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

you’ve chosen to consort with that whore rather than your wife.” She stamped her foot. “Worse, you openly show your lust for that woman. Do you know how much your actions humiliate me? And yet you refuse my request to retire to a nunnery?”
    His grip clamped tighter. “Must I repeat?” He shook her until her teeth rattled. “You are mine . I will use you as I please and you will be staying at Mingary.”
    I hate him .
    Helen closed her eyes and forced her mind to go to a place of serenity. “The position you have placed me in has become untenable,” she uttered in a low voice. “If you cannot at least make your advances toward your leman subtle, I’ll have no recourse but to take Maggie and head to the sanctuary of Iona.”
    She didn’t even see the next slap coming, it was delivered with such vehement force. Her face instantly hot, pain seared across her face and Helen blinked in rapid succession as tears stung her eyes.
    “You will not threaten me. I’ve an alliance to make with the lass,” he growled, giving her another teeth rattling shake. “If you attempt to take my daughter from Mingary, I will hunt you down and kill you.”
    Helen’s tongue slipped to the corner of her mouth, met with the iron taste of blood. He had not only broken the code of chivalry, he was the vilest man she could imagine. So now he threatens murder? She shuddered.
    He leaned into her with a sickly sneer stretching his lips. “But it won’t be an easy death. I’ll make sure you suffer for a very long time.”
    A sense of calm precluded her panic. She looked from his right hand to his left. “Release me.” Her voice was lower than she’d ever heard it. “Lest you give me cause to seek an annulment—”
    “A woman , appeal to the Pope?” he bellowed with a hideous laugh, but his grip eased.
    Helen jolted from his steely fingers and darted for the door. “Guard! Help!” She flung it wide and hurtled into the passageway.
    Grant ran toward her, his sword drawn. “M’lady—”
    “Do not let him touch me.” Helen picked up her skirts and dashed past the guard.
    “You were brought to Mingary to increase my wealth and to produce my heir! And you’ve woefully failed on the second account.” Aleck’s voice resounded through the stone passageway. Then he bellowed another taunting laugh. “After all this time, do you still have imaginings of love and sailing off into sunsets, like the stories in those ridiculous books you read?”
    Helen clapped her hands over her ears to block Aleck’s tirade and ran for the solace of the beach. She ran to the only place in God forsaken Ardnamurchan where she could be alone. Once outside the bailey walls, a brisk wind cut through her gown, but Helen could scarcely feel the cold. The entire time she’d been in Aleck’s solar, she’d maintained her composure, but now, free from his brutality, she couldn’t stop her tears as sobs wracked her body.
    ***
    Eoin rubbed his hand over the worn timbers of his galley. The boat was in need of a good refit. At the very least, he and his men must patch the joins with pitch to ensure they had no problems when they sailed north. He walked around the outer hull, making a mental note of weak spots that could possibly give them trouble. There was nothing more damning than a bloody leak in the midst of a squall in the North Sea.
    He straightened at the sound of a woman’s wail sailing past on the wind—an eerie sound. Most likely it was a seagull, but Eoin stooped and peered beneath the curve of galley’s stern, looking in the direction of the noise. Lady Helen ran across the stony beach with her hands clapped to her face. Then she climbed a small outcropping and disappeared behind the rocks.
    What the devil?
    It didn’t surprise him that she was upset. Any man would have challenged Sir Aleck to a brawl had they been insulted in the way Lady Helen had endured last eve. Eoin straightened and swiped a hand across his mouth. He had no business