Page 39 of The Cursed Highland Bride

“I dinnae want tae listen tae yer lies.”

Anger flared within him at her accusation. “Am I tae believe that ye are blameless? Ye have been disobeying me at every turn. Ye have willfully sought out my men tae train ye against my instructions and without my knowledge. How am I tae ken that ye have nae lain with one o’ them?” He knew the moment that it left his lips that he should not have said it, but it was too late. He could not take it back.

Katarina’s hand flashed out, closing the distance between them to strike him across the face. “I have lain with nae man but ye.” She spat at his feet to punctuate her wrath. “Nae that ye deserve tae have my body with the way that ye have treated me. Get out!”

“I will nae,” Dunn refused. “I will stand here until ye answer me. What did ye plan tae do with the weapons that ye had hidden under yer bed? Did ye plan tae leave me or tae kill me?”

Her mouth dropped open in shock, and she stepped from the tub, water spraying everywhere, to look under her bed. “Ye took them!?” She seethed in anger. “They were nae yers tae take!” She grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around herself.

“Answer me!”

“Get out!”

“I will nae leave until ye answer me!” Even though they were shouting at each other, all he could think about was ripping the blanket from her naked body and laying her down upon the bed. He moved closer to her, but she sidestepped him around the tub towards the door.

“Get out or I will!”

Dunn did not believe that she would be so brazen as to leave her bedchamber in such a state of undress. He glared at her in challenge. “Ye would nae.”

Without another word, Katarina jerked the door open and ran out into the corridor, her hair still dripping wet spatters on the stones behind her. Dunn stood in shocked silence for the briefest of moments before he followed after her. To his further surprise, she had already made it to the end of the corridor and was making her way down the back set of stairs toward the kitchen below.

“Katarina!” he called after her, but she did not stop. In fact, she was moving even more swiftly now than before. Fearing what she might intend, he chased after her. Adamina spoke true. I have waited too long tae divulge the truth and may have very well lost my wife completely.

He chased after her, hoping that she would have the sense to stop in the kitchen. Instead, she turned and ran out of the door into the kale garden beyond. The storm had lessened, but it had brought with it a cold draught of air that threatened to freeze a person where they stood. Katarina began to shiver violently as she attempted to escape the garden before he could get to her. Dunn could hear her teeth chattering as he closed the distance between them. Grabbing her arm, he stopped her mid-flight.

“Ye will catch yer death, lass. Return tae the warmth o’ the kitchen with me.”

“I will nae do anything that ye ask o’ me. Ye have done all ye could tae show me ye care little tae nothing for me. From the moment that I met ye, ye have shown a disrespect that, were I a man, I would have challenged ye tae a duel for it. My honor is nae less than yers, and yet ye have treated me with less care than yer favorite whore!”

“Esmerelda,” Dunn breathed under his breath.

Katarina’s green eyes flashed with such rage that he thought she might try to claw his own eyes out. “Aye, Esmerelda.” She spread her arms out to encompass the lands around them, causing her blanket to come loose and fall to the ground. “And Brigid, Fiona, Annis, Davina, Greer…” The weighted pause between them indicated that she knew there were more.

Dunn was surprised that she had managed to learn so many of their names. For the first time in his life, he felt shame for his actions as a man. He had always believed himself to be a man of honor. Whom he had taken to his bed had had nothing to do with who he was as a man. In many eyes, it had made him more of a man. Kneeling, Dunn picked up the blanket and wrapped it around her naked form. “Come inside, lass,” he murmured softly as he would to a skittish horse.

She shook her head. “I will nae go anywhere with ye.”

Not wishing to see her catch her death, Dunn lifted her into his arms. “Forgive me, lass.”

“Put me down!”

“I cannae.” Refusing to do as she asked, Dunn carried her back inside the castle. He ignored the looks of the cook and her kitchen maids. Carrying her up the stairs, he passed Tor and Adamina in the corridor.

“Dunn?” Tor asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

“Leave them, brother,” Adamina instructed and moved out of the way so that Dunn could pass. “Let him save his wife if he can.”

Understanding dawned in Tor’s eyes, and he nodded.

“Let us pray that he is nae too late,” Adamina murmured as Dunn entered his wife’s bedchamber and closed the door.

Silence descended around them, and he realized that somewhere along the way she had stopped fighting him and was lying still in his arms. “Katarina,” he whispered, laying her down upon the bed. He covered her with furs for warmth, then lay down on the bed beside her, his arm under her head. She lay there, her body and face saying that she was simply too tired to fight anymore. The defeat he saw in her eyes frightened him far more than the rage that he had seen in them moments before. “Katarina, please hear me when I tell ye that I have been with nae other lass but ye since the moment that my eyes beheld ye for the first time.”

“Brigid,” she whispered, the agony in her voice defying him to deny it.

“I found her in my bed on our wedding night after I returned tae my bedchamber. I did nae touch her.”

“She was nae wearing anything.”