aye. And it learned to keep itself without ye,” she said. “Go.”
For a breath, he held her gaze, weighing something she could not see. She arched an eyebrow, daring him to push.
