‘I have come to take you home. Did you think I would let you run?’
Rowenna was rendered speechless by his rage and said the first thing that came into her head. ‘You should not be riding around at night.’
‘Why not?’
How could she tell him about the Warden? ‘Because you have enemies.’
‘Aye, and it seems you are one of them.’
‘Jasper, that is not true.’
Rowenna pulled her cloak tightly around her, though it would be scant protection, if stone walls and a door were not. When his blood was up, nothing could stop Jasper, so she’d best stand up for herself.
‘Who let you in?’ she snapped.
‘That slattern of a servant came running when the dogs started barking.’
Jasper came to the side of the bed and loomed over her. ‘Now, is this any way to greet your husband?’ His words dripped withbitterness, and he casually took hold of a strand of her hair, running it through his fingers. ‘It seems you upset my sister,’ he said.
‘No more than she upset me.’
‘Glenna said that you struck her.’
‘Aye, and I would dearly like to strike her again, but I doubt I will have that pleasure.’
He frowned. ‘And why is that?’
‘Because I am never returning to Kransmuir. Surely, you did not expect me to crawl back with my tail between my legs and beg forgiveness.’ Rowenna leapt over to the other side of the bed and stood up.
Jasper’s jaw worked. ‘I came back to Kransmuir to find you gone, when I had ordered you to stay for my pleasure,’ he snarled.
‘I do not come and go by your leave, and your pleasure is no longer my concern.’
‘You are my wife,’ he hissed.
‘I am far from that.’
‘You belong to me.’
‘We are only handfasted until I prove myself fertile, and I have not. So I am not your possession in any way.’
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. ‘What was your plan, lass? Is this how far you were going to run – Fallstairs? You know me. I would go to the ends of the earth to find you, Rowenna. There is nowhere to hide.’
‘I am not staying at Fallstairs.’
‘Oh, so you were just going to ride off one day and disappear like your sister?’
Rowenna choked back tears at his cruelty. ‘I don’t know, but I could not bear to be at Kransmuir after you called me a lying bitch.’
‘I am sorry for that,’ said Jasper, looking down at his feet.
His muscular beauty was unbearable now that she had lost him. ‘You also said that you could not stand the sight of me. So why should I stay?’
Jasper’s face turned from anger to anguish, but his hands were in fists, so she was wary.
‘We are joined, Rowenna,’ he said quietly.
‘Only handfasted. If no bairn is coming, it is not binding.’
