Isobel Sinclair listened from between the walls behind her father’s solar. These long-forgotten secret passages had saved her on more than one occasion and taught her so much about ruling the clan. Today, however, the passage could only offer her a small space of time. The king had done what her father had so far failed to. She was wed. Having passed one and twenty she had started to hope that her father had given up and she would be left alone. Never being wed would have suited her just fine. There wasn’t a single thing in a marriage that she was wanting. Her mother had been miserable and most of the women of her clan didn’t seem to fair much better. A few seemed content enough, but it was so rare that she hadn’t wanted to try her luck. Certainly with not any of the men her father had wanted to give her to. It had never occurred to her that the king might take it upon himself to see the deed done by marrying her to a stranger. She probably should have considered that the king wou

His wife led the way up the stairs, her head high, her back straight. She would have looked confident and proud if it weren’t for the nervous way her hands gripped her tunic. Though most women had the option of hiding their hands in their skirts so likely many wives felt as she did now. His brothers had both known the women they were wed to and even coupled them before when the women had been willing and glad to join with them. This moment was not a happy or solid beginning to their lives. As she opened the door to her chamber Gair decided this was not going to go the way the emissary expected. The man would be in the room, as required, but he would not be getting the show that he had no doubt had while ensuring Paddy and Eliana were wed. Izzy stepped into the room ahead of him and Gair stopped, bracing his arm across the door and preventing the Emissary from entering. The man’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but before he could speak Gair told him the way things were going to h

Griogair stomped up the steps to the castle in a very bad mood. He had spent the day talking to some of the men in the village, introducing himself and learning what he could about his new home. He was not impressed. At all. The ramparts and shops weren’t in any better shape than the castle. The crofters' homes were in shambles. The people feared their laird but wished to only grow enough to pay their rent and survive until spring. There was not a single happy, motivated soul among them. If the crofters in his clan lived in these conditions they would likely leave, but these people didn’t even have the motivation to walk away and look for something better. Most annoyingly, the men had all snickered at the news that their lady was wed! The women looked him up and down, a couple even flirting with him! Not one person that he had met had offered a single word of congratulations or well wishes. The sound of drunken laughter further soured Griogair’s mood and pulled him towards the gre

Isobel’s mind was flickering around more than the flame of the candle she was staring at. She tried to blink back the tears that burned her eyes when she realized that her mother’s old wool shawl wasn’t bringing her the comfort and warmth that it normally did. Instead, it scratched at the top of her breasts, making her feel foolish, half-naked, and scared. Why had she trusted the advice of a woman who did everything in her power to draw a man’s attention? Of course, the emissary's whore would give her a promiscuous dress! Now the womanly part of her that she kept most hidden was on full display, beyond even what a decent lady would show, tempting a man who had every right to do whatever he wished to her. Would he be angry that she was dressed this way but not eager to couple?Her husband had certainly gotten angry with Dairmaid quickly enough. Would he react as violently when she angered him? No doubt he would. He would likely be more difficult to get away from than the men of her cl

It hadn’t taken nearly as long as she’d expected to get her father’s friends down and locked side by side in the pillory. Their feet were locked in tight and their hands shackled behind them. She and her husband had been grinning and trying not to laugh out loud the whole time! It was more fun than she’d had in years. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too quick to retire to his bed. As she took the stairs quickly behind him her breath caught and she stumbled a step. She stopped on the stair, staring at the ground in front of her.Did she actually want to spend time with a man?“Izzy?” She looked up to see him a few steps ahead, he had stopped and turned when she stumbled. She smiled shyly and started back up the stairs.“Stubbed me toe,” she said softly. They stopped again in the hall outside her door. He looked in, then looked down the hall to the room that had been shown to him.“Do they clean yer room?” She winced. “Nay. I clean it. None of the maids here goes in a bedroom if she can help