She owed him the very breath in her body. If augh’ should happen to me, wait until my men overtake you and show them this. She remembered how he’d willingly offered up his life to save hers when the French had attacked. She remembered the feel of his skin beneath her fingers, the hot shock of his kiss. She remembered Iain’s kindness, the way he’d kept her warm at night. And she could go on living as Annie Burns.īut then she thought of Master and Mistress Hawes and the lies she’d told Iain. Iain would suffer the terrible punishment that Lord William, not she, had decreed for him. If she refused Lord William, she could walk away with her virtue intact, knowing she had done all she could honorably do for Iain’s sake. Hadn’t she fled her uncle’s hall to preserve her virtue? Hadn’t she suffered gaol and branding and exile rather than surrender her virginity to any man’s misuse? Could she now yield her maidenhead to Lord William, knowing that lying with him would strip her of her innocence and reveal her brand, leaving her subject to his whim? “If I cut the number of lashes in half, would you be willing to offer me the pleasure of your company tomorrow evening?”Īnnie felt dizzy, sick, her mind racing. Was he asking for her virtue? “Wh-what would you have me do, m-my lord?” As for the rest-what are you prepared to offer me in exchange for leniency toward the major?”Īnnie could not believe what she was hearing. “I give you leave to take him food, water, and a blanket. He reached down, clasped her cold fingers, drew her to her feet. How far would she go to help Major MacKinnon? There was one way to find out. “You ask much.” William found himself wondering what had happened out there in the forest. “Please, my lord, spare him the lash, I pray you, and suffer me to take him food and a blanket tonight.”
“Rise, Miss Burns.” William was surprised to find that her pleading gesture made him feel uncomfortable. Then she had called him by his courtesy title-“my lord”-a title of which she should know nothing.Ĭlearly, she recognized him from somewhere.
The blood had drained from her face, and he’d thought for a moment she would faint. Then there was the way she had reacted when she’d first seen him. In fact, her choice of words indicated some level of education that ought to have been beyond her family’s means. And though her speech was clearly Scottish, it was not the heavy accent he’d expect from an illiterate villager. The last time he’d seen a woman curtsy like that, he’d been in Williamsburg at the governor’s mansion. No, it was her manner that drew his attention.
0 kommentar(er)
