Page 87 of Moon Awakening

"Which makes you my captor, not my husband, and I am nothing more than your instrument of revenge as well as the laird's."

"I am your husband," Drustan grated down at her.

She sighed, knowing he spoke the truth. For better or for worse, he was the man she would be mated to for a lifetime. "Yes, you are my husband. By the laws of the Church," she couldn't resist adding on.

"By your own vow and admission last night."

She refused to acknowledge that thrust. "But I am not someone you care for, am I?"

"Do you want me to care for you?"

"What woman wouldn't? I am your wife, after all. We have many years ahead to be together."

"You did not confide in Sean, but did he care for you?"

She really did not know. If he had, he had never said so. "He was considerate of me."

"And I am not?"

"You dismissed my concerns for Emily as if they did not matter."

"I told you they were groundless. Even knowing that, I agreed to speak with Lachlan at the nooning meal when I had at first planned not to leave our quarters until tomorrow at the earliest. That is not dismissing your concerns."

"But—"

"You have no patience."

"I was afraid for Emily, can't you understand that?"

"If you trusted me, you would have no fear."

"How can I trust you?"

"I am your husband," he repeated, as if that single fact alone should set all her fears at rest.

"Because of vengeance."

"Does it matter why we married? You are now my wife. Not some woman who warms my bed when the occasion suits me. You will bear my children and be my companion into our old age."

"I want to trust you," she admitted. It would be so much easier if she could be certain her feelings and desires mattered to him, that he would act in her best interests.

"Then do."

"It is not that easy."

"It is if you let it be."

"You may end up killing my brother."

"Only if he declares war or tries to take you from me."

Which was no comfort at all. Both circumstances were all too likely. "What about my baby?"

One of Drustan's hands slid around to her stomach and settled possessively over the babe. "What about it?"

"Talorc will want it for the Sinclairs."

Drustan's face twisted with disgust. "It is wrong to separate a mother from her child."