He didn’t want her? Fine. She’d not beg.
The price of her pride might be high, but there would be no one to see her tears in the dark of the night.
For certain, she’d not let Faolan see that she cared.
*
The sheet was hanging in the great hall.
Cora stopped and glared at it. A dark stain marred its surface.
“Ye should be glad,” a matron said as she took in Cora’s disgruntled expression.
“And grateful,” another woman declared from where she was setting the table for the midday meal.
Cora looked at the first woman. “I am not a liar. Come and testify to the priest that the sheet was clean this morning. So, this marriage might be annulled.”
The woman’s eyes widened as Cora’s words sunk in.
“Ye are daft to suggest I’d cross me mistress,” the woman declared before she turned and hurried away.
“Save yer breath,” the second woman said when Cora looked her way. “I am no senseless. Snow is blowing on the wind. I need me place. Ye do as well.”
Cora refused to be intimidated. She made her way to the kitchens where there were over three dozen McKay women working to make supper. Men turned meat in the huge hearths as Orla stood keeping watch over every member of her staff. She had a long spoon in her hand that she was using to point at the members of her staff.
“Ye do nae belong in here, Mistress Mackenzie,” Orla informed her sternly.
Cora put one foot behind her and bent at the knee to perform a reverence. The respectful gesture earned her a grunt from the McKay Head-of-House.
“Married to the laird’s brother does not grant ye authority here,” Orla continued. “Ye’ll have yer own tower to see to running.”
There were several snickers in response. Orla snapped her head toward two of the women who had made the most noise.
“I’ll be certain to send ye a staff,” Orla raised her voice in warning. “Hand select them, I will.”
The women immediately looked at whatever they were working on. The kitchen was suddenly silent except for the popping of the fire and the sound of a knife chopping root vegetables.
“Cora, dear.” Noreen arrived with a rustle of her silk skirts. “Ye are truly a fine young woman to be attempting to see to yer duties so soon after yer wedding.”
Cora snapped her head around to look at Noreen. The lady of the McKay clan had a sweet tone, but there was a warning flicker in her eyes, and the four burly Retainers flanking her backed it up.
Cora felt a noose tightening around her neck once more.
“Orla is very busy just now,” Noreen said. “Come away with me, dear. There is business to discuss.”
“Aye, there is,” Faolan said ominously.
Noreen jumped. Cora moved toward the doorway to see that the mistress of the manor had lost a great deal of her color. The McKay Retainers knew their job well, though. They guided Cora and Faolan out of the kitchen as their mistress collected her composure.
They went deeper into the fortress. Walking through a wide passageway and under one of the towers and still onward until they reached another tower. Of course, it made sense that the laird of the McKay didn’t have his private apartments too close to the gate. They climbed up a wide stairway, all the way to the third floor before reaching a landing where two more Retainers stood watch at a set of wide doors. The men reached up to tug on the caps for their mistress before they opened the doors.
Apprehension was prickling on the back of her neck, but Cora strode into the receiving chamber with her head level. Malcolm McKay sat there in a huge chair with ornately carved armrests. Tapestries hung on the walls, and there was a shelf off to one side with bottles of fine whiskey. Huge window shutters were opened to allow the fresh morning air in from an overly large window. Most windows were small to conserve firewood; this one would allow a person to stand and enjoy a magnificent view of the stronghold and village beyond its outer wall. The chamber was well away from the smoke of the kitchens or even the scent of the milk cows. It was truly the finest chamber, and no king had better.
“Welcome,” Malcolm muttered after allowing Cora time to look around his private chambers. There was a smirk on his lips when she looked back at him.
Faolan stepped up beside her. It was unexpected, and yet, Cora realized she found it completely what she would have hoped from Faolan if she’d been so bold as to consider herself anything other than alone against her circumstances.
He wanted an annulment after all.
The doors were shut soundly behind them.
A moment later, Noreen turned and slapped Cora hard. Faolan reached out and caught Noreen’s hands as Cora gasped and stepped aside. But Faolan stuck his other arm out so that Cora was forced to remain behind him.
“So quick to defend her, are ye, Faolan?” Noreen growled all pretense of the mild lady evaporating.
Jealousy twisted Noreen’s face, and Malcolm didn’t miss it. He rose from the chair with a growl. “Get yer hands off me, wife, Faolan.”
“With pleasure,” Faolan muttered softly. He looked directly at Noreen as he spoke, and no one in the room missed the personal message he was sending Noreen.
Malcolm chuckled. It wasn’t a happy sound either, but one full of malice. “Noreen is a fickle jade, isn’t she, brother?” The McKay laird walked closer to Faolan. Malcolm’s lips parted to show a flash of his teeth. He looked at Noreen. “A true bitch.”
Noreen snarled before moving away from the men.
“However,” Malcolm raised a finger into the air, “Noreen is very good at making the most profit out of every situation. She is a blue-blooded mare. Bred from the finest stock and raised to run an estate. Those are the reasons why I stole her from ye, brother.”
“And the reasons I thank ye for exposing just how callous her nature is before I made the mistake of wedding her,” Faolan replied.
Cora bit her lip as the sting of jealousy went through her. He’d actually wanted Noreen and couldn’t wait to send Cora on her way?
Malcolm shook his head. “Ye lack ambition, Faolan.”
“I disagree, brother,” Faolan said. “What I lack is the will to darken me soul with underhanded dealings.”
Malcolm opened his arms up wide. “Business is always about strategy. Life has winners and losers.”
The McKay laird turned his attention toward Cora. Green glistened in his eyes, and he actually licked his lips before Faolan shifted so that he was between them. Malcolm’s expression tightened.
“Ye are a damned fool, Faolan, for no’ consummating the union last night. Not only is her dowry likely to be sizable, but the lass herself is a prize indeed. The very fact that she is Laird Mackenzie’s only sister is worth the effort of bedding her. But the package she comes in would make it a pleasure to spread her thighs even in the bright light of day.”
“She is not yer prize,” Faolan growled.
Malcolm opened his arms wide and backed away from his brother. “It would seem the clean sheet on yer bed this morning claims she is not yers either.” Malcolm reached up and rubbed his chin. “Not that I plan to quibble with ye over that matter. I can see to filling her belly meself.”
“Ye’ll keep yer hands off her.”
There was venom in his tone. Cora reached for his arm to hold him back. Faolan turned to shoot her a hard look. Their gazes met, but there was a blur of motion that made them both turn back toward Malcolm.