Page 24 of The Lyon’s Lass

“It’s my understanding that men have urges and needs that he would normally sate with a wife. Am I wrong to assume those needs would still arise when you are thousands of miles away?” His wife was nothing if not practical. He would have praised her bravery for tackling such a difficult subject if he wasn’t focused on how he might shift the topic to something far easier to discuss.

Instead he struggled to find words to say in much the same way he did when trying to wrangle words on a page.

“Oh. Uh.” For the life of him, he didn’t know how to answer that question. He looked out at the water only taking a breath to contemplate jumping overboard to get away from having to speak about this.

“I am not a schoolgirl. I know the ways of men and women.”

His brows pulled together as he heard himself ask, “How do you know?”

She shook her head.

“I’m chaste. It’s just that my best friend is a married woman and she shared plenty.”

“I see.” He rubbed his beard as he considered what to say. “Women have needs as well.” He didn’t know why he thought it pertinent to point that out, but he did. “You may wish to take a lover while I’m gone.”

Her face almost looked sun-kissed with the pink rising beyond her cheeks. He hid a smile.

“I can’t say what will happen years from now. I have no plans to do so, but I guess a life is not fully lived until you have experienced such things, and it’s true I may want to see what it’s like.”

He’d said it to tease her, he hadn’t planned on her agreeing. He pushed his anger down for it wasn’t as if she had been untrue. She only planned to. Or if not planned, she was leaving her mind open to the possibility. It was more than he wanted to think about, but she was right. It wasn’t fair of him to take her to wife and then leave her alone.

If they had married under different circumstances, he would feel like the villain. But she knew his plans when she’d agreed to marry him. She’d chosen him under these conditions.

But had she chosen him or just taken the only option available? A woman like her would have preferred to marry for love if it had been possible. She was desperate and simply took the only option offered.

“I’m sorry.”

“It is as we’d discussed. I shouldn’t be upset about the situation.”

Saying she shouldn’t be upset wasn’t the same as saying she wasn’t upset. Rather than apologize again, or make promises he couldn’t keep, he offered the truth.

“I can’t say what will happen. I’m not a man who takes a woman at every port, but I have been known to partake on occasion. If you are asking me to be faithful to my vows, I would do so.”

“I would have no way of knowing if you remained true.”

“You would have my word.”

“Of course. I didn’t mean any disrespect. I have no right to anything more than what we had agreed upon. You offered a safe home for my brother and me. That was all I had hoped for when we’d married.”

She was a sensible lass, but he could tell she was unhappy with the situation already. To be honest, he didn’t like the idea of leaving her to the rest of her life without him either, but he didn’t say anything.

He was a captain. That’s all he knew how to do. His life was on the sea, breathing in the salty air and looking out at the stars from his bed. He’d not be content being Lord Kesson. That was not who he was. It was not anything he’d ever thought to be. But then he’d never thought to be a husband either.

Iain was spared from having to say anything more, when Jack came up and began speaking to his sister with his hands.

Thank you, Jack.

Chapter Eleven

They arrived in Aberdeen late that evening. Maisy was nearly swaying with exhaustion as the carriages were loaded to take them up the coast to Kesson Castle.

She looked for her husband to find him unloading their trunks himself. She was not naïve enough to think there weren’t plenty of men on that ship who could have seen to their luggage.

It was clear, her husband was avoiding her.

She’d not thought him a coward, but the way he’d managed to evade her the rest of the day after she’d raised a topic he clearly wasn’t comfortable discussing, proved otherwise.

She’d only wanted to know what to expect. After their kiss the night before, she’d waited in his bed for him to come to their room. She’d hoped to have a proper night with her husband, but he’d not come to her.