The Laird's Captive Wife(38)

‘No, it isn’t. However, my first wife died some years ago.’

‘I’m sorry.’ She hesitated but couldn’t help herself. ‘What was her name?’

His fingers tightened round the cup. ‘Eloise.’

‘Eloise? That is French is it not?’

‘That’s right.’

‘How came you to meet and wed a Frenchwoman?’

‘I spent six years in France completing my military training.’

‘I see.’ Ashlynn digested this in silence and summoned all her courage to ask the next question. ‘Was it a love match?’

‘Aye,’ he replied, ‘it was. But, as I told you, it was long ago.’

Her heart sank. His words might relegate his former wife to the past but he had not been able to disguise the feelings that lay beneath. Clearly the memories were powerful still. The knowledge caused a strange pang. Eloise must have been quite something. I would not have married again…

‘And now the king has forced you to take me.’

The bleakness in her tone caused the dark gaze to soften a little. ‘We neither of us had any choice, lass.’ He paused. ‘Nor can we change the past.’

For a moment she saw Heslingfield in flames and forced the image back. With an effort she managed to keep her voice level. ‘As you say.’

‘Your life is here now, Ashlynn. It may not have been the one you would have chosen but I promise you it will be safe.’

She watched him rise from his chair and, with thumping heart, followed suit. He halted a few feet away.

‘So what now, my lady?’ He glanced over his shoulder at the door she had noticed earlier. ‘Yonder lies my bedchamber. If it pleases you to join me, I would be most happy and most honoured. If not, over there is the way out.’

Her surprise was total and for a moment or two she could only stare at him, torn between reluctance and something harder to identify. He saw her hesitation and moved in closer. She felt the warmth of his hands on her shoulders. She knew she should pull away now while she could and despised her own weakness for not doing so. His arms slid round her shoulders and waist, drawing her against him. His mouth closed over hers. A familiar flicker of warmth ignited deep within, her pulses racing for that seductive nearness, for the scent and the taste of him. Sensing that reawakening fire, he tightened his hold and the kiss grew more intimate, more knowing, the kiss of a man completely familiar with women and completely confident of his power. Ashlynn tensed. The wife he loved was dead. This meant nothing to him beyond the consummation of a bargain. She could not risk her heart in such an enterprise for her heart was all she had left. That knowledge increased the sense of inner desolation and she shivered.

Iain felt that tremor and drew back a little, looking down into her face. In it he saw reluctance and his eyes narrowed a little. Almost immediately she found herself free.

‘You need have no fear that I’ll force more on you than my name, Ashlynn,’ he said. ‘I’ll have you willing or not at all.’

‘Then you don’t mean to…you won’t—’ She broke off, floundering.

‘No, I don’t mean to. There’s time enough, lass.’

The words, delivered with such quiet assurance, served only to reinforce the truth. He did have time, but underneath that statement was a colder reality. While he had sufficient honour not to force her, the fact that he chose not to prosecute his right was further indication of how deeply he resented this marriage. How could this compare to what had gone before? How far she must fall short in his eyes—an unwilling bride and an unattractive one to boot! Ashlynn lifted her chin and gathered about her what dignity she could muster.

‘I think time will make little difference,’ she replied, ‘since we are together only at the king’s command, not personal inclination.’

The barb went deeper than anticipated but his tone remained calm. ‘As you say, and yet the situation carries its own inevitability.’

‘You may believe that, but it’s not a view I share.’

‘Maybe not, but if you think about it you’ll see that I’m right.’

‘I have no wish to think about you at all.’

‘None the less, you will abide here from now on and you will see me every day of your life whether you want to or not. In the meantime you may return to your room if you will.’

Ashlynn’s jaw tightened as she clamped the lid on anger. ‘Gladly, my lord.’ She moved towards the outer door and paused a moment. ‘I bid you a goodnight.’

Taken by surprise Iain could only watch her retreating figure until the door closed behind her. Then he sighed and turned away toward the hearth, staring down into the flames, his fist clenched above the lintel.