A Nightmare Marriage Read online

  “I’ve just had word from Angus, riders are heading towards the castle,” he said to her. “He believes from the banners their flying that they may be from Dunnottar.”

  “From Dunnottar?” she questioned, “are you sure? Why would they come now after all this time?”

  “You need to remember, Fiona,” Jacqueline said to her, “Logan was unwell yet when you left.”

  “What would you have me do?” Caiden asked her. “I’d like to run him through with my sword for what was done to you.”

  “Nay, Da,” Fiona said. “I’ve come to realize that Logan had nothing to do with that. He wasn’t even conscious during that time from what little Brody told me.”

  “So you want to speak with him?” Caiden asked.

  “I need to, Da,” Fiona said. “I at least have to tell him about the babe we created.”

  “Fair enough, daughter,” Caiden said, “and if he demands you return to Dunnottar with him?”

  “I won’t live there again,” Fiona said. “Not with his brother causing trouble for me all the time.”

  “If I ever see Gregor Stewart again, you can bet he won’t live long,” Caiden told her.

  “I’ll be down in a few minutes, Da,” Fiona said.

  “Fiona?” Caiden called to her, “I regret every day making you marry the man. Were you ever happy there with him?”

  “I was, Da,” Fiona said to him. It was the first time he had asked about her time away. “In fact, I thought for a short time; I could be very happy there. Maybe even learn to love it as much as Tarmon.”

  “And your husband?” Caiden asked.

  “I thought I was beginning to love him too,” Fiona said sadly. “He was never cruel to me. In fact, he was very kind and loyal,” she wiped a tear from her cheek, “and I thought he was coming to care for me too.”

  “He’s here,” was all Caiden said in reply, hearing the sound of horses in the keep. He had been afraid to hear about her time away and had put off asking. After seeing her reaction to his questions, Caiden concluded, his daughter was in love with her husband. Maybe he wouldn’t run the lad through with his sword just yet.

  Caiden and Connor waited in the hall for the men from Dunnottar to enter. They were joined not long after by Fiona, Edith and Jacqueline. Alastair McCabe was also there; he had decided to stay a bit longer to visit with his sister and her family before returning to Gleann as the rest of the McCabe’s had a sennight before. The McCarthy’s had gone home to Tioram.

  “You should have waited upstairs,” Connor said to his wife and sister.

  “I want to hear what he has to say,” Fiona told her brother.

  “I’m here to make sure you don’t do anything stupid, husband,” Jacqueline said to him, making both Caiden and Alastair smirk.

  “What do you mean stupid?” Connor asked her.

  “I wouldn’t want you to kill the man before he has a chance to explain what happened,” Jacqueline said.

  “The thought did cross my mind,” Connor admitted.

  “Mine too, son,” Caiden said, slapping his son on the back, “but your sister wants an explanation, so we’ll let him give one.”

  “And then I can kill him?” Connor asked, only half joking, but making all three women giggle.

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Jacqueline said, grinning at him.

  Logan and Brody entered the hall quietly, seeing both their woman standing in the room anticipating their arrival. They weren’t sure if it was a good sign or bad since neither looked happy to see them.

  “Fiona,” Logan said, walking towards her. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

  “Stop right there, Stewart,” Connor said, stepping between him and his sister. “You’ll keep your distance while we talk.”

  Logan sighed, seeing the looks on all the Fraser’s faces, he couldn’t blame them. “Just tell me you’re alright then?”

  “I’m fine now,” Fiona said to him. “I wasn’t when I returned home.”

  “I’m sorry for what happened to you,” Brody explained. “I swear to you, Lady Fiona; I told the men to make sure you were well cared for.”

  “Did I look well cared for?” Fiona asked him.

  “Nay, Lady Fiona you did not,” Brody said truthfully. “For that, I may never forgive myself. I was more concerned at the time with Logan than I was with your well-being. I’ll have to live with that decision for the rest of my life.”

  “Come sit,” Caiden said, motioning to a large table that had been set up. Soon everyone was seated, with the three woman placed protectively in between Caiden and Connor Fraser.

