Part 2 (1/2)
And as he stared at her, he wondered just how much like Isobail she really was.
Just how far would she go to gain his help...
He gave her a hot, l.u.s.tful once-over and let his gaze linger meaningfully on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”Is there anything else you would offer me?”
She blinked at him once as if not understanding, but as he watched, her amber eyes sparked.
She gasped, then raked a repugnant stare over him that duplicated his own. There was no guile or artifice about her. She was truly offended by his question.
”Och now,” she said, curling her lip, ”you are foul to even make such a suggestion to a well-bred lady.
How dare you! Well, never you mind. I'll be finding my own way to England and not be in your presence another moment.”
He was surprised by her words and her indignant reaction.
Huffily she gathered her skirts into her hands and gave him one more sneer for good measure. ”You are a crude, ale-smelling beastie, and I have no use for such a man. Better I should go alone to my aunt's than have to deal with the likes of you. I should have never come here.”
Nowshe had that thought?
Ewan caught her arm as she started past him. ”How did you get here?”
She glared at his hand on her arm. ”I rode a horse until I reached your mountain and then I walked.”
”Is that how you intend to get to England?”
”Aye. I'll crawl there on my hands and knees if needs be.”
”You'll never make it alone.”
She gave him a hard, determined stare. ”Then I shall die trying.”
He saw red again. ”The b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l you will. I'm taking you home to your clan.”
”Never.”
His jaw twitched. In all his life he had never had a woman infuriate him so. Women were either too terrified or too l.u.s.t-filled in his presence to do much more than nod or giggle. But this one... this one made his blood boil.
”You think I won't?” he asked her.
She s.n.a.t.c.hed her arm free of his grasp. ”I think you don't know who my clan is. You have no idea who I am, and you can't take me back to my father unless I tell you, which I most certainly will not do.”
She had him there.
But not for long. ”Youwill tell me.”
”Ha!” she snapped, lifting her chin defiantly.
Ewan clenched his hands into fists. What did a man do with such a woman?
”Why of all the men in Scotland did you come to me?” he asked.
”Because you and your brothers are the only men I know who scare Ryan. I knew Sin and Braden MacAllister would never leave their wives to take me to England, and Lochlan, being laird, would never consent to help me for fear of running afoul of my father and his clan. That left you, who has no other tie to anyone. I thought that if I told my father that I had eloped with you, no one would dare come after me.”
Ewan muttered under his breath about women and their mindless machinations.
This was a nightmare all over again. So close to the events with Isobail and yet so oddly different.
How could this be happening to him again? Especially on this particular day that marked the death of his brother. ”You told them you eloped with me?” he asked.
”Well, what else could I do?”
”You could have done as you were told.”
She shook her head. ”That is the one thing I canna do. Norwill I.”
”Why?”
”Because I will not allow myself to be some useless adornment.”
Ewan frowned at her unexpected words. Although why he even reacted to that, he didn't know. She seemed to throw his keel every time she opened her mouth.
”I am not some nothing to be ignored and patted on the head and tolerated like a pet dog,” she continued. ”'Tis bad enough my father thinks me lack-witted, but to be married to such a man... Never.”
What a bizarre concern for a woman. Who'd ever heard of such? A woman's place was to do as she was told and to bend her will to that of her father and then to the husband her father picked for her.
G.o.d help them all if a woman ever took it into her mind to think for herself.
He, for one, would never again help a woman defy her family's wishes.
”For this you are willing to risk your life?” he asked.
”If someone planned to shut you away and ignore you, to listen but never hear a word you spoke, would you tolerate it?” She looked about his cave and appeared to change her mind. ”Well, mayhapyou would, but I will not. I have a mind of my own and I wish to use it.”
Ewan shook his head in disbelief. ”Wherever did you get these ideas?”
She ignored him. ”You've made it quite clear that you've no wish to help me. So be it. I'll trouble you no more. Now step aside and let me be on my way. I've a long journey ahead and-”
”You're not leaving.”
”I beg your pardon?”
”You heard me. I'm not about to allow you to take a journey that at best would result in your ravishment, at worst your death.”
”I'm no concern of yours.”
”Lady,” he said, his voice gruff and menacing, ”the moment you put my name on a piece of parchment designating me as your betrothed, you became my concern. What think you would happen if you were harmed? Your father, whoever he is, would demand my head for allowing you to be hurt. According to your own words we are bound to each other.”
She cringed as if she hadn't thought quite that far ahead. ”They might not believe it,” she said hopefully.