Page 62 of A Nameless Highland Laird
Cameron truly wanted to marry her. After everything she had shared, all she had admitted to, he still wanted her. He did not invite her to the market because of an arrangement between him and her father nor did he kiss her for any other reason than that he had wanted to. The thought was intoxicating.
The butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach an hour ago were still floating around, mimicking the excitement that raced through her bones. Her day with Cameron had been magical. She couldn’t imagine anything ruining it. She hoped the feeling of love and belonging he had given her hung around forever.
“So that’s it, aye? Ye dinnae love me anymore.”
The sharpness of the words cut through the fog of delight, slicing it to tatters.
“A-Alec. What are ye doing here? I told ye, ye can nae be in my chambers anymore.”
“Afraid yer new lover might find out about me and do away with ye?” he spat.
She could see the fury written all over his face. He had never been this upset, this angry with her before. It was more than anger, it was rage. And they were alone, with no one to hear her, with no one to stop her.
The butterflies died instantly and were replaced with fear.
“It was never appropriate for ye to follow me into my rooms. Do ye nae care about my reputation?
“Dinnae play these games with me.” The vein on his forehead popped out only to be muddled by how red his face was. “We have been together for two years and now all of a sudden, ye care about yer reputation? Is that all ye care about? Do ye nae care about me?”
Her fear was so palpable that it drenched her palms and made her hair stick to the back of her neck. There was no way for her to answer his questions without digging a further hole for herself. There was no way out of this situation, other than telling him the truth.
“Answer me!” he screamed, marching closer to her.
She had nowhere to go with her back still pressed against the door.
“Do ye nae love me anymore?”
The anger had melted into an ice cold fury. It was somehow more terrifying than when he was yelling. But it was enough to prompt her into speaking up.
“What we had was nae love.” She was proud of the way her voice held firm even as her hands shook. “This is nae love, Alec. It all started as infatuation and somewhere along the way, the lines got crossed. But we both knew that we could never be anything more than what we were. We both knew the day would come when I would marry someone else. Ye dinnae love me anymore than I love ye.”
In a matter of seconds he closed the gap between them and gripped the tops of her arms tightly. She tried not to wince, though she knew there would be bruises marring her skin in the morning.
“How can ye say that I dinnae love ye when I have done nothing but love ye? I have given up everything for ye. I left my home, my family behind to follow ye here. How is that nae love?”
She turned her head, trying to create even just a sliver of space for her to breathe in, to think in.
“I never asked ye to do that. I never told ye that that was what I wanted. Ye did that without asking me, without telling me yer plans.”
“So now this is my fault? I am to blame for being willing to follow ye across the Highlands, just to ensure yer safety. How dare I care so much about ye.”
His venomous words sunk in and started to spread their poison. She knew he intended to hurt when he struck, but she couldn’t fight off the sting.
“Alec,” she started to say, but he shook her, jostling her head against the door.
“Nay. Ye dinnae get to stand there and tell me that what we have is nae love. I have given everything for ye. And ye threw it all away the first time a Laird so much as looked yer way. But dinnae forget, I am the only one who kens ye, whotrulykens ye. This Laird has nay idea what he is getting himself into with ye. He does nae ken all the trouble ye will cause him. He does nae realize that ye have never been anything more than a lass hiding in the corner, waiting for someone to come and save ye. I tried, Charlotte. I tried to save ye, to pull ye out of that corner. If it was nae for me, ye would still be the timid and mousy lass ye were two years ago. Ye would still be cowering away.”
She looked at him in disbelief, unable to understand how he could say such vile things about her. Especially when he had her pinned in the corner as he spoke. She met his eyes, determined not to give into the fit he was throwing.
“I am still in the corner now,” she told him, gesturing to where he was holding her. “And it is ye who put me here.”
He scoffed and let her arms go. Her hands immediately started rubbing at the tender place where he had held her. Alec twisted away, throwing his hands in the air in mock defeat. Though she was grateful for the space, she knew she didn’t have long before his anger would return with a vengeance.
“It is time we end this. We cannae see each other again. It is nae appropriate, nae when I am engaged to another man. Ye need to move on, ye need to let me go.”
Though her words had been the truth, though she had meant them, she almost regretted them the moment they left her mouth. Alec spun back to face her, his anger more intense than anything she had ever seen. His entire face was red, his jaw and fists clenched as he stalked back towards her. She tried to get off the wall, to find some way to put space between them, but he kept coming until she was caged in again.
Her heart hammered in her chest. She had never seen him this way before and she had no idea how he was going to react to what she had just told him. Her instincts screamed at her to curl into a ball, to protect herself. But she refused to show him any more weakness. She refused to cower in front of him again. It took all of her willpower to stay standing, to keep her feet planted and her hands by her side, but she did, even as he spat at her.
