“I agree, Da, the library?” William knew the library was close enough that they would have some level of privacy but would still be in earshot of the feast. It seemed like the most logical place.
* * *
Just like the hallways, the library had a majestic tapestry hanging above the hearth, but this one was of a vivid sunset over the deep unfathomable blue of a loch. It was so detailed that Emma felt the weaver worked on it for years. Thankfully, there was a fire already crackling away in the hearth.
Her grip on William’s arm tightened and she met his eyes as they briefly turned to her. Laird MacNair gestured for them to sit where they chose and William directed them to a set of two padded chairs at the side of the fireplace. With her legs about to crumble under her, Emma sat while William stood.
Thomas and her father took chairs opposite hers and neither said a word until William spoke.
“Da, I ken you want the best for our people, an’ political ties with peaceable families is a proper settlement., but a marriage between two people who have nae seen the other for over ten years is nae the way to do it.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw Thomas start to get red and her father’s jaw tighten.
“Lady Emma is not comfortable with this union, sire, an’ I will nae force her into it,” William went on. “Is there any way we can make a connection between oor families without getting married?”
Though trepidation was seizing her chest in a cage of fear, Emma dared to look over to her brother and father. Thomas’ eyes were narrowed and his glare was so fiery that she instinctively flinched from it. He was not pleased. Her father, however, had his eyes pinned on William and his jaw was set like a brick wall.
His eyes slithered over to her snake-like and the poisonous look he gave her sent ice racing through every vein in her body.
“Ach,” Laird MacNair stroked his beard. “This is a sticky position ye’ve put me in, William. We of MacNair dinnae force a lass against her will. I suppose we can work around the marriage, eh, Dawaerton?”
The Earl hesitated for a mere moment before Thomas caused an uproar.
“Father, you cannot honestly be thinking this over?” Thomas Marston’s voice was a brittle as glass and as cutting as it. “You’ve had a gentleman’s agreement in place for months now. Is her whining that effective that you’ll renege on untold fortune to please her? How long are you going to let her get away with everything she wants? Of all the sacrifices you have made for us, why can’t she do the same?”
William clenched his fists tightly at his side in response. The man was out of place. It was clear that the boy did not give a damn about his sister.
“Thomas! Put yourself in my shoes. If you were forced to marry someone you have met only once, how would you react?” Emma reached out and placed her hand on her brother’s arm. He jerked it away as if burned and looked at her, his dark eyes burning with anger.
“Eh,” Murdo nodded, “The lass has a point. William has not been to England in over ten years. He’s a stranger to her.”
William was quiet but his eyes were held on the Earl. Would he listen to common sense, the logic of his father? Or would he heed to the call of money? A deeply contemplative look was on his face and William was hoping he would serve righteousness when Thomas snapped.
“This is absurd!” Thomas shouted at Emma. “Tell me the truth, Sister, this scheme on your part is to avoid marriage entirely, isn’t it? If Father did agree and broke his word to Laird MacNair, we would be laughingstocks, you will be painted as an eternal bluestocking, and our business connections would falter. Is that what you want?”
She blanched with his accusation.
“Marston, enough…” A low warning growl began to form in William’s throat. William didn’t like where this discussion was heading, and there were some lines he would not permit the man to cross, brother or no.
“Well?” Thomas continued, ignoring William’s warning. “Did you and that daft maid of yours cook up this scheme to back out and...”
“I did no such thing!” Emma was getting heated, in her voice and in the color of her face. “How could I? I only learned about this marriage today!”
* * *
William felt like a cannonball had taken his head off and he staggered with the revelation. She had just learned of the wedding this morn? He looked to his father, who simply shrugged his shoulders. The ways of the English nobility confounded the old Laird as much as they did William. No wonder the lass was angry and alone in the corridor. To the Gods, what kind of family would sell their daughter into marriage an’ nae even give her word?
It was true that he did not want to force Emma into marriage, but would an arranged marriage be that bad? It was not like he was going to mistreat her. William realized that if the engagement was broken, her brother was sure to do so. Moreover, it was a damn good idea to have such a powerful Earldom as their ally.
“Stand down, Marston,” William said tightly. “This not your place to decide.”
“I will not stand down,” Marston sneered. “Little Emma has been coddled from the day she was born. Why can’t she pay her duty to her family and assure that we all live well?”
William caught Emma’s eye and felt his heart rend in two. The poor girl was on the verge of a breakdown. Her face was red and her chest was heaving with quiet but desperate gasps. Her brother’s assault was clearly unnerving her and he wondered how it would look to just cradle her to his chest and carry her out of the room. He hated seeing any lass made so uncomfortable, especially in his home.
