Leah froze in place, seeing the same shock on his face as he closed his eye. He opened it only to throw his head back and look up at the ceiling as though in deep despair.
“Fine?” she echoed disbelievingly.
“I’ll marry ye,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face and heaving a great sigh. “Goddamnit to hell.”
“W-what?” she replied stupidly.
“I’ll marry ye. That’s what ye want, is it nae? The better choice of two bad ones?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but no sound would come out. She had not foreseen this, certain that he was entirely set in his decision and never expecting him to renege on it—certainly not so quickly.
She put her hands on her hips. “You will not even ask me?” she said, a mix of relief and fear warring within her.
“That is what ye are fixated on, is it nae? Wellton hasnae asked ye either. Would ye prefer him?” he asked, taking a predatory step toward her.
She wrung her hands, at a loss for words. “But?—”
“Listen to me.” His voice was dark, his gaze set and unyielding. “I’ll just say this once. So listen well.”
He sighed, coming to stand a few feet away from her, his expression softening. He put his hands behind his back, swallowing down whatever he had been about to say before taking a deep breath, closing his eye, and laying out his terms.
“We will marry to save yer reputation and stop yer faither from throwin’ ye out of his home like a child throwin’ his toys from a pram. I will prevent ye from marryin’ some old goat who will barely live past yer weddin’ day. But this willnae be a conventional marriage. We will lead separate lives. Ye will have yer own castle, yer own staff, yer own life, and I will have mine. That’s the best I can offer.”
Leah’s eyes went wide at what he was suggesting. It was madness to believe that they could marry but live as though they did not know one another. And yet the alternative was unthinkable. She could not leave and marry Wellton—she simply could not.
How could he possibly want this as his future? Surely, it would be easier for him to just let me leave with my father.
She had to give him one last chance to revoke his statement. “But, My Laird, you cannot possibly want?—”
“It’s ‘Magnus’ now, wife,” he grunted as he turned on his heel and walked to the door, giving her no chance to respond or even to ask a question.
He bowed his head as he laid a hand on the door handle, the same tension rolling off him in waves as he glanced back at her.
“We marry tomorrow,” he growled.
“But—”
The door slammed shut behind him with such finality that Leah’s words died in her throat.
And so I have signed my life away to a man who will never truly want me.
CHAPTER 13
Magnus stalked through the castle,warring with himself and glaring at any servants foolish enough to get in his way.
He did not know what had made him agree to such terms; she had not even insisted.
Aye, ye do,a snide voice piped up in his head.Just the thought of another man touching her drives ye mad with jealousy. Ye’d rather entrap her here than let her go.
He scoffed, trying to deny the truth of those words. The idea of anyone else touching that porcelain skin or running their fingers through that glorious hair made his fingers itch to unsheathe his sword. It had taken all of his strength not to leap across the room and throw her down onto the bed just to prove that she belonged to him.
As he stalked through the corridors, he could hear a great hubbub of voices coming from the dining hall. He entered tofind his man-at-arms, Leah’s father, Betty, and Laid MacIrvin all chattering wildly with one another as though this were their castle and not his.
Magnus had never had so many people within his walls and did not care for it. He wished to be alone again. All these men, with their opinions and their arrogance, needed to be gone before he fired an arrow into their backs.
Lord Burton was the first to step forward, as though the hall were his to command. Magnus gripped his belt with two hands to prevent himself from planting a fist into the center of the man’s face.
“I have made me decision!” he announced above the din before anyone could speak. “Lady Leah and I will be married tomorrow.”
