“What is that supposed to mean?” he questioned, his grip on her arms getting tighter.
“Only that he is nae a wretched old man, filthy and vile. In fact, everything that I have seen thus far has been the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
She swallowed hard, hearing Alec’s anger growing in his tone and eyes.
“Aye. He is nae an old man. He could nae be more than a few years older than me. Perhaps he is closer to Blake’s age. And he has been kind and welcoming to me.”
She didn’t want to mention Laird Knox’s lack of manners or his informal nature. As shocked as she had been by her betrothed calling her by her Christian name, Alec would be furious. He wouldn’t be able to stand it. And had she mentioned how the Laird had struggled to cut his food, Alec would insist that he was a simpleton, foolish and dumb.
“Och, Charlotte. Ye are a naive little lass,” Alec chided, bouncing a finger off the tip of her nose.
She hated when he did that. It made her feel like a child. She grit her teeth as he continued talking.
“Anyone can play a part for an evening. Ye say that he is kind, but truly, how long did ye spend with him? An hour or two at most? Perhaps three? It would nae take much effort to put on a mask and pretend to be kind for that long. I am sure that given time, Laird Knox will reveal his true colors and then ye will come running for me to save ye.”
She bit back a scoff.
“I dinnae ken,” she argued, doing her best to keep her voice even and quiet. “I could nae see him leading a war or ambushing a village. He does nae seem the type. The man I have heard about is ruthless and unforgiving. But the man I have met is quiet and calm. He hardly seems comfortable in his own seat, let alone trying to take from another clan.”
“I am telling ye, Charlotte,” Alec all but spat out, “it is a trick. He is playing the part to get ye to fall for him. A man like him will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And right now, what he wants is a marriage with ye. The kind of power that would give him is all he is after. So he will try to woo ye and convince ye that he is nae the man we all ken him to be. Sooner or later, his true nature will reveal itself. Ye will see.”
Charlotte sighed. There was some logic to what Alec was saying, but she could not be convinced.
“What of his age then? Everyone has said that Laird Knox is an old man, older than even my father. They have spoken of his gray hair and weathered skin. They have given the man decades of experience and conquests. But the man at dinner tonight seemed to be half that age. What of that?”
Alec narrowed his eyes at her again, clearly trying to come up with some answer to appease her. She hated their closeness, hated his hold on her. But she knew she was already treading on thin ice and pulling away even further would cause more harm than good, so she stayed put and tried not to think about it.
“Ye ken how rumors can be, Charlotte. They must have exaggerated his age. Nay Laird wants to admit that he has been attacked by a younger, less experienced man. I cannae blame them.”
“I guess that would make sense,” she conceded.
She still couldn’t understand how the Laird’s advanced age could be chalked up to rumors, but his character, his maliciousness was not. It seemed like Alec was picking and choosing which of the rumors he wanted to believe, and those he didn’t. She knew it came from a good place. Alec wanted only to protect her, to keep her safe. He wouldn’t be told otherwise. He always had to be the one to call the shots, even if it wasn’t what she wanted.
“Aye.” He pulled her into a hug and pressed a kiss to the top her head. “It will all be all right.”
His reassurances gave her little comfort. She wanted to believe him, but all she could feel was suffocated. She had spent all day trapped in a carriage, leaving one cage for another. And now that she finally had the chance for space, for rest, Alec was here making more demands of her. He wanted her attention, her affection just as much as her father wanted her obedience. His arms felt less like a safe retreat and more like a vice grip, restricting even her breathing.
“Alec, I am tired,” she said into his chest. “It has been a long day and tomorrow is sure to be long again. I am ready for sleep. I was just about to summon my maid when ye knocked.”
He looked down at her, letting only the slightest inch of space in between them.
“Aye, I can see that ye are tired. I am sorry if I have kept ye up. I would have tossed and turned all night had I nae come to see ye first. I needed to see with my own eyes that ye were unharmed, that Laird Knox had nae laid a finger on ye.”
“Well, I am fine, just in need of a little rest,” she tried again, waiting for him to get the point.
“I want ye to ken, Charlotte, that I love ye. I am the only man who loves ye and now I am the only man who can protect ye. I will nae let this marriage go through. I will do whatever it takes to stop it. Ye can marry no one else but me, aye?”
He pressed a kiss to her head again, not bothering to wait for her answer.
“I will go now, though I must tell ye, there is nowhere else in this castle that is nearly as nice as what ye have here. The servants’ chambers are drafty and cold. The whole place is covered in dirt and dust. It is as though nay one has bothered to take care of it in ages. Ye will have yer hands full if he expects ye to manage the house while ye are here.”
His complaints made her grateful that he couldn’t see her face. She had no idea what he expected her to say or do to make things better for him. She hadn’t asked for him to follow her, he had insisted. And they both knew that if he did come after her, things would be difficult. She couldn’t understand why he was complaining about it now.
“Aye, and full hands is exactly why I need my sleep now, Alec. Please, ye need to go before Elizabeth comes looking for me or someone from the servants’ quarters notices that ye are missing.”
With one final kiss and a reminder of just how much he loved her, Alec left, sneaking out of her door the same way he had come in. She was still worried that someone would see him leave, but that was a problem to confront another time.
She summoned Elizabeth and began undressing, getting ready for bed. Her maid arrived quickly and caught on to the fact that Charlotte was in no mood to talk. Between the two of them, they had Charlotte in her nightgown with hair freshly brushed and braided and tucked into bed in less than half an hour. With a promise to be back in the morning with a tray, Elizabeth left.
Darkness encompassed the room save for a singular candle Charlotte had placed on the table bedside her bed. For the first time since her father had given her the news that she was to wed Laird Knox, she was able to breathe. She knew that tonight, she wouldn’t lay awake wondering about the kind of man she was set to marry or how he would treat her. She wouldn’t be trying to picture a new home or a new room. She had answers to all of those questions now.
But as she lay there, willing her mind and body to sleep, her thoughts still drifted back to the man she would marry. He was nothing like she had imagined. In fact, she hardly knew what to think of him. It would be even harder trying to describe him in a letter to her father.
She blew out the candle and waited for sleep to claim her.
