DevilsHeart (11 page)

He pulled away and grinned down at her with an air of smug
satisfaction. “There you go again, lass. Looking like a frightened doe.”

Leah exhaled, his taste lingering upon her lips like a drug
as he transformed from the bloodthirsty warrior back to the good-humored, sexy
man on whom she was developing one serious crush. “You’re all right?”

He tilted his head, his brilliant green eyes twinkling as an
expression of pleasure flitted across his handsome features. Lord, she didn’t
think she could ever tire of looking at this man. A painful stab shot through
her heart.

He tucked her hair back behind her ear. “Yes, I am fine.”

Someone spoke beside her and she turned to find a short,
balding man dressed from head to toe in a black robe with a white collar at his
neck. A new sense of dread settled into her stomach. Damn it, how could she
forget the whole reason Rathe had risked his life?

“Already?”

“Of course, lass. Did the mormaer not explain?”

“Yes, but I—I can’t do this. Not yet. I’m not ready. I don’t
know you.”

“You know how good we are together.” He slipped his hand
around the back of her neck, his tone increasing in intensity. “The rest will
come with time.”

Leah darted a furtive glance at the priest and then leaned
toward Rathe. “Does he speak English?”

Rathe spoke to the priest who shook his head.

“I can’t marry you, Rathe,” she whispered, her voice
shaking. “I’m not supposed to be here. You need to take me home.”

“I cannot and I will not. I have already explained to you
this is your home now.” His grip on her neck tightened, his features darkening.

A shiver of panic swept through her. If she married him,
wouldn’t she be at his mercy? No choices, no freedom. Answering to him for
every little thought and deed. The medieval version of marriage was not the
type of adventure she was after. “I cannot stay here.”

A wounded expression crept into his eyes. “Why? Explain it
to me.”

“Because I can’t. It’s different where I come from. No one
is forced to marry if they don’t want to and no one threatens women with a
public flogging for being disobedient.”

A flash of fury leaped from his eyes. “Did someone threaten
you?”

“The mormaer was angry about me running away. I—”

“I will kill him,” Rathe muttered, turning his head toward
David.

“No, Rathe, please. Just please understand I do not want to
stay in a place where men think it is okay to do that to women. Where men are
allowed to beat women. Where you could—”

He gritted his teeth as he turned his anger back to her.
“Where I could what, exactly? You think I would hurt you? I have never laid a
finger upon a woman in anger in my entire life.”

Her breath caught on the panic in her throat as his dark,
wrathful scowl chilled her. “Please, Rathe. Please, I need to go.”

A mocking shout from the crowd behind Rathe was followed by
several chuckles. A few tears escaped her eyes, falling onto her cheeks. Was it
her or Rathe they were taunting?

“Stop,” he whispered, the hardness around his eyes
softening. “You may cry all you want when we are alone, but not here. Not now.
Do not give them the satisfaction.”

The knowing edge in his voice somehow comforted her and she
wiped her eyes.

No, that couldn’t be. What did Rathe know of being made to
feel small or helpless? He probably just didn’t want her to embarrass him in
front of everyone.

Is that what all of this was about? He wasn’t interested in
marriage either, but, now he had won the fight, would her refusal to follow
through somehow humiliate him anyway?

But why had he even volunteered to fight?

The land, of course. It was the only logical explanation.
After all, marriages in the higher social classes at this time were about the
exchange of goods and land. She had been such a fool to think he actually
wanted her.

But there was no other way out. Maybe, if she could help him
save face he would be willing to help her in turn. “What if I marry you and you
take me back to Graham land so that I can go home? You can have the land and
anything else. None of it matters to me.”

Rathe froze for a split second before his eyes narrowed into
wrathful slits. “You could so easily throw away your vows? Whether in your
world or mine, you would still have promised yourself to me. There is nothing
which would change that. You would always be my wife.”

Startled into silence, she stared at him. She had never
uttered a single word she didn’t mean and had kept every promise she had ever
made. His negative assumption caused her heart to sink like a stone. But why
did he act so wounded? He didn’t want a wife. He’d said so himself.

It didn’t matter though. What mattered is that she got home.

Hostility lashed out from his eyes until a cold, calculating
mask snapped into place over his face. “Fine. You marry me and the land will be
mine. In one year’s time, I will take you back to Graham land and you can go
back to your precious life and family. Wherever that is.”

She pushed away the jabbing pain of his tone. “One year? Why
not tomorrow?”

“Because you must wait for the fall equinox. It is the only
time the magic will work.”

Her shoulders sagged. “I have to wait a whole year?”

Rathe gave her a curt nod “Yes. And during that time you
will act the part of my wife in every sense of the word. Agreed?”

