Highland Knight of Rapture (Highland Dynasty Book 4) by Amy Jarecki Page A

toward him. They were finally behind closed doors and she would confront him. “I shall tell you why. Because you have never cared for me. You haven’t given me an iota of respect since the day I came to Mingary. Last eve you couldn’t even pay me a compliment for ensuring the meal was prepared and plentiful for forty unexpected men.”
    “You overstep your bounds.” His gravelly voice deepened.
    She allowed his threatening tenor to embolden her. “Do I? Am I never allowed my say?”
    Aleck’s eyes growing darker, he sauntered forward like a man bent on violence. Her husband had never struck her before—would he now?
    Though Helen trembled from head to toe, she refused to flee. “I’ve kept this keep in good order for five years and I’ve never once heard a word of thanks from you. And yet you have the audacity to call me foolhardy.” Her chin ticked up. “I daresay, I’m not the foolish party in this room.”
    “Watch yourself—you will push me too far.” He stepped within a hand’s breadth, towering over her small frame.
    Her heart hammered so hard her temples throbbed. “There you go, using your size to threaten me. Isn’t that always the way?” Helen met his gaze. “You will not coerce me into submission this day. You claim you want a son? I have healed from birthing Maggie and am again ready to conceive.” The thought of lying with the brute turned her stomach sour.
    His hand darted out and clamped on to her shoulder and he regarded her with a menacing glare. “Would you like me to bend you over the table now?”
    “Och, aye?” she taunted with a sneer of her own, calling his bluff. “You choose to treat your wife like a whore?” Helen twisted from under his grasp and skittered backward. “You find Mary so much more attractive than I? What is it you prefer about that woman? Her enormous breasts? Her gargantuan backside?”
    Aleck’s eyes narrowed. “Curb your vulgar tongue, woman!” Faster than the strike of an asp, he slapped her face.
    Reeling back, Helen drew her fingers over the stinging cheek, blinking in rapid succession to clear her vision. “How dare you raise your hand against me?” Gracious, he’d hit her so hard, her teeth wouldn’t meet as if he’d knocked her jaw out of alignment.
    He closed the gap. Helen turned to flee, but his arm clamped around her midsection. He tugged up her skirts. “I’ll show you who is lord and master in this castle.”
    Shrieking, Helen twisted and fought to flee, but he held her in a viselike grip. The arm around her waist clenched so taut, she could scarcely draw a breath. With a gasp she threw all her weight against him. “You think I am daft?” she screamed.
    He grunted against her writhing attempts to burst free. But that did nothing to allay his powerful grip around her waist while he savagely tugged up her skirts.
    Regardless of his oafish brutality, her tongue would not be quelled. Helen would speak her mind and damn the consequences. She twisted enough to manage a deep breath. “You would prefer to be whoring with a vindictive, immoral wench?”
    Alex dropped her skirt. Fastening his fingers around her jaw, he twisted her head to face him. He pressed his lips to her ear. “Mary was my leman long before you arrived at Mingary.” His tone took on a deadly growl. “You have no right to speak ill of her. The widow went through hell after she lost her husband.”
    Hit with the ominous shock of the depth of her plight, Helen stopped struggling. Her head swooned. “You have been intimate with that woman throughout the duration of our marriage?”
    He released his arm and spun her around, sinking his fingers in to her shoulders. “That is none of your concern.”
    By his deadpan glare, Helen knew he had never been faithful to their marriage bed. He sickened her. Though her face throbbed from his slap and his unyielding fingers dug into her flesh, she could not refrain from her tirade. “Even though I am able to conceive again,