“Help them to recall the strong love that grew between them,” he said.
“Father Murdock, we met yesterday,” Brodee said, a shadow of annoyance on his face and underlying his tone. “Ye can skip the prayer and move straight to the ceremony.”
“Lass?” the priest asked, as if he expected her to protest.
Heat warmed her cheeks. She nodded. “Aye, ye can go straight to the ceremony.”
Father Murdock shrugged. “If ye both say so.”
“We do,” Brodee said, his lips pressing together.
Father Murdock brought the Blackswell plaid to Brodee’s and Patience’s hands and started winding the cloth around their wrists to tie it in a knot. “Brodee Blackswell, Laird of Clan Blackswell, say yer vows.”
Patience frowned. She’d only just ever stood in front of the priest and said her name and that she wished to wed the man beside her. Were those the vows he meant? They’d been lies. They’d meant less than nothing to her.
Brodee took a deep breath and began to speak. “Ye kinnae possess me, for I belong to myself.” She sucked in a sharp breath at the words, and a gentle, shocking smile pulled at his lips. “I thought ye might like that,” he said, looking at her as if they were the only two in the chapel, which of course they were not. Still, the way his gaze simmered as it held hers caused warmth to flow through her, and suddenly, she stopped trembling.
“Blackswell, ye kinnae stop during yer vows,” Father Murdock complained, and then her betrothed, the man known as Savage Slayer, did the most shocking thing—he winked at her. She felt her own lips pull into an outrageous grin.
His forefinger of the hand atop of hers trailed back and forth as soft as a feather over the skin of her wrist. It was the gentlest touch she’d ever felt from a man, and she was at once both intrigued and frightened, because it made her belly tighten with emotions she had never experienced while it made her heart quicken with the one feeling she knew all too well—fear. Did he truly intend to be tender with her, or was he simply playing a game as Silas had loved so much to do?
She did not dare to hope it was the former, yet her pulse began to beat erratically as his smoldering gaze delved into her.
His smile touched his eyes, and he continued. “But while we both wish it, I give ye that which is mine to give. Ye kinnae command me, for I am a free person, but I shall serve ye in those ways ye require.” Something about the look that suddenly appeared in his gaze made her even warmer. “And the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand. I pledge to ye that yers will be the name I cry aloud in the night and the eyes into which I smile in the morning. I pledge to ye the first bite from my meat and the first drink from my cup. I pledge to ye my living and dying, equally in yer care, and to tell no strangers our grievances. This is my wedding vow to ye. This is a marriage of equals.”
He didn’t mean it. He couldn’t mean it. But her heart squeezed into a tight ball just the same. “Those are the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard,” she said.
“Ye are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he replied, and then his eyes went wide, and she knew in that instant that he’d not intended to say the thought aloud, which led her to believe he’d actually meant it.
Her eyes widened in shock. “Ye think me beautiful?”
He gave her a searching look. “Dunnae sound so stunned. I’m certain I’m nae yer first husband to tell ye so.”
The reminder of her past husbands felt akin to his throwing a bucket of freezing loch water on her. She could not stop the shiver that swept through her. He was not the first to tell her she was lovely, no. Ivan had always told her it was her fault he beat her because she was so bonny that he was forced to be jealous, so he had to make her understand never to be disloyal.
“Ye kinnae talk during the ceremony,” Father Murdock said and glared at them both.
She nodded quickly, glad to have an excuse not to answer Brodee’s question. She looked to the priest. “Do I repeat the vows?”
“Only if ye wish to be wed this day, lass.” Father Murdock gave a her a look that said he had his doubts.
For a breath, she considered what would come to pass if she simply refused to say the vows and wed Brodee. Her father’s voice rang in her head.Do or die, Patience.She wondered then what her father was gaining from this marriage. She did not know. He had not revealed it in his letter nor had he bothered to come to tell her that he’d basically once again used her. There had to be a gain for him, of that much she was certain.
“I’m ready,” she said, fixing her gaze on Brodee’s broad chest. She feared if she looked at his face, he’d read the terror in her eyes, and she did not wish him to see just how scared she was. Father Murdock began to read her vows and she repeated them, her belly clenching tight with worry for what would come after. Would Brodee parade her through the great hall and drag her to the marriage bed for all to witness the consummation? That’s what both Silas and Ivan had done. The thought of having to go through a public bedding a third time made her sway.
A gentle, steadying hand came to her elbow, and she raised her eyes to find him watching her. “Are ye all right?”
His intense scrutiny made her nervous, and she blurted, “I had hoped to nae ever say wedding vows again.”
Brodee’s brows dipped into a frown. “Because ye loved Kincaide?” His tone sounded almost jealous, and it struck her speechless. “Ye need nae bother answering. Yer silence says it all.” All she could do was stare, stuck in a trap of her own creation because she’d gone along with Kinsey’s story. “Ye will forget him.”
It was a command. A cold and very firm one. And it infuriated her, which was ridiculous because that was precisely what she wanted to do: forget Silas. And Ivan. And her father. And all men, honestly. But she was heartily sick of being commanded and obeying like a scared dog. “I will try, but it may be difficult since Silas does visit me daily to talk to me.”
For one moment, her new husband—wait, were they wed now?—looked as if he would cheerily throttle her. She bit her lip and started to step away from him, but he snaked a hand firmly around her neck. “What are ye doing?” she asked, her body tensing and preparing for the worst.
“Kissing ye, of course, lass. That is how ye end the wedding ceremony and begin the life of ahappilywedded couple.”
As his face drew closer she tried to pull back, but moving him was like trying to move a boulder—pointless. “I’ve nae ever heard of such a custom,” she said, her heart pounding in her ears.
A devilish gleam came to his eyes. “Well, now ye have.”
“But—” She did not get the chance to finish her objection. His lips brushed over hers, and whatever she was going to say, promptly fled her head.
The kiss started slow and thoughtful, the softness of it surprising. She’d been prepared for pain, punishment, anger, but this…this caress of his lips to hers sent the pit of her stomach into an odd, wild swirl, and she found herself curious and suddenly leaning toward him rather than straining to get away. A slide of his tongue over the crease of her lips made her gasp. It was darkly alluring, that velvet warmth. His lips massaged hers, coaxed and parted them, and her heart jolted when his tongue tangled with hers. Deep at her core, a throb began, and a moan escaped her.
A clearing of a throat brought her reeling back to her senses. As Brodee broke the kiss and gave her a look of primal possession, she pressed her hand against her thundering heart. What had just happened? That kiss was… Well, it was the most magical thing she’d ever experienced. She hadn’t known anything like that was even possible. A spark of hope flared in her, and then Brodee said, “Ye may go. Have yer chambermaid wash ye and dress ye in a gown for the obligatory wedding celebration.”
Humiliation burned her cheeks. He’d dismissed her like a dog with yet another command. And one that would lead to the public bedding. All hope died where it had first sparked. She supposed she had her answer now, at least. She was wed once again, and it seemed that it was to yet another intolerable man.
