The Scottish Bride - Catherine Coulter [60]
“I don’t want to see him. Please, Tysen, he will—”
Tysen touched his fingertips to her lips. “Let him speak, Mary Rose, and then that will be the end to it.”
“Yes,” she said slowly, “you’re perfectly right. I must speak to him and then it will be the end to it.” She drew a deep, steadying breath and said, “May I have some water first?”
“You’ll get through this in fine style.” He lifted her head and put the water glass to her lips. He thought he heard MacPhail say something, but he ignored him. When she’d finished drinking, she sighed and sat up as Tysen fluffed a pillow behind her. Meggie moved even closer to her now, snuggling against her side.
Mary Rose watched Erickson walk toward her, every step announcing his anger, his frustration, his absolute bafflement that a vicar was standing at his elbow and a ten-year-old girl was squeezed next to her on that huge bed. She wondered if he still saw her as the woman he fully intended to have. She realized that yes, he did. She wondered if more men were like him, believing that any woman they wished to have was theirs. She also knew that Meggie was giving him a look that clearly said she would leap on him if he tried anything. She felt immense gratitude for the little girl plastered to her side.
Erickson stopped at her bedside and stared down at her, not saying a word for a very long time. Then, “You have a black eye.”
“Yes,” Mary Rose said, and she was tempted to smile, but she didn’t.
“You are feeling all right, Mary Rose?”
He sounded like the man she’d known all her life, the man who had been her friend, so long ago, it seemed now. “Yes, just a bit sore. The fever is gone.”
Then he became what she’d expected, even though he tried to keep his voice calm, cajoling, just slightly scolding, as if she were a child. “You should never have jumped into that stream. You were swept away from me before I could do anything. I was very worried about you. I searched and searched, but I couldn’t find you. I was very frightened for you, Mary Rose. When I rode back, Primrose was gone, so I knew you were safe. You should never have jumped into that water.”
She said, very clearly, “I would jump into that stream again, without hesitation, if you were threatening me.”
He felt anger leap up, flame hot. He wanted to shake her, tell her that she shouldn’t go against him, but he couldn’t. He looked at the child, who was now even closer to Mary Rose than a minute before. He said formally, “Would you like me to escort you to Vallance Manor?”
Tysen thought she couldn’t become any more pale, but she did, and now she was utterly without color. Meggie squeezed even closer.
Mary Rose shook her head.
Erickson said, “Your aunt and uncle and, of course, Donnatella, are quite worried about you. They’re hurt that you felt you could not even come home, that you had to escape to this place.”
“What about my mother?”
“No one has told her anything. Your uncle doesn’t want to distress her.”
“How could I go into Vallance Manor when I saw your horse in front? After what you tried to do to me, do you honestly believe I would take the chance of walking into a house where you seemed perfectly at home? Into a house where, perhaps, you would feel free to abuse me again?”
“Abuse? Again? Nonsense. There was no abuse, Mary Rose. You are disremembering everything. You know I would not harm a single curly hair on your head. I asked you to marry me. I was a perfect gentleman. You put me off, you played the clever, elusive female. What was I to think? I was merely going to try to convince you that I wanted you, prove my sincerity to you, that’s all, but you decided to punish me, and you jumped into the water. I could not believe you did that. But now things are different. As soon as you are well again, we will wed. All you have to do now is accept me, and I will take you home.”
Mary Rose closed her eyes a moment. Something wasn’t right here. She opened her eyes and studied his face, but he looked just as he had a moment ago, all confident, a man clearly in charge, a very