Black Richard's Heart (The MacCulloughs #1) - Suzan Tisdale Page 0,14
he asked through gritted teeth, “Why on earth would I do such a thing?” Then it occurred to him that her family must have put these silly notions in her head. “Whatever yer family told ye about me, lass, I can assure ye it be naught but lies. I would never lock ye away.”
The relief in her eyes, in her countenance, was quite evident. Her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly as she let out a long, slow breath. “Then I would be free to walk around yer keep?”
“Aye,” he replied, curious as to why she would think otherwise.
“And I could go out of doors whenever I wished?”
“Aye, as long as it is safe.”
“Safe?” she asked.
He smiled warmly, amused for reasons he couldn’t understand. “As long as we were not under attack, then aye, ye could go out of doors whenever ye wished.”
Tears welled in those beautiful eyes, undoubtedly pleased with his answers. He wanted to strangle her father for putting such notions in her head. Beat her? Lock her away? What else, he wondered, had the bastard told her?
“M’laird, David has given me a choice,” she swallowed back tears before going on. “He is allowin’ me the choice of marryin’ ye or nae.”
His amusement was gone in the span of a heartbeat. “How generous,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“But I think the choice should be yers.”
Caught off guard, he asked, “Mine?”
Pulling back her shoulders, as if she were preparing herself for a harsh rebuke, or something worse, she said, “I ken I would not be yer first choice in a wife. I am not any man’s first choice in a wife.”
He found that rather difficult to believe. But before he could put to voice his opinion, she went on.
“I am quite certain ye have many other women ye could marry,” she said with a lift of her chin. “Bonnier women than me. Women with the gift of good eyes.” She swallowed hard again. “I, however, have no such options. Therefore, I will give what David has given me, to ye. If ye do not wish to marry me, I will not hold it against ye. I would understand and will let David believe ’twas I who decided against the union. He will never be the wiser and ’tis a secret I would take to me grave.”
She sounded afraid, but what could one expect under the circumstances? She was a beautiful young woman asked to marry a mangled, hardened warrior nearly twice her age. Black Richard wondered then, why she wasn’t already married? Were her parents so overly protective they could not bear to part with her? ’Twas possible. There was also the possibility that she had already given her heart to another. Was there someone she loved but was being forced to set aside in order to marry him? The thought sickened him. Not only did he not wish to marry a MacRay, he didn’t want to marry a woman who would pine the rest of her days for another man.
“Why are ye not already married?” he asked. “By rights, ye should be, with a bairn on one hip and another on the way.”
Her skin paled as she pursed her lips together. “None will have me, m’laird. In case ye have forgotten, I cannae see verra well.”
Her reply stunned him. As did his heart’s response. It skidded to a halt. None would have her simply because she could not see?
“I am not comely to look upon either,” she added. “Those two things alone are enough to keep any man from askin’ for my hand.”
No comely to look upon? That made no sense to him. She had stolen his breath away the moment he had first seen her. He had to stop himself before he said something that would embarrass them both.
“So I give the choice to ye, m’laird. As I said before, I would not hold it against ye if ye wished to walk away.”
Walk away?
She was willingly giving the choice of marriage to him, for she thought he was getting the worst of the bargain.
He could say nay and walk away forever. Go back to his clan, to his lonely existence, and never see her again. But what then? The feuding would not stop. The constant raids on his lands, the cattle rieving would all continue, for the MacRay was a ruthless, thieving bastard. His clan could not afford any more raids. They were barely existing as it was.
“David had promised that no one will suffer should