Leah could no longer hold his gaze. She blinked away the
renewed tears. He had only ever looked at her before as though she was a
curiosity or as the most desirable woman in the world and. But no more. Now he
regarded her with a mixture of disgust and annoyance.

God, she was so stupid. How could she think his attentions
were the result of anything other than simple biology? He didn’t want
her
.
He just wanted a warm body to fuck. And she was foolish enough to let him. Now
he was using her for the land the king had granted to her. Why should she feel
at all guilty for using him to get home?

“Agreed.”

Relief flowed through her limbs as he released her. The
sudden absence of his warmth, however, caused her to shiver until he grabbed
her hand and hauled her up against his side to face the priest.

“No arguments. No stalling,” Rathe growled down at her.
“When the priest asks you if you take me as your husband, you will say yes.”

She nodded, biting her lower lip. If only her mother’s
cautionary lectures about sex with strangers had included forced marriage to a
thirteenth-century warlord. Maybe then she’d have run the other way.

Damn it.

Something from deep within tugged at Rathe as he watched his
new wife sitting alone on the dais, toying with the food on the trencher they had
shared once the feast was underway. She hadn’t eaten much and he did not push
the matter, still too angry with her to risk uttering a single word for fear of
shattering her delicate control and sending her into a fit of tears once again.

He had been harsh with her. But she’d surprised him by
offering her spoken vows in exchange for her freedom. Her desire to return home
was understandable, but why was she so afraid? Why was she always looking at
him as though he were a ravenous wolf?

Perhaps his reaction had been too harsh. The lass was a
stranger in his world, after all. Even after five years with the MacAirths, his
friend Galen’s wife, Anna, still misunderstood how their world worked.

But Rathe couldn’t help the sense of betrayal as Leah had
stood before him, offering her promise to be his wife in name only. It was as
though she’d taken up with another man before their marriage had even a chance
to grow cold. Was there indeed another man waiting back home for her? He’d
already had one wife eager to spread her legs for others and another with
incessant complaints. The last thing he wanted was another woman like either of
them.

And if he did keep his promise and allow Leah to go home in
a year, would she marry another man without a single thought for the vows she
had given to him tonight?

He shook his head, his stomach falling at the thought. Now
was not the time to worry about such things. She was his for at least a year.
Whether she liked him or not, she did enjoy his touch and wouldn’t deny him her
body at the very least. Besides, if luck was on his side, he might just get the
son he needed in the meantime.

His cock stirred and he almost laughed out loud at the
absurdity of this woman’s power over him. No matter what she said or did, even
if there was another man waiting for her at home who consumed her thoughts,
Rathe wanted her. With each touch, each kiss, it became harder to stay away and
to think of anything else.

But just how the hell was he supposed to give her up in a
year when his affliction only worsened in her presence?

He downed the rest of the ale in his cup and set it upon the
tray of a passing servant girl. Motioning to a couple of his men from across
the room, he made his way over to his wife.

Dazed, Leah stared at the various meats and savory pies on
the trencher before her. Rathe had abandoned her without a single word long ago
and had been drinking with a group of loud, boisterous men across the room. She
hadn’t had the stomach to look his way since repeating her vows to be his wife.
Too terrified to find the expression of disgust still plastered on his face,
she kept her gaze centered on her immediate surroundings. Even Alpina, who was
normally so outspoken and social, hadn’t bothered an attempt to break through
Leah’s silence, instead throwing looks of sympathy her way throughout the
evening.

“You need to eat, lass.”

She almost groaned out loud as Rathe straddled the bench
beside her. Why didn’t he just leave her alone?

He slid toward her until she was in between his thighs and
her stomach flipped. She didn’t dare to move, her nipples already puckering in
anticipation at his mere presence. Damn it, she was such a fool.

“Eat,” he commanded in her ear. “I need you to keep up your
strength.”

Shivers coursed down her spine, pooling between her thighs.
She took a deep breath in an effort to control her burgeoning arousal at his
mere presence and bit into one of the savory pies.

An awkward silence stretched between them. As her stomach
filled to capacity, she licked the tips of her fingers. Would it be such a bad
thing to introduce napkins a few centuries earlier? Using a random piece of
bread or her own clothing like everyone else did was just too weird.

He groaned into her ear. “Mmm, lass, are you trying to
seduce me?”

Her face heated. “No.”

But it was too late. The images were already assaulting her.
What he might taste like if she ran her tongue across his flesh, skipping
across the muscular contours of his hard stomach and down to his silken cock.
How weighty would it feel on her tongue?

His chuckle reverberated through her skin. Her control was
slipping away again with his intoxicating nearness.