  “Are you well now?” Fiona asked Logan quietly.

  “I am,” he said, “although it took a long time to heal.”

  “Do you still think I was the one who shot that arrow?” Fiona asked.

  “I never thought that, Fiona,” Logan said to her, leaning forward in his seat and looking straight at her. “I know you would never hurt me.”

  “Have you learned who the real culprit was?” Caiden asked.

  “We have,” Logan said, sighing. “Gregor and Isobel set up the whole thing.”

  “Your brother?” Connor asked, shocked.

  “Aye,” Logan explained, “my only brother. It seems Isobel convinced him that he could be the next Laird if they eliminated me. She told Gregor she was carrying his babe, and that the babe deserved to be laird one day.”

  “Where is Gregor now?” Connor asked, wanting to kill the man even more than when they’d first arrived.

  “He’s dead,” Logan said matter of factly.

  Fiona gasped, “how?” she asked.

  “When he found out that he had been set up by Isobel, he jumped to his death,” Logan said.

  “How did she set him up?” Fiona asked.

  “The babe she carries isn’t Gregor’s either,” Logan told them. “It belongs to my cousin Lachlan. It seems Lachlan told her he’d be back to marry her before he went after Ross McCabe’s wife. Of course, it was all a lie.”

  “Oh my,” Jacqueline said. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “I’m not,” Connor said.

  “It was his brother, Connor,” Jacqueline said to her husband. “No matter what he did, that doesn’t make losing him any easier.”

  “Where’s Isobel now?” Fiona asked.

  “She’s been locked in the prison in Edinburgh until her babe is born,” Logan again explained. “Once the babe is born, it’ll be returned to Dunnottar to be raised, Isobel will be executed.”

  “Who’ll raise the babe?” Fiona asked.

  “I haven’t figured it all out yet,” Logan told her. “But the babe is a Stewart and belongs at Dunnottar.”

  “It does,” Fiona quickly agreed.

  “You’re a Stewart too,” Logan told her, “I’d like you to come home also.”

  “I don’t know if I can go back there, Logan,” Fiona said. “The villagers will still blame me for your injury.”

  “Nay,” Logan assured her, “they won’t. Isobel’s trial was open to all of Dunnottar. They are all aware of what she did and that you did nothing.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable around your guards again,” Fiona said.

  “Those that listened to Gregor and mistreated you have been disciplined,” Logan said, then added, “harshly.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Fiona said, “but I need some time.”

  “And what about you, Edith?” Brody said. “We were supposed to marry a sennight ago. Will you return?”

  “I go where Lady Fiona goes,” Edith said.

  “Then I hope she decides to return,” Brody told her. “I miss you.”

  Edith just nodded, she didn’t want to admit to the man that she missed him too. “I’ll think about it too.”

  “I sent a messenger to Tioram,” Logan said after a few minutes, “asking Seamus and Blair to come home. If he agrees, I’ll make him your guard again.”

  “I’d like that,” Fiona
said. “Seamus and Blair were the only true friends I had at Dunnottar.”

  “That’s not true, Lady Fiona,” Brody said. “I know I had to follow Gregor’s orders when I had you locked up, but I did try to make things easier on you. Even though it was your arrow, I had gotten to know you, and I had doubts that you were the one who shot it.”

  “You’re both welcome to stay,” Caiden said. “Lady Jacqueline will surely have rooms ready for you.”

  “I do, Da,” Jacqueline said. She’d had the maids ready rooms as soon as she’d heard the riders were spotted.

  “Will you walk with me, Fiona?” Logan asked her.

  “I will,” Fiona said. Logan got up and extended his hand to her, helping her out of the chair. It felt good to touch her again as she laid her hand in his.

  “Edith?” Brody said, also offering his hand. Edith tentatively accepted, walking out of the hall with Brody.

  Logan and Fiona walked quietly at first. Logan just felt right having her on his arm, he kept his hand on top of hers, making sure she didn’t let go.

