Chapter 14

Alex turned from his horse, his shoulders rigid with tension as he rounded on her.

"A coward, am I?" he thundered, walking back toward her through the undergrowth to do what he had been dying to do all day—backing her up against a tree as she braced her hands against his forearms, fighting him at every step.

"Get off me, ye beast," she spluttered, letting out a little gasp of shock as he pushed her back against the bark.

"Ye want to say that again?" he said furiously, his hands trapping her just as they had on the cliffside. "Or are ye merely tryin' to provoke me into taking those lips again?"

She leaned back from him, panting, her hands pushing against his chest as though to free herself.

"Ye are a brute, Alex Bain, just like all the others. Ye say ye arenae a pirate and ye were never meant to be the man ye are, yet ye act as though ye were molded by the sea itself."

His fingers moved to the nape of her neck even as she spoke, his desire peaking. His fingers gripped the neat knots in her hair, gently pulling her head back until she was pinioned beneath him, her full lips parted and tantalizingly close.

"Maybe I should treat ye as ye deserve as well, me bride. Maybe I should put ye in yer place."

"Ye can try," she fired back, her expression defiant even as she melted against him. "Ye willnae succeed."

Upon hearing that defiant tone, he couldn't stand it any longer. He took her lips in a forceful kiss. She grunted, biting his lips, so he bit her right back.

She gasped, and his tongue plunged into her mouth as the full weight of his body pinned her against the tree trunk.

He gripped her waist as he released her hair, moving his right hand downwards, pulling at her skirts, his fingers digging through the many layers of fabric, pulling them upwards, until his hand gripped the flesh of her thigh, tugging her knee up to his hip as he ground himself against her.

She gasped, her head falling back as she broke the kiss, her neck exposed to him as he dragged his lips over her pale skin. She let out a quiet moan as his hand caressed her thigh, trailing further below her skirts as he felt her shudder beneath him.

But then he recoiled, looking down at her flushed cheeks and knowing at that moment that it was wrong.

I cannae take her like this. Nae in anger. Nae here. She deserves better.

Alex pulled back, allowing Isobel to lower her leg gently back to the ground, righting her as best he could without throwing her off balance.

She was dragging air into her lungs, as was he. He had never wanted anyone so much.

As he stepped back, he watched the realization dawn on her face—that he had rejected her again. Her expression hardened, and she righted her clothes roughly, not meeting his eyes.

"We should return to the castle," he muttered, his voice rough with desire.

She pushed past him with a shove that almost winded him, walking out of the forest on foot.

It appeared Isobel Knox was not sharing a horse with a man who did not want her.

* * *

Five days. She had not spoken to her husband in five days!

Every night she lay in her bed, listening to the sounds from his rooms, wondering if he would finally come to claim her. But he never did.

Every morning, Isobel went out of the castle to search for wild lavender, returning with bundles of it that she tied into bunches and placed around her room.

There was so much of it that she started hanging it in the hallways of the castle, too, masking the smell of the damp. It began to feel a little more homely day by day.

"Ye're becoming as much of a witch as I am," Nora told her one day when she rounded a corner to find her standing precariously on a chair, hanging lavender above the entrance of a high doorway.

"I can only hope," Isobel replied.

Nora chuckled, steadying the chair for her as Isobel climbed down.

"Ye'll be of nay use to anyone if ye break yer neck while decoratin' yer castle," she remarked evenly. But as she spoke the words, she let out a sharp hiss, her fingers massaging her belly, her brow furrowed. "He has his faither's legs already."

Isobel grinned, walking forward eagerly and placing a gentle hand on her sister's swollen belly, giving a cry of delight as she felt a kick against her palm.

Nora shook her head, smiling. "He doesnae move for Leo, but one whisper from his aunt and he wants to fight his way out."

"What makes ye so sure it's a lad?" Isobel asked, before leaning down to whisper to her sister's belly. "Ye'll be a fighter, just like yer aunty, aye?"

Nora swatted her hand away with a laugh. "Dinnae let his faither hear ye speakin' like that. He doesnae need a witch and a warrior in the same house."

