He brushed his thumb along her cheek, and she froze, begging her body not to respond to him so easily, pleading with herself to resist this with what little strength she had left. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“Not if this is how ye treat me,” she protested weakly, but there wasn’t an ounce of conviction to her voice, not even to her ears.
She could not look at him, for she knew that, if she did, she would sink into him at once and embrace his touch more easily than she would have cared to admit to.
“Yer mouth is sharp, Ailsa,” he murmured. “But ye’ll scream as sweetly as any bride when I make ye mine. Ye hear me?”
She turned to face him, her body trembling. More than anything, she wished she had the nerve to push him away. But she didn’t. Even now, even in the midst of all of this, she could not resist him. She could still remember, all too clearly, how it had felt when he had kissed her, when his hand had moved against her body with such confidence and ease, like he had complete control of her.
He had taken her teetering to the very brink of what she needed, and then, he had denied her, like he knew well that itwould leave her craving and pleading and wanting in ways that she could not put into words.
“Ye can train like a man if ye want,” he continued, their lips so close now that she could almost feel the shape of his words as well as hear them. “But dinnae forget what yer real duties are, lass.”
His gaze drifted down to her mouth. She tilted her head up, willing him to kiss her, to give her what she wanted, despite herself. But, seemingly all too aware of it and intent on punishing her, he simply pulled back and made his way back to his desk.
She clenched her fists at her sides, her body aching with a pain that had nothing to do with the training she had just gone through with Ewan. She watched as he returned to the desk, not so much as looking up at her as she stood there.
Had he called her to his study just to torment her further? It seemed like the kind of thing he would do, the sick, twisted creature that he was.
She forced her to open the door and step outside and let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. She hated that it was so easy for him to have such an impact on her, so easy for him to command control over her in such a way. She wished there was something she could do to unlace the grip that he had on her heart, but whatever she tried, it only seemed to secure it deeper.
But that did not mean for an instant that she was going to give up on the training she had worked so hard at so far. He might think that she was only good for one thing, but she knew that her abilities ran much deeper than that.
And if she had to prove it to him, then she would.
Chapter Nine
Tavish hung backin the shadows, watching as Ailsa finished her training for the day.
This morning, she was not with Ewan alone but had been joined by a few more of his men who seemed keen to share with her all they knew about the matter of swordsmanship.
He had to admit she was starting to get some real skill to her name, even if he would never tell her that. He could only imagine how she would react, the preening grin that would have sprung over her face if she had known that he was giving her such credit…
Not that he had seen enough of her lately to say anything to her, let alone comment on the matter of her training. Ever since he had called her to his study the other day, she had been avoiding him like the plague, and he couldn’t say he blamed her.
His jealousy had boiled to the surface faster than he could get a handle on it, and he knew that she would find some way to make him pay.
She laughed at something Ewan said as she caught her breath, her cheeks flushed, and he drew his lip into a curl at the sight of her so free with someone else. If any of his men dared even think of having designs on her… They were all too aware ofwhat he would do to them if he caught them so much as looking at her askance.
But to see her so happy, having such fun with men who were not him, it stirred something in him he was not proud of; a possessive insistence that made him want to lock her away in a tower and never let another man lay eyes on her again.
And it wasn’t the first time he had watched her from afar, though he doubted she would so much as remember it.
His mind drifted back to a distant memory from when they had all been children; Callum and Ailsa rushing out ahead of him in the fields, laughing at some shared joke that he was on the other side of, as he had done his best to close the distance between them.
But they had seemed so far from him then, so distant, as if they belonged to another place entirely. They had been friends all their lives, and the families had agreed to marry them when they were barely teenagers.
He had never had a claim to Ailsa, not like Callum did, but the need for her still stewed deep within him, even if she would not have looked twice in his direction, what with him being the younger of the two brothers.
He could almost see it now, her hair flying out behind her, the way she had looked like an angel to him, so untouchable she might as well have been something holy. And now, even though he had married her, she still did not look at him as much more than a source of frustration.
He had imagined that making her his would change things between them, but his obsession over all these years had driven him to want more than just marriage from her. No, he wanted her to feel the same need and desperation he felt about her, and he was not sure he would ever be able to?—
“What are ye staring at?”
Ewan’s voice cut through the distraction in his mind, and it took him a moment to remind himself that he was not hidden out in his rooms, watching from afar, as he had been before. No, he was standing in full view of the rest of his men, and he’d have to be careful about what he let them see.
“Nothing,” he muttered, straightening up and brushing off his indolence.