  “Are you sure you’re well?” Logan asked. “Something looks different about you.”

  “I am different,” Fiona told him, “I’m going to have a babe in the early summer.”

  “A bairn?” Logan asked.

  “Aye,” Fiona said.

  Logan dropped down to his knees on the ground in front of her. “Please come home, Fiona,” he began, “Dunnottar isn’t the same without you.”

  “I don’t know, Logan,” Fiona said. “Where have you been the last month? I thought you might come for me sooner.”

  “I was healing, wife,” Logan said. “Then I found out about Gregor and Isobel and had to handle that. I came as soon as I could. I love you, Fiona; please come home.”

  “I want to,” Fiona said. “I’m just scared to go back.”

  “Do you fear me?” Logan asked her, still kneeling on the ground in front of her.

  “Never,” she quickly said. “I was happy with you for a fortnight, Logan before everything went wrong. I was even beginning to think we could have a good marriage.”

  “You can be happy there again,” Logan said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to come back home with me. Just tell me what’ll make you happy.”

  “I’ll think about, Logan,” she said, “I really will.”

  “I’d really like to kiss you right now, wife,” Logan said, standing up and staring at her lips.

  “Aye, please,” was all Fiona said as his lips came down on hers.

  Logan kissed her breathless. Sliding his tongue between her lips and into her mouth where he touched it to her own. He pulled her closer until she could feel his hardening cock pressing against her stomach.

  Fiona didn’t know what was wrong with her. She couldn’t get close enough to her husband. She wasn’t even sure she’d stop him if he tried to take her right there in the garden next to the castle. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

  “Come home,” he said, breaking the kiss, he then added teasingly, “don’t make me have to spank you into agreeing.”

  Fiona felt her cunny become wet with those words; she thought about it for just a second before saying, “aye, please.”

  Logan looked at her for just a moment before picking her up in his arms, “which way to your chambers?” he asked.

  “Up the stairs and to the left,” she said giggling. Neither even looked at anyone else as Logan carried her through the hall. Caiden, Connor and Jacqueline were sitting in chairs by the fireplace playing with the almost one-year-old twins as they passed, oblivious to anyone else.

  “What the..” Connor began to say.

  “Leave them be, husband,” Jacqueline said, putting her hand on his arm. “She loves him; she just hasn’t admitted it yet.”

  They watched as the giggling couple made their way quickly up the stairs. Edith and Brody burst through the door seconds later.

  “Do you have a priest in residence?” Brody asked Caiden, pulling Edith along with him.

  “We do,” Caiden answered.

  “Do you think he’d perform a wedding at dusk?” Brody asked.

  “I haven’t agreed to marry you yet,” Edith said.

  “You will,” Brody said to her.

  “I’ll talk to the priest,” Jacqueline said, hiding her grin from Edith. She’d listened to the maid cry for a month about missing this man. She knew the wedding would go on as planned.

  “Thank you, Lady Jacqueline,” Brody said, “now I just need some privacy to persuade my bride.” He flipped Edith over his shoulder and carried her up the stairs to the chamber he’d been given for the night.

  “Should we stop him?” Connor asked his wife.

  “Nay,” Jacqueline said. “She loves the man, come on husband, we have a wedding to prepare for.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on the twins,” Caiden said, shaking his head at the madness he’d witnessed that last few minutes.

  “Thanks, Da,” Jacqueline said, giving the man a kiss on the cheek before heading off to the kirk, Connor was right behind her.

  Brody entered the room he’d been given to use, he closed the door and slid the lock into place before setting Edith down. “We can’t be in here alone,” she said to him, “people will talk.”

  “Let them talk,” Brody said. “We’ll be married by the end of the day anyway.”

  “Who says I’m going to marry you?” Edith asked him, placing her hands on her hips.

  “I do,” Brody said, he pulled her to him and kissed her hard. Edith fought him at first, then slowly relaxed in his arms as he deepened the kiss.

  “I couldn’t believe you left Dunnottar without even saying goodbye,” Brody said to her. “Do you know how worried I’ve been about you?”