Isobel chuckled, and they walked down the corridor toward the open air. The sound of sawing and hammering seemed to be a constant companion these days as the castle took shape around them.

The lonely days continued to pass. If she did not have her sisters for company, Isobel felt that she might have gone mad.

As she watched Alex leave the castle without so much as a by-your-leave, for the fifth day in a row, she decided to take action. She was no dutiful wife, waiting for her laird to pay her attention every minute of the day. She had her own desires and her own life to lead.

Later that morning, she rode out to Clyde land, to her favorite waterfall. She had decided to name her horse Heather, because the beast ate so much of it, and they had both enjoyed galloping full pelt through the glens with no one to reprimand or judge them.

This is the life. This is the freedom I am owed.

The water was clear, sparkling in the sunshine and flowing in clear currents away from the pounding waterfall.

She took off her dress and hung it neatly on a nearby branch, then dove into the brisk waters in only her underclothes. The pool was so clear that she could see all the way to the bottom. She surfaced, feeling refreshed and clean, and floated on her back, looking up at the sky.

She stayed there for some minutes, contemplating the wisps of clouds above her head.

She realized that she had come here to find the same sense of peace she associated with her former home. She wished to experience the joy that Clan Clyde had once brought her, yet she was unable to feel it now.

It appeared that neither Rothach nor Clyde felt like home anymore. She was somewhere in between.

* * *

"Er… M'Laird?"

Alex turned as Gavin's concerned voice interrupted his thoughts of all the duties he had to carry out that day.

His head was throbbing. He wanted to ask Isobel's opinion, he wanted her counsel, yet he had been unable to speak to her or catch a glimpse of her for five days.

"I think we may have found the lady," Gavin said, amusement thick in his voice as Alex followed his gaze and saw a figure galloping away from the castle toward the far horizon.

A spark of joy flared within Alex as he saw Isobel's determined stance as she rode her horse, but it was quickly replaced by concern.

Gavin looked back at him, moving to pull his own horse around and follow her. "She's alone in unfamiliar territory," he commented.

"I damn well ken," Alex snapped, irritation running through his very bones.

If he had behaved differently, they would not be quarreling, and he would have been able to apologize to her as a gentleman should.

"Ye want me to follow the lass?" Gavin asked.

"Nay. I'll go. Wait for me here."

Alex spurred Jock to follow Isobel, cursing under his breath at the speed with which she was riding. She had gone a fair way into the forest by the time he found her tracks and followed them.

They led him to a deep waterfall where a wide pool had formed—the water rippling over the surface in great waves—but he could see no sign of his wife.

He dismounted quietly, straining his ears for any sound nearby, but there was nothing. Jock made a little whinny of recognition, and Alex turned to the beast and spotted Isobel's horse tethered to a branch some feet away.

He looked up at the falls, and his heart almost stopped beating as he finally saw her. She had clambered high up onto the rocks, in what looked like just her underclothes. As he glanced back at the horse, sure enough, her dress was draped over a branch nearby.

He swallowed as he looked up at her beautiful curves, her hair down, clearly not expecting to be observed by anyone. He was about to cry out to stop her, but he was too late. She leaped from the rock, expertly arching into the air, and diving down into the water.

He held his breath, his heart thudding wildly in his chest, until he saw her surface. He felt fear mixed with awe as he watched her. She was so in tune with the world around her, as though she was at one with the water itself. As she brushed her hair from her eyes, she lay back, floating with her arms outstretched, her hair floating like weeds around her head.

I should leave. She doesnae ken I'm here.

But he did not move. Her underclothes had molded to her legs, exposing their shape. He dragged his eyes over her figure, the white fabric becoming translucent beneath the waterline, exposing her breasts and her dark nipples.

Alex shook himself and backed away, grabbing Jock and retreating before he dove into the water with her, the consequences be damned.

He slowly made his way back through the trees, keeping a watchful eye for anyone else who might put her in danger, but the woods were silent. She was clearly familiar with this spot, and that knowledge alone made him feel less afraid for her.

He mounted Jock and cantered back to Gavin.

Aye, ye've made me strong, Faither. I never kenned how much strength I would need to resist me own wife.