She clenched her teeth to keep from cringing when he clasped his hands on her waist. As she dismounted, her heavy headdress started to tilt. She imagined the lock pick lost in the dirt or, worse, falling at Patrick’s feet as the headdress rolled to the ground. Heart racing, she shoved it firmly on her head with one hand as she descended to the ground, then gingerly released it.
“I apologize for not admitting your escort,” Patrick said. “But circumstances make it difficult to trust anyone these days.”
“I trust you,” she said, taking his arm, “or I wouldn’t have come, and certainly not alone.”
From the look of satisfaction on his face, that had been exactly the right thing to say. She breathed a little easier.
“If you’re here to ask me to release Wedderburn,” he said, giving her a thorough perusal as he led her to the keep, “you’ll need to be verra persuasive.”
“I don’t expect ye to release him,” she said. “I understand he must face the Crown’s justice after what he did.”
Once they were inside, he snapped his fingers at the servants and ordered them to bring refreshments. Patrick clearly relished the outward signs of his new status as laird, which was so unlike David, who exuded a natural authority. David Hume could enter a room in rags, and one would know he was a leader men would follow into battle.
It felt strange to sit in her usual seat with Patrick next to her in the laird’s chair that David had occupied so recently.
“I heard your father died,” she said. “I am sorry for your loss.”
“He was old,” Patrick said. “This is fine wine, isn’t it?”
Apparently he had forgotten that the wine came from her wine cellar.
“If ye didn’t come to beg for Wedderburn’s life,” he said, “then why did ye come?”
She remembered how insistent Patrick was when he kidnapped her on the way home from the abbey that they were meant to be together and that she had always wanted him. She considered telling him he was right, but she feared she could not play that part well enough and he would see the lie. The safer course was to pretend simple acceptance of her changed circumstances.
“We women must be pragmatic,” she said. “I don’t wish to give up my home or my children’s birthright.”
She jumped in her seat as Patrick rested a hot, moist hand on her thigh. Luckily, it was not the thigh with the dirk strapped to it.
“Naturally, my brother, the Earl of Angus,” she said, giving Patrick a pleasant smile as she removed his hand, “is also concerned about my and my children’s future.”
“Your brother?” he said. “If he had an interest, he’d be here.”
“Alas, his responsibilities as stepfather to the king and a member of the King’s Council make it difficult for him to leave Edinburgh at this time.” She withdrew the message Sybil had forged from inside her sleeve and handed it to him. “He hopes you and I can come to an agreement that is satisfactory to both our families.”
“Odd,” he murmured as he read it, “that he would send a lass to negotiate.”
She pasted a smile on her face, but the blood pounded in her ears as Patrick finished reading the missive. Would he guess it was a forgery?
“What makes a marriage alliance between our families acceptable to ye now?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. “Ye must admit that fleeing the abbey showed a certain lack of eagerness.”
She was prepared for this.
“At the time, I thought I might be carrying Wedderburn’s child, who would be the Hume heir.” She could not help flushing as she spoke of a matter that should be private between her and David. “But I’m not.”
Patrick gave her a stiff nod. As she had anticipated, he understood a desire to maintain inheritance rights.
“The other reason is that, frankly, I did not wish to wed your father.”
“And ye feel differently about having me for your husband, aye?” he said with a dangerous smile playing on his lips.
She knew before she came that there was a risk Patrick would disregard the formalities of a marriage negotiation and simply haul her upstairs and rape her. From the way he was looking at her now, he wanted to. She could almost see the calculations going through his head.
***
Patrick drummed his fingers. What was his kitten up to?
“I’d look forward to wedding ye,” she said, casting her gaze downward in that demure way that made his blood rise. “With our family connections, it should still be possible to obtain an annulment. That will take time, of course.”
