A Perfect Wife(48)
His sigh came from the bottom of his lungs. He curled his whips, running his hands over them to ensure they had not touched the sand. They went back in his pouches.
“If this hadna happened, ’twould be ever hanging over our heads. ’Tis done now.”
“Laird MacKenzie will be pleased.” Ramsay chuckled. “And he’ll rage that he had no part in it. He’s been wanting to get his hands on Ross since they were youths.”
Ramsay pulled his knife from the guard and wiped it on the man’s shirt. He seemed calm, but Malcolm still twitched from the tension. He shook it off and then breathed slowly and deeply, calming himself. With Ross now climbing into his ship he looked at the woman who’d been left behind.
Molly had left her hood back. Either she never moved without permission or she wished them to see the ugly scars covering her cheeks. She may have cut herself elsewhere as well to ensure no man would touch her. Malcolm looked past the scars to her eyes, which were bright with intelligence and fear. She’d spent her life in a prison of silence, misunderstanding, and cruelty.
“Why would someone do that to a woman?”
“She did it to herself,” said Ramsay. “Kiera told Todd her dear brother sold her innocence for coin. She was so distraught she slashed her face so she’d be too ugly to be wanted.”
Malcolm cursed. “We’ll find a place for her.” He bowed with respect, looking her in the eyes. She stood a little straighter, swallowed hard, and dipped a servant’s bob in return.
“I had a cousin like that,” said Ramsay. “We learned to use signs to speak with her. Her husband would say with a smile that she never lectured him.”
“There is that. She needs someone with patience who likes it quiet.”
Ross’s ship had come about, sailing toward Dunskeath Castle. Molly looked to Malcolm. He put his hand on his heart and bowed respectfully to her, smiling in welcome. She pressed her lips together, blinking hard. A tremulous attempt at its return pulled up one corner of her lip, then the other, but not both at once.
“Do ye think Molly would find a place, perhaps even marry after what’s been done to her?”
The keeper nodded. “I was thinking Fergus could use some company. He likes it quiet and is kind and gentle. He’s lonely but doesna wish to be a nuisance. Kiera said Molly was a weaver, and Fergus has space for a loom. Over time, if she is interested they may share his pallet. But he will not force her.”
“And if she canna hear, read, or speak she willna pass on secrets from his papers.”
Ramsay nodded. “Glad ye are thinkin’ again, Laird Malcolm.”
“What I am thinking is that I need to see my wife.”
He needed to do more than see her. He needed to hold her and tell her that he didn’t want to live without her. That he was so thickheaded he’d refused to understand about loving her until he’d almost lost her. That he would spend what life he had left, making sure she understood he loved her.
Chapter Sixteen
The boot she’d thrown missed Malcolm’s head by six inches. A very precise six inches.
“Why didn’t you tell me!”
“We didn’t wish to worry ye on yer first day out, sweetling.”
“Dinna ‘sweetling’ me!”
Kiera narrowed her eyes at Duff. Not liking his attitude, she bent to remove the one boot that still fit. She’d waited, and waited, and waited for Duff and Malcolm to join her in their chamber.
“’Tisn’t seemly for the Lady of Kinrowan to throw her boots at her husbands,” chided Malcolm.
It wasn’t his words as much as his smirk that drove her fury.
“In this chamber there is no lady, nor laird,” she replied furiously. “Nor steward,” she added, directing her glare at Duff as she struggled to get her boot past her ankle.
“Nay, but there is a wife, and two husbands.” Malcolm’s tone was colder, his voice deeper. “A wife who vowed to obey, serving and being submissive to me.”
Keeping her head down she growled a rude reply, making sure she kept it too low for him to hear. She finally yanked her boot off. The toe of her stocking needed mending.
“As I vowed to be faithfully loving and caring.”
His words made her catch her breath with hope. And then she realized by loving he meant physical, not from his heart. She curled forward in pain, but only for a moment. She would not give in to pity! She would serve the people of Kinrowan. If she had to put up with a pair of arrogant husbands as part of it, so be it!
“Loving? Ha!” She gave them her best scowl. “You mean the touching of me. Well, I wish more from a husband than his body!” She reached under her skirts to undo her stocking. “I tried to be a perfect wife so that you’d love me the way my father loved my mother. As love is something you canna give, I have a wee bit less interest in following the vows I gave.”