The Highlander's Stolen Bride Read online

  “I may be innocent in body and spirit, my lord, but I’m not as naive as you seem to think.”

  “I don’t think you’re naive. Just unschooled in the ways of men.”

  “That’s why I want—”

  “Don’t say it.”

  Rosalyn huffed. “I don’t understand you. You want me, yet you continue to keep me at a distance. Why?”

  “Because one of us has to be rational about this, and clearly that is going to have to be me.”

  Feeling foolish and hurt, Rosalyn yanked her arm from his grasp, wanting nothing more than to vanish from sight and burn the horrible dress. What madness had come over her, to think that she could pull this off?

  He took hold of her shoulders. “Where are you going?”

  “Away from you. I don’t know what I could have been thinking, to want anything to do with you.” She tried to move around him, but he easily blocked her path.

  “Rosalyn, sweetheart—”

  “Don’t call me sweetheart,” she fumed. “You’ve made yourself perfectly clear, my lord. I’m a nuisance and a bother and obviously not one of your oh-so-worldly women. I won’t trouble you again. I’ll have my things packed tonight and be ready to leave come the morning. Good night.”

  She tried to brush past him, but he halted her yet again. “Rosalyn, let’s talk.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  A disarming half-grin curled the corner of his mouth. “I’ll have to disagree with you. A beautiful woman just offered me a precious gift that I don’t deserve. I’m honored and humbled. But she doesn’t understand that she deserves much more than a tumbling.”

  “Is that how you look at making love to me? A tumbling? Then perhaps you’re right: I do deserve better. Now if you’ll excuse me—”

  Before she could move, Rosalyn found herself lifted from the ground and her body swung up into Derek’s arms. “I’m not finished with you, and if I have to tie you down to make you listen, then I will.”

  “Put me down!”

  He strode over to a wrought-iron bench and sat down, holding her close against his chest.

  “Settle down,” he said as she squirmed in his lap, hating how her traitorous body wanted him. “The sooner you hear what I have to say, the sooner you can slap me and storm into the house.”

  Rosalyn stared at him, aghast. “I would never slap you.”

  “Thank you. Now, let’s discuss this proposition of yours.”

  She folded her arms across her chest and refused to look at him. “I thought you didn’t want to refer to it as a proposition.”

  “I’m rethinking my position on that subject. Come on,” he cajoled. “You can’t blame me for being surprised.”

  “Shocked is more like it.”

  “All right. Shocked. You know, this is a first for me, too. You caught me off guard, which rarely happens to me.”

  Rosalyn couldn’t understand why she felt so intractable. Her emotions seemed to be all over the place. She couldn’t stop thinking about how she kept throwing herself at him and he kept throwing her back. There were many men who found her attractive, who had worked diligently to win her over. But she had never found any man to her taste, until Derek. From the moment he first smiled at her and she looked into his beautiful eyes, she had known.

  Tears suddenly welled in her eyes. “Please, just let me go back to my room. I don’t wish to discuss this. I’ve made a fool of myself, and I’d prefer not to drag out my humiliation any longer.”

  “You’ve done nothing to be ashamed of, Rosalyn. In fact, you were the brave one. You said things I wanted to say, but couldn’t. All these weeks I’ve watched other men talk to you, dance with you, and touch you, and I’ve wanted to snap their necks. I didn’t want anyone else to do with you what I wanted to do.”

  Rosalyn blinked up at him. “I never saw any of this.”

  “Because I had to contain it, which was damn hard. But I didn’t go to those functions to seduce you; I was there to protect you. I couldn’t lose sight of that.”

  “And now?”

  “I still want to protect you, if you’ll let me. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  The reminder that Calder was still on the loose threw cold water onto the discussion.

  “What if I don’t want anything to happen to you?” she asked. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “If Westcott somehow succeeds in finding us before I find him, then he would be detected before he stepped foot in the bailey.” Derek tucked her closer, nestling her head beneath his chin. “You’re safe here, love. Stay with me.”

