Page 21 of Highland Vows of Betrayal

I didnae think what all of him would look like…

When he’d moved the trews, giving her a glimpse of his manhood, it made the heat she felt so much stronger. All sorts of imaginings played in her head of him with the maid fleeing his chamber, and it only upset her more.

“This cannae be borne!” She turned on her heel and marched back the other way when a sound caught her ears, a footstep outside her door. The handle turned and the door swung open so hard it bounced off the opposite wall. “What are ye doing here?” Scarlett cried, holding her arm across her chest to hold the gown flat across her front.

Laird Chattan was now fully dressed, wearing trews, boots, a shirt, and a waistcoat. His hair had been flattened, but not completely, as it still appeared unkempt. The maid had most likely tugged on it during their activities together. That image had her backing up across the room. She fell again, this time tripping on the hem of her gown and landing on her rump.

“Ye have a habit of falling at my feet, I see,” Laird Chattan declared and strode into the room, closing the door behind him. “I rather enjoy it.”

“Ye dinnae believe in knocking?” Scarlett demanded, scrambling to her knees and still clinging to the gown. “Do ye nae have any formality in ye at all? Nae manners?”

“I think any formality we may have had just vanished, do ye nae agree?” he opined, turning to face her with folded arms. “Ye were the first to walk into a chamber unannounced.”

“I didnae ken it was yer chamber. This is very different, and ye ken it.” She tried to stand, but with a heavy gown, she needed to position her hands on the floor. She ended up holding up the dress with one arm and placing one hand on the stone floor.

“Ye need help?”

“I can manage, ye insufferable…” She stood straight, returning her arms across her chest to find the laird smirking at her. It lit up his features, infuriatingly so, making them more handsome than she first realized.

“Ah, yer new favorite word for me.” He walked into the room as if it were his own, circling it quickly. She backed away from him, hurrying toward the screen. “Are ye running from me now? I thought I told ye before I would never push myself on a woman. Nae matter the temptation, either. I am hardly going tae force her tae accept my advances. Even if her gown is flounced around her waist.”

The gown slipped again as he spoke, prompting him to laugh. She hurried to hold it against her chest and leveled a glare at him across the room.

I must try to be meeker in tone. What would Eloise do at this moment?

She could picture Eloise running behind the screen, hanging her head, and begging in her sweetest voice for the laird to leave her, but Scarlett was too incensed to even consider such a thing. All she wanted to do was vent her anger at him and throw him out of her chamber.

“Leave. At once.” She tried to point to the door when the gown slipped once again, and he raised a solitary eyebrow as the smirk returned. She held onto the damned dress, deciding never to release it again.

“Nae.” Laird Chattan came to a stop across from her, mirroring her position with folded arms across his chest. His chin was raised high, frustrating her further.

“Ye may be a laird,” Scarlett said, her voice rising, “but if I am to have a chamber of my own, then ye will have nae say in it. Consider it the one room in yer castle ye cannae command.” In response to her words, his eyebrows shot up higher than before.

“A wife denying her chamber tae her own husband?”

“We arenae married yet,” she reminded him swiftly.

“Nae yet.” The implications made her heart jittery in her chest.

Nae at all. I am nae the one who will marry him.

Scarlett thought only of Eloise. She couldn’t imagine her sister accepting the man before her. He was rough-mannered, haughty, and arrogant. Surely Eloise was too soft to suit a man like him.

“Ye and I will have words another time on which rooms I command. Though I can certainly see the allure in taking command of this one…” His hesitation caused heat to travel up her spine. She tried her best to ignore it as his eyes traveled from her gown back to her face. “Yet that isnae my purpose in coming here now. Ye burst intae my chamber earlier.”

“I thought it was a maid’s chamber. And in case ye are so blind that ye havenae noticed my gown—”

“Oh, believe me, I noticed.” The mischievous smile on his face had her backing up once more. “The screen! Ye are going tae… ach.” He warned her too late. She collided with the screen and sent it flying for the second time that day. She somehow narrowly managed to stay on her feet. She rounded the fallen screen, putting as much distance between herself and Laird Chattan as possible.

“I couldnae lace the gown up myself. I was simply looking for a maid for assistance. I hardly thought I would find one running out of the laird’s chamber. ‘Tis highly unusual, nae?” At her accusation, she found it difficult to read the expression on his face. He stared at her impassively, his lips pressed firmly together. “That was my error, clearly. I wonder what possessed me tae imagine I might be coming tae marry a good man?”

“What did ye say?” He stepped forward, his arms unfurling and falling to his sides, evident anger bubbling within him. The redness of his cheeks wasn’t one of embarrassment but of rage. “Ye say I am nae a good man?”

“Well, ye dinnae behave like one if I am truly honest.” For a moment, Scarlett felt she was back in the tavern looking into the eyes of a man who hungered for one thing only. It made her bold, and she crossed the room toward him, closing the distance and raising her chin. It didn’t matter she was shorter than him—she felt tall at that moment. “Someone told me that in marrying the Laird of Chattan, I would be wedded tae a good man. Yet, nae truly good man beds a mistress on the day his bride arrives. Surely ye didnae need me tae point that out tae ye, my laird.”

He blinked at her, the muscles in his neck and jaw growing taut.

“What I do in my bedchamber is my business. As ye said, we are nae married.”