Dark Duke(49)
“Unlike the great hall?” She couldn’t resist. She just couldn’t.
He chuckled.
“Will we always live here?”
He stopped stock-still at her question. He looked at her and the oddest expression flickered over his face. He opened his mouth then closed it again. Then finally said, “I have a house in Perth.”
“Is it as charming as this? And will your men all live with us? Because they are charming as well.”
“No. They are only here to— Why am I explaining myself to you?”
“Because I’m to be your bride?” Really, where the sarcasm came from, she had no clue.
His fisted his hands on his hips. “Are you always this difficult?”
She offered a toothsome smile. “Didn’t Callum warn you?”
The McCloud blew out a breath and without another word, continued the upward climb. He stopped at a heavy oaken door on the landing. “Wait here.”
Of course she did not.
She followed him in.
The solar was round and, unlike the rest of the miserable keep, quite opulent. A large draped bed dominated the room, flanked by a plush divan and an intricately carved table and chairs. A bottle of wine and the remnants of a meal sat on the table.
The McCloud approached the bed and poked his head through the curtains. “Violet,” he whispered. “You must wake up.”
“Hmm?” A drowsy murmur emanated from the bower.
“Violet. Wake up.”
“Ewan. Not yet. I’m sleepy.”
Kaitlin stilled. The tone of Violet’s voice was not that of a wretched prisoner—it was loverlike. A sultry purr.
The blood in her veins turned to ice.
When she’d run into him, the McCloud had been descending from this chamber—the only chamber at the top of the stairs. He’d been buttoning his shirt.
Holy hell.
He had seduced Violet.
The dastard!
He’d kidnapped her best friend and seduced her. And now he expected Kaitlin to marry him?
The perfidy of men was boundless.
“Come on, get dressed. Someone’s here to see you.”
“What?”
Kaitlin cleared her throat. “He said, someone’s here to see you.”
The McCloud whipped around, a fierce glower on his face. “I told you to wait outside!” he boomed.
“I’m disobedient.”
“Why, I ought to—”
“What? Beat me?”
He flinched. “I don’t beat women. Where did you get the idea I beat women?”
“You’re a villain!”
“But I don’t beat—”
“Kaitlin?” Violet thrust her head out between the curtains. Her eyes were wide and shadowed, her cheeks hollow. “Oh, Kaitlin! Is that you?”
She emerged from the bed, wrapping a blanket around her body, and flew across the flagstones to fold Kaitlin in a hug.
“Darling. You look…” She looked awful. There was an ugly brown-and-yellow bruise on her cheek and her eyes were puffy and she’d lost weight. Had he even been feeding her? And then… “Are you naked?” Kaitlin gaped. She turned to the McCloud and fixed him with a scorching look. “Is she naked? Why is she naked?”
He frowned and shuffled his feet and didn’t respond. The cad.
Violet tugged the blanket more tightly around her. “Oh darling, it’s so good to see you. But what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in London.”
“I came to rescue you.”
“You really shouldn’t have come. Now you will have to marry him.”
The McCloud cleared his throat. “I’m standing right here.”
“I had to come. I couldn’t bear the thought of you being held in his evil clutches because of me.”
“I’m in the room.”
“I know, but darling, how can I ever bear it? Knowing you gave up your freedom for mine? That you surely face a fate worse than death—”
“I can hear you!” the McCloud bellowed.
They both turned to him.
Kaitlin frowned, reminded. He had never answered her question. “Why is Violet naked?”
He scratched his beard. His gaze flicked from one to the other. “To…keep her from escaping.”
Holy God. How like a man.
“You are a brute. An absolute beast. And you want me to marry you? I swear to God in heaven above. I shall make your life a living, breathing hell.”
He opened his mouth and closed it again. He was, all in all, looking quite like a trout. A scratch on the door saved him from answering.
“What?”
“Sir, there are visitors,” Pippin’s voice wafted through the wood.
“Stinking hell. More visitors?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “This place was supposed to be remote.” He stomped to the window and peered out. “Fuck.”