“Ready to give up now?” She nodded. “I want to taste that mouth of yours. I’m going to take the gag out. There is no one to hear ye scream anyway, everyone is busy with my whore of a sister. But if ye do scream, I will knock your teeth out. Do ye understand?”
She nodded again and he removed the gag. He still held her too firmly for her try again to escape, so against every instinct, she continued to lay still. “That’s better.” He forced his lips over hers, brutally shoving his tongue into her mouth. She couldn’t breathe and in spite of herself, she struggled against him again. “This is going to be fun,” he jeered.
Mairead caught her breath and once more forced herself to calm down. Again Tadhg’s voice sounded in her head, Tell him ye give up and ye will do whatever he wants. Do whatever it takes to stay alive. She was terrified but she would do it. “Please don’t hurt me. I’ll do whatever ye want. Please.”
“Yes, ye will do what I want, won’t ye, and ye’ll like it. I thought ye would be a hot little piece when I first laid eyes on ye years ago. If we hadn’t been interrupted, we could have had quite a lot of fun then. Ye know, ye were almost mine again, and Matheson thwarted the betrothal.”
Dear God, this is Darcy Fraser. Learning his identity nearly shattered her. How close had she come to being married to this beast?
“We’ll make up for it now, though.” He leaned down and nuzzled her neck. She closed her eyes tightly and suppressed a shudder. “None of that,” he said and bit her neck, hard. He clamped a hand over her mouth before she cried out. “Don’t close your eyes. I want to see them. I want to know how much ye are enjoying this.”
She forced her eyes open. Could he possibly think she was enjoying this? “That’s better. Ye are a bit overdressed, little mouse. I think we need to remedy that.” Almost gently he removed the brooch holding her plaid and laid it to one side. Then he carefully removed her belt.
“This is taking a bit too long, mouse. I think we need to hasten things along a bit.” To her horror, he pulled his dirk from its sheath and held it in front of her face. “This should help.” With one hand he grabbed the neck of her léine, slicing into it. Then laying the knife aside he gripped the garment with both hands and yanked, tearing it apart. She grabbed the fabric, trying to cover herself with it, and he backhanded her again. Her face exploded in pain and this time she could taste blood. “I said ye were overdressed, whore.” His mouth crushed against hers cruelly while he squeezed one of her breasts painfully. Once again, she fought for breath and when he released her lips, pulling away from her slightly, her blood left a smear on his mouth. He grinned, licking the blood from his lips. “Mmm. I made ye bleed. Let’s see if I can make ye bleed somewhere else.”
She was terrified and blind panic nearly overwhelmed her. Stay calm and focused so ye can look for an opportunity to try again. Dear God, how could she stay calm? With supreme will, she forced herself not to react. Trying to suppress her revulsion, she ran her hands lightly down his arms, as if she were caressing him.
He grinned and chuckled. “I knew ye’d like this. Now it seems my sister is to marry your brother. We are to be relatives, little mouse. So this is what is going to happen, we can have a wee bit of fun this afternoon and it will be our secret. Ye need only stay as quiet as the wee mouse ye are. If, however, ye decide to run squeaking to your husband or father, I will be forced to tell them what a wanton ye are and how we have had a secret relationship for years.”
“But we haven’t.”
He gripped her hair in his fist, yanking her head back and forcing his mouth roughly over hers again. The pain made her eyes water and she was unable to control the whimper that escaped.
He pulled away from her lips, but continued to hold her painfully by the hair. “Oh, aye, we have. The MacKenzies come to the Michaelmas Fair every year. Ye and I have always found a few moments to steal together. Ye were heartbroken when the betrothal to me fell through. Today ye slipped away when the spectacle started. Ye begged me to run away with ye. Ye demanded it. As much as I love ye, I had to be very forceful with ye. I would never dishonor my family in such a way.”
“They won’t believe ye.”
“Nay?” He struck her again. “I wouldn’t count on that if I were ye. I can be very convincing. Still, I suppose the easiest thing would be simply to slit your throat with my dirk. After all, someone cracked your brother’s skull. Perhaps they have a grudge against the MacKenzies.” As if contemplating it, he picked up his dirk and stroked it lightly across her throat.