Lowri didn’t know what to make of that. ‘Well, you are safe now,’ she said.
Briony reached out a slender hand and clutched onto Lowri. ‘Forgive me for being forward, but I shall get no husband as fine as yours. That is why I sing your man’s praises.’
The young woman hardly knew Cullen to speak so highly of him. But then, he did have a way of pulling you in and lowering your guard to suit his purposes.
‘You said last night you were to be married?’ said Lowri.
Briony looked away, and tears welled in her eyes. ‘I was en route to Cork, to wed my betrothed. It was all arranged by my father before his death just recently. He made the match to keep me safe and see that I was provided for. I am to marry a wealthy man - Donald Drummond is his name. But I may as well have gone to my doom in those waves, for I’ll have no kind of life with Donald.’
‘Is this Donald not a decent man?’
‘I do not know him. I’ve not even met him. Donald is the son of a partner of my father’s, a good deal older than me.’ Her lip curled in disgust. ‘I fear I will not be able to stand him, sharing his bed, having his children, and all of it just a cold, loveless arrangement. It’s not what a girl dreams of, and I have no mother to instruct me on such matters. If I was going to a young, handsome man, like your Cullen, I could come to love him. Marriage would not be so awful then.’
‘Don’t be too sure,’ said Lowri, before she could hold her tongue.
Briony frowned, and yet a slight smile played around her lips, almost of mockery. Lowri chided herself. The lass may be weak and helpless, but there was no need to despise or doubt her. And she may also be stunning to look at, all golden softness, but that was no reason to burn with jealousy.
She had met other women who had beauty. Her brother’s wife, Cecily, for one. She had an inner glow and that effortless grace and delicacy that turned men to fools, and Lowri had once despised her for it. But from the first moment he had set eyes on Cecily, Peyton had fallen to his knees and worshipped her, and Cecily worshipped him back. For Lowri, their love was a punch in the gut. She had always loved her brother more than anyone, but Peyton’s love had been split in half since meeting his wife. With humiliating clarity, Lowri realised that she had gone reiving to gain his good opinion, to turn the light of his attention back on her, like a spoilt child. She had wanted to stop his gaze from always straying to Cecily as if she had mesmerised him.
Well, she would not succumb to such foolish jealousy again. She had to be a better woman than she had been. And she must decide what to do about Cullen. She could never succumb to Butcher to get back home, because she could never forgive herself for it. Perhaps Cullen could be worked upon to take her back to Scotland. Her life had held few choices thus far – succumb to the confines of marriage and a man’s rule, or be free and live in peril. She had always been unmoored, and then Cullen had crashed into her life. He was wild and a little villainous, but she had come to believe that he had chosen her, not taken her because she had been forced upon him.
All that had come crashing down in a matter of days, and now she was terrifyingly lost and alone. Had she been a fool all her life, too quick to anger, impulsive and selfish, blind to the feelings of others? Was that why Donnan had betrayed her so terribly?
She glanced at Briony, nervously watching her, twirling her blonde hair between her fingers. Could Cullen replace her that quickly?
It was at that moment that he burst in.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cullen watched Lowri go inside the cottage. Relief at seeing that she was home and safe barely took the edge off his blinding rage. The thought of her body cleaving to Butcher’s, her long legs wrapped around his back, her soft mouth pressed to his, made Cullen want to retch. He stormed into the cottage.
Briony leapt up with a broad smile for him. Lowri would not meet his eye, which just confirmed his worst fears. He took Lowri’s hand. ‘I need a word, outside,’ he said, jerking his head towards the door.
Lowri shook free his hand and stomped outside ahead of him, marching down the path to the coast. Cullen followed in impotent anger, words sticking in this throat, until they were halfway to the sea. The day was glorious, with gentle sunshine and a soft breeze tickling the long grass and wildflowers, but he was dead inside, as if his jealousy had burned his heart out.
There was no point in delaying. Over the distant crash of waves, he said, ‘We have to talk about Donnan.’
‘There’s nought to say. You deceived me, and now I have no reason to stay here or lie with you to get a bairn.’
‘A bairn was not the only reason you lay with me, lass.’
‘Don’t flatter yourself. That lass you rescued might fall for your chivalrous act, but I won’t. You are a liar, Cullen Macaulay. You were in this scheme of your father’s from the start.’
He took hold of her. ‘No. My father duped us both. I thought you were in danger, those lads too. I knew nought of it. I swear on my life, Lowri.’
‘Let go of me.’ She struggled, but he held on. ‘Calm down and think, lass. I am not the villain here.’
‘I don’t believe you. And I am going home to Fellscarp on the next ship, whether you like it or not.’
‘I don’t like it. You are never leaving me. Wherever you go, I will hunt you down and drag you back. You are my wife, and you will remain with me.’
‘I was never your wife. I was a fool you dragged into bed whenever the urge took you.’
‘I don’t recall much dragging, lass. You were as willing as I.’
‘Well, not any more. And I won’t let you treat me like your whore.’
Cullen shook Lowri hard. ‘I never treated you like that, and you know it.’ He shook her again. ‘You know it, lass,’ he gasped.
