Page 29 of The Rebellious Countess
Máira frown. “Business? I thought you already did your business with Hag.”
Her husband began to work his jaw and sat up while holding her biceps as he moved her to the side. “Are you injured?”
“No.” Yes, can’t you see my heart is bleeding out?
Elias got to his feet and then lifted her up to place her on a different bar stool that had all four legs intact.
“I expect you to pay for the stool. Clean-up is on me.”
Elias didn’t take his eyes off Máira as he responded to the tavern owner, who was grabbing a broom from behind the bar. “How generous of you, Hag.”
“I aim to please.” The woman’s voice took on a sing-song quality that grated her nerves.
Elias huffed his disbelief, but didn’t say a word to Hag. Instead, he addressed Máira. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“With my husband?” she asked with wide-eyed innocence.
“She has you there,” Hag interjected.
“Shut up,” Máira and Elias ground out in unison.
Hag laughed, and Máira heard the woman’s bodyguard chuckle before he cleared his throat in a poor attempt to cover his laughter.
“What did you hear?” Elias asked, as if the other two weren’t still in the room.
Máira crossed her arms over her chest, a motion that seemed to momentarily distract Elias as his gaze traveled to and lingered upon her breasts. His gaze turned her already heated response to him ablaze as her nipples hardened in anticipation of a wedding night that would never happen.
“Enough,” she said to herself as much as she did to him. She couldn’t afford the lingering attraction to a man who didn’t deserve her desire, let alone her heart. But as his eyes reluctantly left the heaving breaths she couldn’t seem to control, longing threatened to consume her, until his gaze met hers and every bit of emotion she’d witnessed in the past few moments was gone. Once again, she stood in front of the cold, ruthless pirate she didn’t know. His green gaze as vast and unrecognizable as the depths of Galloway Forest. It made her wonder if he was plotting seven different ways to kill her and dispose of her body.
He could wrap his large, masculine hands around her throat and squeeze, slowing cutting off her air supply as he gazed into her eyes and showed her nothing of the man she’d believed him to be. He could grab the bottle of Scotch and bash her over the head. Crack her skull like one of those watermelons Iseabail had introduced to them on their first visit to Caerlaverock Castle. He could grab Hag’s knife and stab her fractured heart.
Elias rolled his eyes. “I’m not plotting your murder.”
“No?” She lifted her chin in open defiance. “You said you wanted to be rid of me. What better way to do it?”
His eyebrow quirked and she could swear he was laughing at her. “Are you suggesting that Ishouldmurder you?”
“I—I?—”
He rubbed his chin as if he was contemplating it. “It would make my life much easier— your dowry would come in handy.”
“I knew it!” She punched him in the middle of his chest.
“Ow!” He backed up, but Máira slipped off the stool and pursued him.
“That’s the only reason you married me! You wanted my money! You blackguard!” Máira punched him a second time, but Elias didn’t seem to want to fight her. Instead, he held up his hands to protect himself. If she’d thought about it, that wasn’t the action of a man hellbent on murder. It was the action of aman who wouldn’t harm her. But this wasn’t the time to think, it was the time to act?—
A piercing whistle stopped her assault.
“He’s a spy.” Hag doused the blinding anger soaring through her body with that one declaration.
Elias froze.
Eyes widening, Máira’s head snapped in the barkeep’s direction. “Pardon me?”
Standing behind the bar, Hag busied herself pouring two drinks as if she were preparing glasses of Madeira at a small gathering of ladies in a parlor of a Mayfair townhouse, the latest gossip on the tip of her tongue. Like a seasoned gossip, she held her audience captivated with her silence. Her expression one of serene indifference. Máira was beginning to believe the woman had fifty different masks she wore to hide her true feelings and wondered what she would look like if she trusted a person. Máira glanced at her husband to find a death glare leveled on Hag.
Máira asked again, “What did you say?”