“I should have told you my plans, Leah. I am sorry to have
sprung this upon you. But I could not let that old man have you.” His voice was
deep and rough.

Old man? Did he mean this Dunlop guy she was going to marry
first?

“I could not stand the thought of his hands on you, lass.
Nor anyone’s but my own. And he cannot protect you from the MacTavish. Rest
assured had you married Dunlop, you would have fallen prey to him.”

Leah twisted her fingers into her skirt, staring at the
trencher before her. “The MacTavish? The man you just fought?”

“Yes, but you do not have to worry about him as long as you
are with me.”

She shrugged in feigned disinterest. “He seemed nice
enough.”

The air between them crackled with tension as he stiffened
against her. “You are trying to anger me.”

Startled by the strangeness of his tone, she turned her gaze
to him. “I am not. I just don’t understand why you’re acting like you want me.
You don’t want a wife, remember? You told me yourself you didn’t want to marry.
Is the land really worth all of this?”

“I need a son.”

Her skin chilled. “What?”

“When was your last monthly?”

Monthly? What the hell was he talking…
oh God
. Her
eyes widened in alarm and she turned away. “That’s personal.”

“Not any longer. I need to know you are not bringing another
man’s child into our marriage.”

Her face fell into her hands and she massaged her throbbing
temples. She was not having
this
conversation. She couldn’t be. Not even
Simon knew the slightest thing about her cycles and they’d lived together for
four years.

He yanked one of her hands away from her face. “Answer me.”

Hysteria uncoiled within her belly, clashing with the deep,
primitive lust tingling through her skin at his nearness. “Four days ago. It
ended four days ago.”

“And you have had no other man in that time?”

Anger swept through her in a heated rush. “No,” she hissed,
tears of humiliation burning her eyes as she wrenched her wrist out of his grasp.

“Only me?”

“Why are you acting like this? Are you trying to punish me
for wanting to go home?”

Concern touched his brow and he leaned in, whisking away the
errant tear which had escaped one of her eyes with his thumb. She gasped and
jumped back.

“I only want to be sure what is mine is mine,” he explained,
his tone a curious mixture of gentleness and possessiveness. “You promised to
stay with me as my wife for the next year. You do not think you could possibly
bear a child within that time?”

Leah’s lips parted as though to speak but nothing came out.
God help her, but he was right. Just what was she supposed to do now? Refuse
him? Even now her skin prickled at the thought of his warm lips dropping to her
neck. His skilled tongue swirling around each nipple. His thick cock plunging
into her. She wanted him.

And now she had gone and married the man, ensuring they
would be spending much more time together. She didn’t want to say “no” to him.
She wanted to touch him, to kiss him, to lie beneath him and be warmed by his
hard, roped body.

Rathe leaned back. “It is time, lass.”

“For what?”

“You know very well. My men will escort you up to your
chamber.”

His men? She whipped around and came face-to-face with two
tall, very broad-shouldered men standing only a few feet away. With a flick of
Rathe’s head, the men moved forward and looked down at Leah.

She shook her head as she turned back to Rathe. She needed
more time. Time to formulate a plan to get out of this mess. Or to douse her
ardor for the wickedly hot guy determined to impregnate her.

Now there’s a thought she’d never have guessed she’d have.
How had she gone from such a boring, predictable existence to this?

“No, please. I’m not ready for this. I need time to think.”

Rathe flashed her a rakish smile and leaned forward,
squeezing her leg with his massive hand. His fingers pressed between her
thighs, grazing her pussy, and he brushed his lips against her ear. “My guess
is you are ready right now.”

His hot breath snaked around her ear, drawing her toward
him, but he pulled away. She bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut,
cursing him just as she wished he’d carry her upstairs himself.

He offered her his hand. “Come now, lass. I have no problem
ordering them to carry you, but I am sure you would rather avoid making a
scene.”

“Then why not let me go on my own? Why assign guards to me?”

“I will not take the chance the MacTavish would come after
you.”

A bit of her anger evaporated at his cryptic answer. She
hesitated, allowing her eyes to trace the finely wrought contours of his hand
as it stretched toward her. “Why would he come after me?” Her arm shook as she
placed her hand in his.

His warm fingers closed around hers as he stood and assisted
her to her feet. Leaning toward her ear, he whispered, “He wants you. I could
see it in his eyes. Moreover, he hates me—especially now.”

From out of nowhere, in a voice that seemed not her own, she
whispered, “I’d rather you wanted me.”

Stunned by her own words, she whipped away from him, yanking
her hand out of his as though it were a hot coal. Picking up her skirts, she
strode toward the stairs, her cheeks on fire.

Lord, where was a good sinkhole when you needed one?