Page 104 of Dark Seduction

“Wait!” she cried, hurrying after him.

He suddenly whirled to face her, standing by a window that overlooked the western hills. “Ye disobey me another time?” he asked dangerously.

Claire tensed, but her heart slammed with joy and desire. “Malcolm.” She cupped his cheek, causing his eyes to widen. “I know you are angry. But I couldn’t go to the abbey and twiddle my thumbs while you are hunting Sibylla with Moray here!”

He jerked away from her hand. “Will ye ever obey me?”

She inhaled. “I can’t take orders from you if I do not agree. I am not a medieval woman. I am not like Glenna or Isabel. You can’t expect me to be.”

“Ye think I dinna ken? Yer like no woman I have ever met!”

“Do you really want me to be weak, mindless and dependent?” she cried.

He stared, mouth hard. “Nay,” he finally said, looking as if it killed him to admit it.

There was hope. “Malcolm, why can’t agree on an action together? Why can’t we sit down and discuss plans and come to terms that way?”

It was a moment before he spoke. “Ye wish fer us to be our own parliament?”

“Yes,” she whispered, praying he might finally understand. “Malcolm, you were raised to give orders like a king. I was raised to think for myself, to make my own decisions.”

She felt him finally considering her words.

“I know you understand compromise. You negotiate with other lords, and your enemies, all the time.”

“Aye. I do.” He folded his arms across her chest. “But we be in battle now, Claire.” His tone was calm. “In battle, every man in my command obeys me.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Point taken. I’ll obey you while we’re in battle. I’ll even obey you at court, if you agree that we’re from different times, and that you cannot treat me like you do other women. If you agree that we will be our own parliament. No more orders, Malcolm. We make important decisions together!”

He stared thoughtfully. “’Tis quite a talent, lass, that ye have.” He softened. “Yer too clever fer a maid.”

Claire waited, forgetting to breathe.

“Agreed. Ye give yer word. I give mine.”

She could not believe that they had crossed over the biggest cultural gulf separating them. She hadn’t gotten everything she wanted, but this was a beginning. “I’ll write it in blood, if you want,” she teased. She realized she was happy. A maelstrom of evil awaited them, and she wanted to cling to this brief respite.

“Ye spilled enough blood at Awe.” He sobered. “How did ye convince Aidan to bring ye here?”

She decided to ignore the question. This was not the time to espouse Aidan’s cause. “Isabel is here, Malcolm. Moray brought her. I don’t know what he intends.” Dread arose, huge and swift.

“Ye ken what he wants. He wants to use her against Aidan and he wants pleasure in death.”

Claire felt ill. “Aidan wanted to take her back to Awe, maybe to Iona, but the queen has ordered her to wait on her tonight. Maybe that will save her from Moray.”

Malcolm gave her an odd look. “The queen is a lusty woman, Claire. She takes many lovers, and the gossip is that she even enjoys the services of her ladies.”

“She likes women?” Claire gasped.

“Nay, she likes pleasure, an’ she has had many men in her bed. Isabel will have to wait on her queen. It may save her life.”

Claire simply stared into his eyes, shaken. The injustice of the medieval world was glaring at them both. No one had rights. Freedom did not exist. Everyone was at the whim of tyranny.

The midday bells began to toll. And chills crept up and down Claire’s spine. Malcolm’s eyes hardened. She whirled.

Sibylla had entered the north end of the gallery. She obviously had sensed their presence, because she approached in her crimson velvet gown, trailing her embroidered sleeves. Her eyes gleamed.

Claire’s heart turned over. That demon had taken her life. It had been sexual—and she had wanted more.