Suddenly, filled with an overwhelming urge to protect Emma from any further harm, William moved to stand between her and her brother.
“Marston,” he warned, again.
“This whole conversation is a waste of time,” the Earl eventually said, looking at Emma. “You will wed the MacNair heir, Emma. You will not argue. This is non-negotiable.”
William spun to look at his father, praying that the man would refuse, only to see his father look resigned.
“Agreed,” the Laird said declared. “Let’s return to the feast, and make the announcement as planned.” He gave Emma a gentle look and squeezed her shoulder.
Anger raced through William’s chest like a deadly bolt of sizzling lightning. How could his father just capitulate like that? Did they need the Marstons that badly? Long-standing friendships aside, they could find another English family to bond with. What was his father doing?
“Yes, My Laird,” Emma’s voice quivered but she stood and gave Murdo a deep curtsy.
“Thank you, Father,” Thomas’ voice grated. The Earl smiled at his win.
William made sure to hold onto Emma and was glad he did as her grip was tight and bloodless. As they walked the corridors back to the main hall, William slipped behind his father, the Earl, and Thomas, allowing the men to think their rank was the cause, but he wanted a small word with Emma.
He watched as the merry crowd absorbed the three men before he tugged Emma into a small, stone alcove out of the view of any prying eyes.
“William, what…” She gave a small protest as he backed her against the wall.
“Shh, lass, I only wanted to ask ye without another’s ears, if ye were alright?” She shuddered as if cold. He ran his hands up and down her bare arms. He told himself it was simply a gesture to warm her chilled skin, but the softness of her pale arms and the way they contrasted with the sun-darkened skin of his hands caused a longing to surface.
“I can’t believe my own brother thinks me capable of such deceit.” She looked up at him and the gold in her eyes flashed another emotion, as she bit her bottom lip, worrying it into a plump red submission. He felt a tightness under his kilt, and an urge to pull her close and kiss the worry from her mouth.
“I dinna think that’s the case, lass.”
It was worrisome how attracted William found himself to Emma. Good idea or not, he desired his betrothed. He wondered, if he were to lean in and kiss her at this moment, would she pu
sh him away? He shook his head to clear the thought.
Not this time, William. Control yerself lad. She will be yers to keep in a few days.
“What do you think it is?”
The memory of Marston’s angry eyes and conflicted face flashed before him. William could not say decisively what her brother’s problem was. “I cannae say, Emma.”
Emma’s golden eyes looked like warm honey in the low light as she asked a question that would stay with William for the rest of his life, “Will you be a good husband?”
He ran a finger down her cheek, stopping at her chin and lifting her head to face him in the low light.
“I’ll protect ye, lass. No harm will come to ye. I will be true and faithful to only you. I think we can make tha’ best of a bad situation, you an’ me. I will do me best to make you a good husband.”
She placed her hands on his chest and brought her forehead down to rest between them, letting out a small sigh. “But what of love?”
William sucked in a breath. Love was not something he ever saw for himself. He saw no reason to lie to the lass now, not when she had been through so much.
“Love is nae necessary. Ye’ll want for nothing, lass. Ye’ll be content with me, Emma,” William assured her while underneath, he was trying to assure himself.
He could do this. He could take care of her. Emma did not seem like a demanding person who wanted the moon and the stars. Whatever she did need, he was sure he could provide.
She closed her eyes and her head rested between his hands on his chest making William’s heart clench. He knew she wanted promises of undying love and devotion. Any woman would want such, but he could not give them to her, not at that moment. He was not even sure he could ever do so, although alone with her in this simple moment he wished with all his being that he could.
Emma twisted her face to press her lips on the rough skin of his hands – accidentally, William was sure – before whispering, “I agree.”
Chapter 7
Emma didn’t know what had come over her. It could have been because William’s promise to protect her was the first time a man, any man, even those of her own family, had made such a promise. Or it could have been exhaustion mixed with an attraction to which she was unaccustomed to feeling. But when he took her face in his hand, she had suffered an overwhelming urge to kiss him.
True, he made her no promises beyond affection and faithfulness, but her father had been clear. This marriage was going to happen whether she liked it or not. She was simply tired of fighting. Nothing she—or William—could do was going to change the situation.
It had been a long day, and William was a kind man. She certainly felt drawn to him. It wouldn’t be so bad to be his wife. If she couldn’t get the deep, fathomless love she wanted, affection and care would do.
“Alright,” she whispered again, and forced herself to look up into his gray eyes. In the dim light, she noticed they were deeper in color and rimmed with a dark, almost black-looking blue.
So unusual.
