Page 13 of Bond of a Bewitched Highlander

"Very well," she said. "I will give you my answer in a fortnight."

"I'm pleased." He lifted her hand and kissed it. "If you should accept, I shall buy you anything you want—silken gowns, fine jewelry. We'll have a rewarding marriage, I vow." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "And pleasure filled."

She shivered with revulsion, but, based on his haughty grin, he took it for a different kind of shiver.

Forcing herself to begin her mission, she said, "'Haps we can get to know each other better over the next few days."

He sat back. "I regret that I must leave early in the morn. I have a business engagement, but I shall return here in a fortnight."

"What sort of business?" she asked, studying his expression in the candlelight.

He grinned salaciously, his gray eyes turning glassy and dark. "Horse trading."

Ah, so that's what he called selkie abduction. Clearly, he enjoyed it a bit too much. He was probably a rapist, too.

"Well, I'm certain you wish to get some rest before your early departure." Needing to get away from him and the malevolence emanating from him, she rose and headed toward the door. "As I mentioned before, I'm weary from horse riding."

Catching up to her, he took her hand and kissed it again. "I thank you for considering my proposal, my beautiful lady."

Did he expect her to thank him for proposing? She certainly wasn't going to.

"I'll see you in the morn, then." She curtsied and strode out the door in front of him. Was he glaring at her back for not accepting straightaway?

Out of his sight, she paused in the corridor, listening to his footsteps clunking down the spiral stone staircase. What a sickening demon.

Tilly caught up with Elsea and followed her to the bedchamber. The maid was uncharacteristically quiet while helping her undress.

"What do you think of him?" Elsea asked. Could the maid detect his maliciousness?

Her eyes flaring wide, Tilly hesitated. "Well... 'tis nay my place to give my humble opinion of an earl."

"But I'm asking you. Do you think he's a good man?"

Tilly cleared her throat. "I have nay notion. 'Tis the first time I've been near him."

"Oh, so you have no intuition about a person's nature?" Elsea challenged, for she knew her maid was wise.

"All that matters is what you think of him, m'lady. Because of... what happened before when they said you left with him, I thought you were smitten." Tilly hung up the gown and turned back. "I hope you can forgive me for bringing it up, but... in my estimation, Chief Brodie MacCain was a better match for you."

An imaginary fist smashed into her chest, taking away her breath. "Aye, but that is over and dead," Elsea whispered. "It cannot be resurrected."

Tilly nodded, her mouth downturned. "'Tis a pity, lass, for the entire clan loved him, including your da, may God rest his soul. When Chief Brodie placed that betrothal ring on your finger, there was nay a dry eye in the hall."

Why didn't her maid simply choke her? 'Twould have been the same sensation and far easier to tolerate.

Tilly left the room and closed the door with a click, for which Elsea was eternally grateful. She couldn't have gotten a word out.

She sat by the fire, trying to breathe normally, refusing to let her heart pour out. Refusing to be pulled back into the past. 'Twas a place she couldn't go.

But the betrothal ring... Elsea had tried to forget about it.

Nay. She couldn't look at it. She shouldn't... but could not banish it from her mind now.

She had wrapped the precious ring in an ivory silk cloth, tied it up tight with a ruby satin ribbon, and put it in a box as if it had been her fractured heart. She should've given the ring back, but she couldn't. 'Twas the only thing she had left of him. The item that represented the happiest moments of her life.

Restless, she leapt up and paced, desperation engulfing her. All she needed was a wee glimpse, just a moment to touch the past, to hold it in her hand.

Giving in, she strode to the table and opened her small, carved oak jewelry chest and searched inside. The item she sought was buried beneath brooches, necklaces, and tangled ribbons.