Page 7 of A Temptress in Tartan

She swallowed hard, but said nothing.

“Answer me.”

She moistened her lips with her tongue. “I only know what I’ve been told. There is no proof of anything.”

“I am proof.” Lachlan’s voice was fierce. “Your clan robbed me of my parents and the childhood I longed for. And while I was lucky to have cousins whose parents took me in, it doesn’t change the fact that your clan took my parents’ lives. The Ruthvens are the murders.”

He stared at her a long moment and she could feel the hair on the back of her neck raise. Finally, he said, “This is getting us nowhere.”

Elizabeth felt a surge of relief. “I am tired. I wish to go to bed.”

“What about supper?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“All right. I will take some food belowstairs while you prepare yourself for bed. I will join you soon.”

Elizabeth stiffened. “In the bed? You said—”

“Take the bed. I will sleep on the floor.” Anger and frustration emanated from him in waves that renewed her fear. A heartbeat later, he slipped from the chamber, leaving her alone.

She might not have been able to stop her marriage to this man, but she had to find a way to get away from him before he murdered her in her sleep. Quickly, she scanned the room. There was nothing she could use as a weapon to either attack or defend herself. Could she slip away from him during the night? But where would she go? Could she make her way back to Falkland Palace? Or would there be too many questions asked of her if she did? Could she find her way back to her home even though she had no real notion of where she presently was?

Lachlan had said they were close to Kirkcaldy, which she knew was to the southwest, but could she find her way there alone on a horse she would have to steal? Stealing a horse, even from her husband, was an offense punishable by death.

Elizabeth frowned. She was left with only one option. She had to kill her husband before he killed her.

Chapter Two

The candle had long since burnt down and a hazy gray darkness filled the bedchamber. Elizabeth’s hands were shaking as she bent over her husband’s sleeping form. Lachlan slept in his kilt and boots on the floor in front of the door. She tensed when she heard his even breathing falter. Did he sense her presence near him?

A moment later, his slow, even breathing resumed and she released a hitched breath. He was still asleep. Silently, she reached for the sgian-dubh he kept tucked into his boot. She would have only a second to grab the weapon and strike. Her aim for his throat must be true despite the fact she’d never taken a life before.

There was no other choice. She had to do this. This man was her enemy. She reached for the sgian-dubh.

“Touch that and you’ll wish you were dead.” Lachlan’s hand snaked around her wrist before she had even touched the weapon.

Elizabeth’s blood ran cold. She tried to wrench away, but he was too strong. “Let me go.”

“Why?” He held tight as he sat up, watching her with an intensity that made her stomach tighten. “So you can try again to kill me with my own weapon?”

Her blood pounded in her ears. “It’s not what you think.”

“It’s not?” He stood, pulling her up with him. Pain shot through her wrist at the motion. “’Tis obvious to me that you intended to slit my throat. I thought we had moved past all this.”

“You were planning to kill me, so I thought I’d kill you first.”

He stared at her in stunned amazement. “You thought I would kill you? Whatever gave you that idea?”

“How could you not? We are who we are. How can our marriage change anything?” she replied, starting to feel a little light-headed as she locked her knees to keep herself upright.

He turned her in his arms until they fully faced each other. She drew a breath.

As he loosened his grip, he gazed down at her. “Why would I hurt you? You are my wife.”

She stepped back, suddenly noticing the darkness of the bedchamber had given way to the pinkish light of dawn. “We stopped for the night in the middle of nowhere. It would be easy for you to murder me here and hide my body where no one would ever find it.”

Lachlan frowned. “We were forced to stop here because of the wheel. There was nothing sinister in my motives, I assure you. But we cannot continue our journey with this distrust between us.”