Highlander Taken. Juliette Miller

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      CHAPTER FOUR

      Two weeks later

      “HE’S ONLY MARRYING you because he’s duty-bound. ’Tis the unfortunate truth of it.”

      “We’ll be there for you all the while, Stella.”

      “Not all the while, but as much as we can.”

      “Whenever he leaves you we’ll come to you.”

      “As long as he allows it, of course.”

      “He might want you all to himself.”

      “He’ll likely allow us to visit with you during the day, at least.”

      “Aye. You’ll need comforting, after what you’ll be subjected to at night.”

      “Maisie! Don’t bring up that particular topic. She’s already pale as a ghost.”

      My sisters were gathered around me in the warm confines of our horse-drawn carriage, offering a litany of advice and condolences. A procession of carriages carried the privileged few who would attend my wedding. The cold autumn wind bit and blustered at the windows as we made our way across the Highlands to the Mackenzie keep, where I would wed Kade Mackenzie in less than two days. My arguments had fallen on my father’s selectively deaf ears.

      At night, I continued to dream of exile with a slim, young pauper, of forbidden kisses in a secret garden, of stalking, glittering shadows that lurked at the fringes, growing ever closer.

      The weather matched my mood: chilled and bleak.

      I could not have felt any more dread if I was being transported to my own execution, which at this moment sounded like an equally appealing option to that of an undesired marriage to the very figure that loomed ever larger, not only in my dreams but in my nightmares. If I could have jumped from the carriage and fled across the Highlands, I might have attempted to do so, but I knew Aleck was stationed alongside the carriage driver, and for that very reason.

      It was Maisie who brought up the subject—yet again—and I could hardly blame her for being more than a little incensed on the entire topic of marriage. Especially to a Mackenzie. After all, this wedding should have been hers, if Wilkie hadn’t chosen Roses, his exotic-looking kitchen servant to wed, only to later find out that she was the daughter of King William himself. Such was his devotion, he hadn’t cared that she was of lowly status; even before he had learned of her royal bloodline he’d been willing to forsake his own lairdship to have her. Now he would be laird of an altogether different clan, that of King’s Stuart clan, presiding over the grand Ossian Lochs.

      It was a romantic notion indeed that a man would dedicate his heart so completely to a woman. And Wilkie’s bride’s newly discovered lineage presented them with an unlikely and entirely favorable future, even beyond their love.

      My own future would be less favorable. My own husband-to-be, I was sure, would be dedicated only to ensuring that my life would be an exercise of intimidation and subservience. On the strength of his reputation as a ruthless aggressor on the battlefield and from the brutality he had demonstrated in the sparring ring, it seemed to be his nature, as estimated by my sisters, and I could hardly disagree. Less discussed but still hinted at was Kade Mackenzie’s dominating and lusty escapades behind more intimate closed doors, a topic that had been mostly skirted so far. But it was only a matter of time. My sisters were putting real effort into trying to be sensitive to my impending doom, I knew, but it simply wasn’t in their nature to hold back.

      Maisie commented further, bemused, “’Tis inconceivable how two brothers can be so entirely different in nature, is it not? Wilkie’s so quick to laugh, so vibrant. Kade, on the other hand, seems unpredictable, to say the least. He was civil enough at the gathering, but did you see him fight? He lives, I would guess from that performance, only to fight, and to win, at whatever cost.”

      I hoped Maisie was wrong, of course, but two weeks of discussion on this very topic had left me feeling hopeless and certain that my new husband would be as ruthless and impulsive as he seemed. Ann, as always, remained optimistic. My gentlest of sisters, the one whom I could always count on to at least try to find brightness in any dark situation, argued in my favor: “You hardly know, Maisie—” Then, in response to Maisie’s glower: “I’m sorry but it’s true. You spent a fleeting moment with Wilkie, two days at the very most, regardless of how intimate you might have been with him. And you don’t know Kade Mackenzie from the King of Spain. You’ve seen him in passing and spoken to him only a handful of words. You’re upsetting Stella with half-truths.”

      “’Tis just a feeling,” Maisie countered, sulky at the accuracy of Ann’s reprimand. “A very strong feeling.” The announcement of my betrothal to Kade Mackenzie had been a crushing loss for Maisie and one she still had not fully recovered from. She was only now, two weeks after the fiasco, coming out of her despondency. My wedding, however, would present an opportunity for her to seek out new conquests. Scouting for potential husbands was an agenda shared by the rest of my family as well, aside from Bonnie and Clementine, and my sisters were bright-eyed even as they attempted to calm my unease. But their words only stoked my apprehension.

      “Either way,” commented Clementine, “there can be little doubt about his...energy. We all witnessed it in the sparring ring. He’s unlikely to be gentle with you, Stella—and we say this, of course, with only your best interests at heart. You must be forewarned. Kade Mackenzie is marrying you to claim our clan’s lairdship, and not for reasons of affection. You must go into this marriage with your eyes open to the grim reality of the situation.”

      This was hardly news, yet they continued. And it was not the first time I wished they might change the subject, that we might be able to discuss the weather, a favorite song, a new fashion—anything but my troubling future. I knew they were trying to comfort me as best they could, under the circumstances. They were merely excitable at the drama of my predicament and entirely preoccupied with discussing it relentlessly. I wished I could daydream of faraway places. Of Edinburgh, and beyond. But it was not to be.

      “I’m sorry to say it, dear sister,” said Maisie, “but you have no choice but to expect the worst. He appears charming enough, but it’s clear enough he has a wicked temper. You saw him in the heat of battle. I dread to think what he’ll bring to the marriage bed.”

      “Aye,” said Clementine, still gazing out the window, lost as she often was in her own disappointment in the subject at hand. “He’s bound to be an absolute tyrant both in and out of your private chambers.”

      Agnes and Ann agreed, nodding silently with wide eyes. Since they were the youngest of us, the very mention of a marriage bed was enough to stun them into speechlessness. To be sure, it did similar things to me. In only a few short days, I would be at the mercy of my new husband. The thought of Kade Mackenzie—his size, his flashing light eyes and the contained strength of him that radiated from his movements like an aura—filled me with dread. My sisters spoke the truth. There was no telling what I might be subjected to.

      “He might have redeeming qualities,” ventured Ann. “He seemed СКАЧАТЬ