‘Aye, your brother, who is currently enjoying a stay in the bowels of Kransmuir.’ He looked her straight in the eye. ‘Don’t pretend that you did not know. That witch of a wet nurse has been telling you her tales, hasn’t she? You have known for weeks, and since then, you have set about seducing me to soften me up for when you made your move. How deliciously devious you are, Rowenna.’
She did not bother to deny it. She leapt off him, freeing his cock, and gathered the sheets about her, but Jasper dragged them away. Let her flesh be laid as bare as her sin.
Rowenna was cornered, so she went on the attack. ‘And what about your deceit? You threw Bran in your dungeon and said nothing. You let me…you made me care for you and….’
‘Enough with the lies. You care nought for me, and you never will. And I threw your worm of a brother into a dungeon because he was seen killing my cattle, allying himself with my enemies.’
‘If he was led astray by the Gunns, that is because he is a fool and…’
‘Twas not the Gunns. It was far worse. Bran is in league with the English, with the Warden of the Marches - the man intent on destroying us. I am married to a woman whose brother wishes me dead. How am I to trust in you now?’
‘Jasper, please.’
‘Jasper, please,’ he said. He could feel the sneer riding his face but was powerless to suppress it. ‘That is what you cry out when I am inside you, but it is just for show, isn’t it? You feign passion to get your own way. Ah, Rowenna, lying with you has been such sweet oblivion. It would have been sweeter had you been willing.’
‘No. You have it all wrong. I know how it must look, but I was not pretending. I swear.’
‘Save your lies, Rowenna. And know this. You did too good a job of tempting me. You excite me more than any woman I have ever known. And now I find you have a ruthlessness to match mine. So no matter what punishment I mete out to your brother, you will keep letting me into your bed and your lovely deceitful body whenever I want, with no complaint.’
‘Jasper, stop it, that is horrible. This is not you.’
‘Oh, aye, it is.’ He grabbed her wrist. The skin was so soft, delicate bones moving beneath his fingers as she tried to wriggle free. Was it beyond him to be gentle? Was he just a big lumbering brute hammering her sweetness every night?
‘You may as well know the real man you married, lass. I am the monster you always thought me.’
‘No. There is good in you. I know it. These last weeks, I have been with a kind, merciful man who makes me want him. Was that all a show on your part?’
‘No more a show than your pretend affection these last weeks.’
‘When did you know?’
‘A good while.’
‘So, were you making love to me or using me?’
‘I was waiting for the hammer to fall, my love, as it always does. A small part of me hoped you would not ask, that you truly wanted me, maybe even liked me a little. But you have disappointed me. It is the way with all women.’
Rowenna leapt out of bed and wriggled into her clothes. Jasper could not move. He just watched from the bed, wanting and hating her all at once.
‘I thought you wanted to stay abed, lass,’ he said, narrowing his eyes.
‘I have changed my mind.’
‘If I say I will free Bran, will you change it back again? I was never going to kill your brother, you know.’
Rowenna stood up to him, though her voice waivered, full of tears that threatened to fall. He almost loved her for going on the attack when she was cornered.
‘You will do as you like, Jasper,’ she spat.
‘Very well. I will free the worm. All your hard work has paid off. Well, bonnie, what is it to be?' he said, patting the bed. ‘Shall we seal the bargain?’
She glowered at him, fierce and beautiful in her anger. ‘Do what you will with my brother. He sealed his own fate long ago. But, Jasper, if you cannot believe that what we have shared these last weeks was real, then you are an ignorant man as well as a cruel one, and I’ll not have you again, ever.’
‘Much good that will do you, withholding your affection. Remember, you can only sell your innocence once.’
‘I never sold it. You took it.’
‘Rowenna, you are a lying bitch, and the worst of it is, just for a moment, I thought you might be something else.’
