Before she could reply, he leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips. It wasn’t the lustful embrace that they had shared back in the carriage, no, this was something softer, more gentle, but still just as much of a promise as that had been.
Her body arched towards his, as though on instinct. No matter what she tried to tell herself, there was something between them, a desire she couldn’t hide from, that she didn’t want to, either. She laid her hand on his chest, feeling the strength of him once more, a reminder that, if he wanted to, he could have taken her right then and there, and there would have been little she could do to stop him.
This time, instead of frightening her, the thought sent that warmth pooling down between her legs once more.
He pulled back. She caught her breath, gasping for air, still able to feel the roughness of his stubble against her cheek.
With one last look at her, he turned on his heel and left the room. She reached up, her fingertips trembling, and brushed them across her lips.Did that really just happen?It seemed like some kind of dream, but she knew, even in her wildest fantasies, that she’d never have been able to come up with something so vivid or passionate.
But she had still moved no further forward in her attempts to leave the keep. Chewing her lip, she considered pursuing him to ask again, but she sensed that, for the time being, the best thing for her was to gather herself.
Because if she strode out there after him, she feared she would not be able to contain herself from what longed to come next.
“Are ye sure ye’re alright, hen?” Effie asked, furrowing her brow at Amelia as she handed her a warm cup of tea, freshly brewed from the dandelion and burdock roots pulled from outside. Amelia nodded, wrapping her fingers gratefully around the cup.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“Aye, ye did, but I’ve yet to see anything to make me believe it,” Effie shot back. Amelia managed a small smile. She appreciated that her new friend seemed so perceptive, but at the same time, then and there, she longed for some space to clear her mind.
After that kiss with the Laird, she had been thrown into another mess of self-doubt and questioning. She knew not how to handle the rush of feelings and emotions that seemed to get the better of her when he was around. Was he using that againsther, making it so she had no choice but to go along with his demands and expectations? Was he skilled in making his women wait so that they found themselves lost to a desirous rush that got in the way of any sensible thought?
Suddenly, a knock sounded on her chamber door. Effie rose to her feet to answer it, and there, standing on the other side, was one of the young groomsmen who tended to the horses.
“Good afternoon, my lady,” he greeted her, dipping his head down in an expression of deference. “The Laird wishes to see you, in the courtyard.”
“What for?” she demanded defensively. Everything Arran did, she felt as though he was playing a game with her, testing her and teasing her, and she did not much like the feeling of being treated in such a fashion.
“To give you yer wedding gift.”
She frowned. She had heard no talk of being gifted anything, and she could hardly believe that he would suddenly have begun treating her with such kindness. Was this an attempt to bribe her, in order to get her to forget about her demands to see her family? Perhaps. Either way, she knew she had little recourse to deny him what he asked for, and with a sigh, she rose to her feet, planted her tea on the small table beside her bed, and followed the man out into the corridor and to the courtyard beyond.
It was an unseasonably warm day, and, when she stepped outside, she found that the air didn’t bite with the same harsh coldness that it once had. Glancing around, she searched for the sight of her husband. At least there would be other people around them for this meeting, so she would not have to fear her desire getting the better of her.
And, sure enough, after a few moments, she spotted him. He was sitting astride a large, chestnut-brown horse, with a dark mane that ruffled slightly in the mild wind. Beside him stood another man who tended to the horses, and in his hands, he heldthe reins to a mare that Amelia had never seen before, large, and nearly a pure white, her gray mane shimmering with silver streaks in the pale sunshine.
“What’s this?” she demanded, as she made her way towards them.
“Yer wedding gift,” Arran replied evenly. She scanned his face for any hint of what had happened earlier. Did it truly mean so little to him, that kiss? If that wasn’t the case, he was certainly doing a fine job pretending he would treat her as a gentleman might.
“It’s days after the wedding?—”
“Aye, she took a while to arrive,” the groomsman cut in. “But she’s a fine horse. And she’ll serve ye well, my lady, if I may say so.”
She wasn’t used to being spoken to with such deference. She supposed she would have to get used to it, now that she was married to the man who ruled this place, but she found it difficult to believe that she would ever see it as natural. Just a few weeks ago, she had been nothing more than Amelia, and now, she was a lady, at the side of her Laird.
“Come,” Arran ordered. “We’ll ride together.”
Her heart dropped. Of course, that’s what he would have wanted. It seemed obvious to her now, but, in the shock of everything that had been happening, the thought had slipped her mind. She gritted her teeth before she responded, hating to have to admit to any kind of weakness.
“I can’t ride.”
“Ye what?” Arran asked, frowning.
“I said, I can’t ride,” she replied, speaking a little more clearly now. A silence seemed to fall over the courtyard, and Arran stared back at her for a moment, as though he could scarcely make sense of what she was saying.
“I thought all noble lasses could ride.”
Her heart skipped a beat in her chest. He couldn’t know that she wasn’t noble. She was fearful of what he might do if he found out that the woman he had married was nothing more than a minor landowner’s daughter. Hardly the kind of girl he would have wanted to take for a wife, she was sure of that.
