Possessed by the Highlander by TERRI BRISBIN

Author:TERRI BRISBIN
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Marian, he discovered, did not sulk when she was angry. She did not complain if she believed she was ill-treated. She did not draw attention to herself if she was uncomfortable. Indeed, he did not hear a cross or angry word from her for the rest of that day nor the rest of the journey.

Indeed, he heard not a word at all from her.

Oh, aye, she spoke to her daughter, to his men, to the MacCallum warriors who joined their traveling party, to the laird on taking leave of him, to his son when agreeing to bring his greetings to his sister and on and on. What she did not do was speak to him.

She’d spent the rest of that day walking the village paths and the grounds of the keep. She said she needed no escort, but fearing what could happen once word of her identity got out, and it would, he’d sent along a guard to follow them. If the laird’s feast to honor their marriage surprised her, she did not show it. Marian simply took her place at his side and spoke to everyone at table…except him.

That did not stop anyone else from speaking on her behalf, and speak they did. Hamish’s words nearly blistered his ears after witnessing his angry outburst at her and without even kenning what had happened. Tavis spoke to him as though he were a child, like his siblings or Ciara, about the correct way of treating those who we take into our care. Even Farlen, who he’d had to threaten with bodily injury in order to treat Marian civilly, now told him with his own measure of certainty every mistake he’d made in dealing with his wife.

The laird turned their farewells into a private sermon about how a man should treat his wife and even Athdar, too young to ken anything about women other than their value in his bed, lectured him on the tender feelings of the fairer sex. When he ended it with a suggestion that Duncan should speak to Rurik for more guidance, Duncan kenned that Marian had won this fray.

The worst of this was that Duncan could not explain how they’d come to this. ’Twas not his sharp outburst in the hall, although that had made Ciara nervous around him for days. It happened when he bedded Marian and did not remain within her when his seed was released. He’d not truly planned to do that; ’twas more a simple decision in the moment when he realized that he could not trust her and did not want to add another child into their problems. And seeing how devoted she was to Ciara, though the child could not be her own, he worried that she would become as attached to any child she bore, making the end of their handfasting a terrible thing to face.

Although he knew these precautions were in no way completely reliable, they were at least an attempt to prevent her from carrying his child.

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