  Rosalyn plucked at a button on his shirt. “But what about…you know.”

  A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “That does pose a dilemma.”

  “It doesn’t have to. It’s not as though I’m expecting marriage.”

  “Why not?” He sounded surprised.

  Rosalyn shrugged. “It’s not for me.”

  “I thought every young lady dreamed of the day she would marry.”

  “Just as some men aren’t suited to marriage, some women are not, either.”

  “That’s an interesting way to put it. But I find it even more interesting that you didn’t say you didn’t want to get married.”

  “But I did.”

  “No, you said you didn’t expect it, and that it didn’t suit you.”

  “Same thing.”

  “Not at all. But we’ll come back to that later. I’d like to know what prompted you to approach me about this.” Derek cupped her cheek. “You don’t have any silly notion that you owe me something, do you?”

  Rosalyn stiffened. “Absolutely not. I did what I did because it was what I felt at the time.”

  “So you don’t feel that way anymore?”

  If she were smart, she would say no, but she had never been a good liar. “I don’t know how I feel. I think you want me, but then you don’t.”

  “Rosalyn, I can’t imagine a time when I won’t want you. You tempt me at every turn, but—”

  “Is there someone else? Is that the reason you keep rejecting me?”

  “Jesus, I’m not rejecting you—and no, there’s no one else.”

  She glanced up at the sky, wishing she was back in Cornwall, safe in her own bed, her mother and stepfather down the hall, and her stepbrother not planning her demise.

  “Please,” she said quietly, “let me up.”

  Reluctantly, he did as she asked. “Rosalyn,” he began.

  “Please don’t say anything else—this is hard enough as it is. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m not some worldly woman who seduces men regularly. I’m just a girl from a small hamlet in Cornwall.”

  “And that’s the very reason I’m so drawn to you. You’re unaffected and genuine. I wouldn’t have given your offer a second thought if you were as jaded and cynical as I am.”

  Rosalyn turned to face him. “You’re not jaded and cynical.”

  “You don’t know me as well as you think. I’ve done some things I’m not proud of.”

  “We all have. We wouldn’t be human otherwise.”

  “I don’t want to spoil you. I couldn’t live with myself if I did. You say you don’t want marriage, but what if you should change your mind? What if you regret making love to me?”

  Rosalyn laid her palm against his cheek, as he had done to her minutes earlier. “That won’t happen. I’ve hardly thought of anything else since I met you,” she confessed.

  “What if I grow attached to you? What if I think of marriage? What then?”

  His remark took her by surprise. “I…” Rosalyn shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Did the thought ever cross your mind?”

  “No,” she said honestly. “Is that why you’re so hesitant? Because you think I’ll expect you to marry me? I won’t. But neither do I want to die a virginal spinster.”

  Derek took a length of her hair in his hand. “You’re far from a spinster, and a long way off from your f
inal reward.”

  “At three and twenty, I am what most people would consider on the shelf. As for what tomorrow holds…” She sighed and thought of Calder. “I just don’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting what I didn’t do. Can you understand that?”

  “More than you know.”

  She stepped away and walked over to smell a budding rose. “I’m sorry if I put you in an awkward position, and I’ll understand if you feel uncomfortable with me now. This won’t happen again, so you needn’t worry I’ll be cornering you in every deserted courtyard.”

  “I’m not worried. But I would be gravely disappointed if you chose not to corner me again. If that were the case, I would be compelled to corner you.” He closed the distance between them and plucked the rose she had just been smelling, then traced it softly over her lips.

  “If you still want me, I’ll come to you at midnight. If you don’t open the door, I’ll understand. This is your decision, Rosalyn. I would never want you to do something you’d regret. Neither of us could live with that.”

  Placing the rose in the palm of her hand, he turned and walked away. Rosalyn watched him disappear down the darkened path, and with her heart beating wildly, she wondered what she had just gotten herself into.