  “If I had told you what I’d planned on doing, you wouldn’t have let me go,” Edith said.

  “You didn’t give me a chance,” Brody said to her. “I had no idea Lady Fiona was being treated so badly.”

  “That’s what you say now,” Edith said to him. “At the time, I wasn’t sure where your loyalties lie.”

  “You doubted me?” he asked her.

  “I doubted everyone,” she answered.

  “But you’ll marry me now,” he stated, not asking.

  “I’m not sure what I’ll do,” she said to him.

  “Do you love me, Edith?” he asked her.

  “I do,” she said.

  “And I love you,” he said, “so you’ll marry me.”

  “I can’t just leave Lady Fiona, you oaf,” Edith said.

  Brody sat down in a chair and pulled Edith down over his knee, more playful than threatening. He lifted not only her skirt but the shift she had on underneath, baring her.

  “You can’t bare me, Brody,” Edith said.

  “I’ll be seeing all of you in a few hours,” Brody said. “Tell me you’ll marry me.” He gave her a few playful spanks, just enough to sting. Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack, smack.

  “I’ll not answer you in this position,” Edith said, although she giggled as she said it.

  “Tell me you’ll marry me,” Brody said, smacking her playfully again. Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack, smack.

  “I can’t think like this,” Edith said again.

  “Tell me you’ll marry me,” Brody repeated. Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack, smack. By the last smack, Edith was raising her hips up to meet each swat. Brody was intrigued, he let his hand wander between her thighs, letting his fingers brush against her cunny, which was already damp. He let one finger push its way through her folds as he pushed it up inside her.

  “Brody,” Edith said softly, “what are you doing to me?”

  “Tell me you’ll marry me, sweet Edith, and I’ll make you feel like this every night,” Brody said, pulling his finger out and running it up to her clit, where he swirled it around the hardening nub there.

  “Oh, Brody,” Edith moaned, not sure what was happening.

&n
bsp; “Tell me you’ll marry me,” he said one last time, as he thrust his thumb up into her opening and worked her clit vigorously with his fingers, feeling her convulse as her cunny tighten around his intruding digit. He slowed his motions down and let her relax over his knee, rubbing her pinkened arse cheeks.

  “I’ll marry you,” Edith said. “I must be crazy, but I’ll marry you.” Brody let out a large whoop, flipped Edith up onto his lap and once again kissed her hard.

  **********

  Fiona let Logan carry up to the room she had always slept in at Tarmon. Once inside he gently put her down, she closed and bolted the door behind them. “Kiss me,” Logan said to her as soon as she turned around. He pulled her into his arms and brought his lips down on hers more forceful than he ever had before. “I missed you so much,” he said to her, breaking the kiss.

  “I was hoping you’d come for me,” Fiona admitted, wrapping her arms around his neck. “When you weren’t here in a month, I thought maybe you didn’t want me anymore.”

  “I’ll always want you, wife,” Logan said to her. “I love you, Fiona, more than anything else in this world.”

  “Do you mean it?” she asked him.

  “I do,” Logan said. “The morning I was injured, I was thinking about you. I’d just realized how much you meant to me. I was going to tell you that night.”

  “I love you too,” she said to him.

  “Thank god,” Logan said. “I was wondering if you were ever going to say it.”

  “Maybe you should spank me for holding out so long,” Fiona said, giggling.

  “I don’t want to hurt the baby,” Logan said to her.

  “Your spanking me,” Fiona said, smiling, “not the baby.”

  “Come here you,” Logan said, unfastening her dress and letting it fall to the floor around her feet. He then reached down and grabbed her shift pulling it up over her head, leaving her standing naked in front of him. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  “I think you’re exaggerating,” Fiona said to him.

  “Don’t think, woman,” Logan said, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting a pillow down across his lap. “Come lay across my knee, Fiona.” Fiona did as he asked, she loved the playful spanking game.

  “Now,” Logan said, rubbing her arse gently. “Let’s talk about you leaving me.” Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack, smack.