‘You could have told me, been honest.’
‘As you are honest, Maren?’ said Bryce quietly.
At that, she swallowed hard and glared at him. ‘I hate you, Bryce Cullan,’ she said.
No, you don’t. And you have shown me quite the opposite of hate many times, lass.’
‘To my present regret, but then I suppose as I am bought like a whore I may as well play the part.’ Her jaw worked, and Bryce could see the fighter in her coming to the fore.
‘You chose to come with me and do this, Maren.’
‘No. I’ve never had a choice about anything. But you do, yet you whine about your circumstances like a child,’ she sneered. ‘You are rich. You have comfort and ease and never struggle. And yet, with all these gifts, you lie to a fine man like Jasper, who loves you. You have a father you can be proud of, yet you defy Jasper and begrudge him a scrap of peace and surety in his dotage.’
‘This plan was necessary so that I would not lose my birthright over a selfish whim of his. Would you doom me to a loveless marriage? And trust me, if this union between us fails, you will lose your comfort and ease, too.’
‘It was never mine, and I do not want it. I can play the lady, Bryce, but I will never be one, nor do I want all that simpering small talk and duty, the dull, endless twittering of weak women and arrogant men. It would make me lose my mind.’
‘Is that what you think of me, Maren, that I am an arrogant fool of a man like the rest of them?’
‘I don’t know what I think of you, Bryce Cullan. All I know for certain is that you are a bad man to be around.’
‘Then let me prove that I can be a good one.’ He took hold of her arm, but Maren flung him off with surprising strength.
‘You are a liar. You have used me ill,’ she cried.
Bryce’s patience ran out. ‘As you appear to be using me. What were you looking for in these papers?’
‘What?’
‘Why were you in my old chamber, where you never go, looking through my things? Answer me that, Maren.’
His accusation struck her dumb, and she would not meet his eye.
‘Tell me, Maren, are you a spy, trying to sniff out my secrets, here by some evil design? Did someone place you under my nose to tempt me to spill my guts?’
Her mouth fell open. ‘Why would you say such a thing?’
‘Angel says you were a….’
‘Angel. You talked to Angel?’ Her voice wavered when she spoke. She was shaken and had something to hide.
‘Aye, I went to Balloch seeking answers, lass.’
Maren jutted out her chin. ‘You’ll not find an honest one from that weasel.’
‘On the contrary. She is not as bad as she seems, and Angel bears no real enmity for you. She exonerated you of ever having been a whore, for a start.’
Maren frowned. ‘So she has some capacity for truth.’
‘More than you, it seems. She said that a fellow often came to your rooms, and she heard whispering when she pressed her ear to the door, not lovemaking. What were you trading in your trysts - troop movements, messages of insurrection, money to fund a rebellion?’
‘No…I….’
‘It seems what Angel lacks in good sense, she makes up for in impeccable hearing,’ Bryce snarled, watching her face for a lie to flash across it.
‘If that was her suspicion, why did she never challenge me on it?’ said Maren.
‘Angel was curious as to why you, a woman alone, would be protected at the Groggy Mare, and yet she was at the mercy of scoundrels who would sell her. But it seems that, whore or not, she had enough good sense to keep her counsel on the subject.’