  Ten

  D erek glanced at the clock on the mantel: quarter to midnight. Soon he’d be knocking on Rosalyn’s door. Soon they’d have this matter settled. He hoped to hell that she barred the door with iron rods—about as much as he prayed she’d take him into her arms and into her bed.

  It was insanity. What were they doing? What was he doing? He felt as nervous as a green lad. He had well earned his membership in the Pleasure Seekers, and it was a point of honor to give his women as much pleasure as they gave him.

  But this was Rosalyn. She was an entirely different type of woman; bedding her meant too much to feel casual about it.

  He raked a hand through his hair. He should have called the whole thing off instead of calling her bluff. All night he had expected her to send a note round telling him that she had not been thinking clearly, but no such luck. The house had been eerily subdued. If he didn’t know better, he might think everyone knew where he would be when the clock struck twelve, adding another layer to his anxiety.

  As the minutes ticked down, Derek headed out of his bedroom toward Rosalyn’s.

  For half a minute he actually told himself that if Rosalyn really wanted him, then there was nothing wrong. They were two consenting adults; no one was forcing them to do anything they weren’t perfectly willing to do.

  So why did he feel like some lecherous swine salivating over a lost lamb?

  And why didn’t he turn on his heel and go back to his room, lock the door, and console himself with a finely aged bottle of brandy? Just because he had said he would come for her at midnight did not actually mean he had to go. He had choices. Options.

  But none of that had him heading back to his room.

  He passed through the vestibule that separated the east wing from the west. So much for his theory of putting them on opposite ends of the house. So much for his touted willpower. He had held out for all of five minutes after her incredible offer, his protests halfhearted.

  As he rounded the corner, his musings were cut short as something heavy cracked into the back of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground, out cold.

  Rosalyn twisted the tie on her wrapper around her finger over and over again, consumed with the clock.

  Derek would be knocking on her door in less than two minutes. A few minutes after that, she could very well be a fallen woman.

  When the knock came, Rosalyn jumped. The moment had arrived. Swallowing down her nerves, she yanked the ties of her wrapper so tightly she could barely breathe.

  Then she went to the door, inhaled a deep breath, and opened it. But the person standing on the other side was not Derek.

  “Did I wake you?”

  Rosalyn blinked. “What are you doing here?”

  She didn’t know why Ethan was at her bedroom door at midnight, but she could just imagine what Derek would do if he found his half-brother there. She had to get rid of Ethan before he arrived.

  “I saw your light on and wanted to see how you fared on your first day at Castle Gray,” he said. “No ghosts to haunt you, I hope? Although we do have a few skeletons in our closet.”

  “You do realize the time.”

  “Time is relative,” he said with a shrug. “May I come in?”

  “No, that would be improper.”

  He gave her a wicked smile. “I’ve never been very proper.”

  “I can see that.”

  He stepped past her. “Derek gave you his mother’s old room. How quaint.” He turned to her. “Lady Emmaline liked to stay as far away from her husband as possible. I must say that I’m surprised Derek would want you at such a distance. Had it been me, I would have put you in the suite next to mine and promptly oiled the hinges on the adjoining door.”

  Rosalyn closed her fingers around the top of her wrapper and hugged the material to her chest.

  Ethan laughed. “Have no fears, sweet. I don’t intend to ravage you—unless you’d like me to. I aim to please.”

  “My lord,” Rosalyn began.

  “I’m not a lord. Just a lowly bastard living off his brother’s largesse. Not that I mind, of course. I consider what belongs to Derek as being rightfully mine. I was firstborn, after all. In simple terms: I’m owed. But enough of that,” he said, waving a dismissive hand. “I feel like celebrating.”

  “And the occasion?”

  “Need there be one?”