“Och, lass, ye dinnae ken what yer doin to me.” Under her hand she felt his heartbeat quicken at his breathless admission. With her face framed lightly in both of his hands, he gently kissed her, and she allowed it. The salt of his lips mingled with a deeper, earthy taste that reminded Emma of being out in the rain. It was the very essence of William.
What has come over me, indeed?
“Trust I will protect ye, lass.”
Emma was touched. She had always wanted to hear those words from a man, and with the events of the day, it meant so much more.
She had been kissed once, years before. A pudgy stable boy named Luke had cornered her in her father’s horse stable and pressed a messy slobbering kiss to her lips. She had pushed him away and run home as quickly as her feet would carry her. She had been terrified to tell her father, thinking he would somehow manage to blame her for the boy taking liberties. Ultimately, she had been wholly unimpressed with the whole idea of kissing.
That was until now. William moved his mouth over hers in a sensuous rhythm that made her knees weak. She was dizzy with want…but for what she was not sure. She had been told from the ladies in the village back home that a kiss such as this was chaste, but Emma could not help but desire more.
What was an unchaste kiss like?
How was this possible with a man she had truly just met?
He let out a groan and pushed her away.
Emma drew her hand to her lips, already missing the heat from William’s mouth on her own.
“Lass, we need to go in. They’ll be missin’ us soon enough, and I doona want to compromise yer honor before we say our vows. If we stay here much longer, I’m afraid I’ll nae be able to stop at wee kisses.”
Emma was speechless.
What an interesting turn the day has taken!
Finding herself not as upset about the wedding as she was earlier in the day, Emma nodded. From just this small glimpse of the man William was, she could tell he had honor. How many ladies of her station had been forced to marry for less?
“Yes, let us not keep them waiting.”
For the first time in many years, Emma found herself wishing for a sister or close friend that she could confide in. She was alone in the rapid rise and fall of emotions she experienced within the last twenty hours.
William reached out and she placed her hand in his offered palm. He gave her a soothing smile. Noting the difference in his tan, calloused fingers against her soft white gloves, Emma realized they were as different as night and day. But he was kind. He would protect her. She could have done much worse.
She stuck her chin out in defiance of all that stood against her and started forward into the crowded great hall. Music was playing in the distance and Emma could see that the turmoil she had been suffering was only hers. A great many people were indeed enjoying the feast, more so than when they had made their entry before speaking with her father and the Laird. She shared smiles with those she had met earlier in the evening and was happy to find they smiled back at her.
Suddenly, Emma remembered that the feast in front of her was not simply to celebrate her betrothal to William, but something more. The original reason she was told they visited was for a birthday celebration. William’s birthday. Oh, how terrible she had been. The man had been nothing but kind, charming, and sweet to her since they met, and she had been nothing but selfish.
She’d tried to get out of a betrothal, forced him into an ill-fated meeting with both her father and brother as they lost their tempers, and now was wholly relying on him to make her feel better when the outcome was not what she had wanted. How selfish of her.
“William?” she questioned, turning to face him.
“Aye, lass?”
“I’ve been so very foolish. Please forgive me.”
“Och, lass, ye not been foolish at all. ‘Tis been a trying day all around, and ye handled all that was thrown yer way with the grace befitting yer station.”
“Well…” she looked down, unsure of how to continue. She felt she had never acted so rudely before, and didn’t want William to think less of her, especially after he had been so kind.
“What is it, lass? Yer about to worry me with yer unease.”
“I failed to remember today is the day of your birth…and I wish I had not been such trouble on a day you should be celebrating. Happy returns, William.” Her words came out in a rush. She hoped that when she looked up he would be looking anywhere but at her.
She raised her head to stare into his dark gray eyes. Her heartbeat quickened as William lifted her hand to his mouth and gently kissed the back of her knuckles.
“Thank ye lass, it means more than ye ken. No one except me family and few very close friends has ever truly wished me as well a happy birthday as ye, lass,” his voice had gone warm and husky.
Emma felt herself blush again. What was it about his praise that made her feel so… so warm?
“Shall we continue to the feast, then?” she
managed.
“Aye, lass. After ye,” he said as he stepped back and swung his arm out wide, as if presenting her with their families in their entirety. Emma quickly realized she was in danger. Danger of losing her most precious possession. Her heart.
* * *
Entering the main hall and releasing Emma, who went over to a woman who was dressed in finery—her mother William noted— he took one look around and saw a face that made him smile.
“Goraidh!” William shouted, a smile in his voice. A tall man with the heft that comes with many well-fought battles, turned and looked his way. His friend had returned and made it to the feast!
“William, wait!” Finley shouted. William had not even noticed his other friend standing in the shadows.
Disciplined by the Highlander: A Scottish Historical Romance Novel Page 4
