Peyton hauled her up the stairs, threw her into their chamber, banged the door shut and hastened downstairs lest he do something he regretted. And that would be throwing Cecily onto the bed and having his savage way with her, or laying her over his knee and spanking the life out of her. Both, preferably.
When he got back downstairs, Griffin and his harem of relations had mounted their horses. ‘You need to keep that bitch in line,’ snapped Griffin. ‘A fine-looking lass, to be sure. Can’t say as I blame you for keeping her.’
‘Forgive any offence to your honour or that of the lasses. Erm…Connie drinks too much, and her mouth runs away with her.’
‘I’ll wager it does,’ leered Griffin with a wink. ‘I don’t mind that you have your little vices, and very comely ones they are too. You can keep a hundred whores, as long as you do right by my Catherine.’ He leant down to Peyton. ‘She is quite taken with you, Strachan. You worked your charm, alright. So, we are agreed?’
Griffin did not wait for an answer. He kicked his horse, and they all galloped out of Fellscarp, with Catherine waving goodbye.
When Peyton turned around, Cecily was leaning in the doorway, drawing stares from the men in the yard. ‘Go inside,’ he shouted.
She turned and stormed inside. Peyton followed her up the winding stairs.
Cecily swirled to face him in a fair temper. ‘How could you?’
‘Lass, I didn’t expect Griffin to just turn up with those women.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘I have to keep him on my side, and encouraging his offer will do that,’ he shouted.
‘Well, you didn’t have to encourage him quite so much. It was awful. Those poor lasses. They must have been so humiliated, laid out for you to choose like chattel.’
‘I didn’t like it either.’
‘Are you sure? You seemed to like that plump one.’
Peyton frowned. ‘Would you say that Catherine was plump? I think voluptuous is more the word.’
‘Is it now?’ she hissed through gritted teeth. ‘You were flirting with her. She had her hands on you.’ Cecily carried on upwards.
They reached a little landing where the stairs widened out. Peyton grabbed her hand. ‘I very much like your red dress,’ he smirked.
‘I don’t care.’
He took her around the waist and silenced her jealousy with a hard kiss. She pushed him off. Peyton’s anger had already softened to desire. ‘If you want to keep my affection, you will have to try harder than that, lass.’
‘Keep your affection!’ Cecily grabbed him firmly between the legs, making his breath catch. ‘I don’t have to try at all,’ she said, smiling and squeezing to the edge of pain.
Peyton bit his lip. ‘Alright, I give in. Forgive my teasing and come to bed.’
‘I don’t think so,’ she said, walking away with a shrug.
He took hold of her. ‘You know you were jealous, and you know you want to lie with me.’
‘No, I’m not, and no, I don’t.’ Her burning cheeks told a different story. She often had that blush when she wanted him and didn’t want to show it.
‘Liar,’ he said. ‘You were down in that hall to mark your territory. You wanted me to see you. Well, I have seen you, lass, and you have awakened a fearsome need in me. Come to bed, Cecily. I promise to make amends.’
‘I will not crawl into your bed, Peyton. I am too angry.’
‘In that case, I will just have to make amends here,’ he said.
She managed a ‘no’ before he pushed her back into a little storeroom off the landing. He slammed the door shut, trapping her.
‘I want nothing to do with you, Peyton Strachan,’ she cried.
He got to his knees.