  “This isn’t—”

  “If I remember correctly, there is a nice bottle of port in the cabinet of that side table.” He strode across the room and reached inside the cabinet, blowing off the dust that had settled on the bottle before lifting it into the light, where red prisms glittered. “Magnificent.” He pried out the glass stopper and held the bottle to his lips, hesitating only long enough to offer her the first swig.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Suit yourself.” He took a mouthful, sighing loudly after he swallowed. Glancing sideways at her, he said, “Not very sophisticated, was it? But Derek likes to keep the liquor under lock and key. God forbid anyone should get jocular in this mausoleum, least of all me.

  “I tend to keep my own supply, but my sibling also enjoys his petty vindictiveness by having the storekeepers refuse to sell to me. Since the entire village is under his thumb, most will not deny him. But,” he finished with a grin, “I’m not without resources.”

  “Is all this animosity between the two of you truly necessary?” Rosalyn asked.

  “I can’t imagine a day without it.”

  “But doesn’t it grow old?”

  Ethan shrugged. “I’ll confess that the lad has learned to curb his temper much better than when he was a do-gooding adolescent.”

  “I presume you rebel against doing good?”

  He gestured with the bottle. “You are catching on, sweet. I knew you would.”

  “Don’t you think it’s time to end this feud? Your father is dead, and you are both adults.”

  Ethan regarded her as though she had sprouted horns and a forked tail. “Perish the thought. I feel it’s my purpose in this world to annoy my self-righteous sibling. Certainly you wouldn’t want to deny me the pleasure?”

  A voice suddenly interjected, “Is that why you hit me on the back of the head like the coward you are?”

  Rosalyn whirled around to find Derek in the doorway, a line of blood trickling from his temple.

  She rushed to him and took his face between her hands. “My God, what happened?”

  Derek glanced over at Ethan, fury in his eyes. “Why don’t you ask my brother?”

  Ethan perched on the corner of Rosalyn’s bed, the bottle of port nestled in front of him. “Certainly you’re not implying that I had anything to do with your injury? You were always clumsy. I recall countless times
when you tripped over your own two feet. And here you are as laird. It defies probability. I had thought you’d have tumbled off a cliff by now.”

  “I’m sure that’s exactly what you’d have liked. Perhaps you would have even hastened along my untimely departure with a hand to my back.”

  “I’m nothing if not accommodating,” Ethan replied lightly.

  “You bloody bastard,” Derek spat through gritted teeth, forcing Rosalyn to move in front of him as he stepped toward his brother.

  “Enough,” she said softly but insistently. “Please get on the bed.”

  “It seems your convenient spill has earned you an invitation to the lady’s bed,” Ethan taunted. “Count yourself a lucky man.”

  Rosalyn’s grip tightened on Derek’s arm when he tensed, and she glared at Ethan. “I must see to your brother’s wounds. Could you please get some clean towels?” She had towels; she just wanted Ethan to leave. His look said he recognized her ploy.

  “Anything for you, my love,” he replied, rising with a flourish.

  “If I see you near this room again,” Derek said in a barely controlled tone, “you’ll be a eunuch before your next breath.”

  “More empty threats. Nevertheless, I’ll leave. Watching you bleed grows boring, and the night is still young. Do feel better, brother.” Ethan raised the bottle in a taunting salute, then turned to go. At the door, he nearly ran into Darius. “Ah, the cavalry has arrived. The wounded lie yonder.” Whistling, he disappeared into the corridor.

  “Good Lord, lad, what’s happened tae ye?” his uncle exclaimed.

  “It would appear I’ve been injured,” Derek muttered as Rosalyn poured water from a carafe on her bedside table into a bowl.

  Rosalyn grabbed one of her monogrammed hankies and dipped it in the cool water.

  “Here, let me clean you up.”

  Derek reached for the wet handkerchief. “I can do it,” he said gruffly.

  Rosalyn held the cloth away from him. “I’m not going to argue with you. Now lie there and remain still, otherwise this may hurt more than I intend.”