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“Actually, I wouldn’t go to him at all. If you hadn’t taken me prisoner, I would only have been a prisoner of another kind. I didn’t want to marry this man. I was only doing so because my father thought him a suitable match. It is not my blessing to be able to marry for love.”

“Sae where would ye gae?” Douglas asked.

Lyndsay hadn’t thought the matter through in great detail, but she had a few ideas about where she would like to end up. “Since I have no more family and the wealth of this estate has been taken, I cannot rest on the nobility of my name, and frankly, I think I would prefer to take some time away from the life of a noble. The thought of being able to go anywhere and do anything appeals to me. I think I would head south, far away from all this trouble, and begin a new life for myself. Perhaps I could work in a tavern somewhere.”

As she said this, Douglas broke out in laughter.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, offended.

“Sorry, lass, but I cannae see ye working in a tavern. Ye noble lot dinnae know what it’s like tae live like the rest of us.”

“Oh, I see. So a Highland brute like you could ascend to become a king, but someone like me could not be anything other than a noble?” she asked.

The laughter faded, and it was clear that he was thinking about things in a different way. She wore a smug smile, and her eyes gleamed. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

“I suppose ye hae a point,” he admitted, stroking his beard. In one smooth motion, he pushed away the blanket and moved to the puddle of clothes he had left the night before. Due to her modesty, Lyndsay attempted to avert her gaze from the powerful and impressive physique that stood before her, but she was not entirely successful. She looked at the sinews of the muscles tightening, of the hard swell of his thighs and biceps, and the thatch of dark hair that shrouded his manhood. Her throat tightened as she looked at him in all his splendor, knowing that he was quite capable of anything. Tingles spread across her body, and she fought against these sensations, but it was as though her body wanted something that her mind did not. She was supposed to be mourning. She was supposed to be grieving.

Yet, she found herself disappointed when he was clothed again.

“So, are you going to allow me to leave?” she asked, her voice trembling as her heart skipped a beat.

“Nae yet, lass. Stay here, and dinnae leave. Ye know what will happen if ye dae,” he said, and promptly left the room, locking the door behind him.

She went to the window immediately and saw him ride away, and was dismayed to see that some of his warriors had stayed. She returned to the bed and slumped down, placing her head in her hands. If she tried to escape, she knew the likelihood was that she would catch the attention of his men, and after her earlier encounter with one, she knew they were not going to keep their hands off her as Douglas had done. But what did this man want with her? Was he saving her for some special occasion? Was this some horrid, perverse trick to tempt her with freedom before killing her? Or was there something else happening, something she dared not think about too much because it scared her?