The Scottish Bride - Catherine Coulter [74]
Mary Rose just shook her head. “I don’t love Erickson, I never have. You’re quite wrong about his feelings for me, else why would he try to rape me?”
“Rape?” Donnatella actually laughed—such a sweet sound, Mary Rose thought. How jarring it was with that awful word that had come trippingly off her tongue.
“Yes, rape. He has tried twice. Thank heaven I managed to get away from him both times.”
“I’ve heard,” Donnatella said, lowering her voice to a near whisper, pulling close to Mary Rose’s ear, “that he is a splendid lover. He has bedded several women in the village, and believe me, they smile like loons when he leaves them.” She gave a delicate shiver. “Perhaps you should simply trust him, Mary Rose. Let him have you. Enjoy him, use him. Men are ever so easy when it comes to that. I will teach you how to do it.”
“I have never felt the slightest desire to let him make love to me. Really, Donnatella, I cannot imagine such a thing.” She frowned, looking toward the now lowering sun through the windows. “I don’t understand why he wants to marry me. It makes no sense. I am a bastard. He truly did try to rape me. He isn’t a good man to so easily want to do that.”
“A man in love may be excused many things,” Donnatella said. “A man in love, I have always believed, is singularly stupid. Perhaps I should offer him my assistance in bringing you around. It would be far more efficient.”
“I would that you not, Donnatella.”
Donnatella laughed. “Yes, men in love—or in lust—it is one and the same to all of them. I have seen it several times now. It is really quite amusing to watch. However, Erickson spoke to you earlier. He saw you looking like this, and he still wants to marry you. Doesn’t that convince you that he is blinded by his feelings for you?”
“No.”
Donnatella walked to the long row of windows. She flung one of them open and leaned out. “I have always loved Kildrummy Castle. I knew when I was a little girl that I belonged here, that it had to be mine someday. Isn’t it strange how everything worked out? I thought to marry Ian and be mistress here, but then Ian died. So senseless the way he died. Now there is another master here, and he isn’t married. It’s as if he came here, knowing I was close, knowing this was always what I wanted. I thank God that the vicar is so very handsome. Have you noticed his eyes? They are an incredible blue. He also appears not to have a patch of fat on him, and that is a wonderful thing.” Donnatella turned to look at Mary Rose, who was sitting on the bed, her arms clasped around her knees.
Donnatella went on, “I will think about all this. I will spend time with Lord Barthwick. I will watch him become stupid because he lusts after me. Isn’t that a thought? A vicar, lusting after a woman. Is that even possible? However, I cannot imagine being the mother of a little girl who is only half my age.”
“He also has two little boys, Max and Leo. They are nine and seven.”
Donnatella arched a perfect brow. “Three children? I had no idea that a vicar indulged himself so generously in the marriage bed. I wonder what his wife was like. Has he said anything about her?”
“No.”
“Oh, well, she’s dead, no longer important at all. I think you should come home with me right now, Mary Rose. If you are afraid that Erickson is lurking about Vallance Manor, ready to grab you and haul you away, why, then, I will protect you. You can even sleep in my bed. I won’t let him come near you. Does that make you feel safe?”
Mary Rose felt her heart begin to pound, fast, hard strokes. Donnatella wanted her back at Vallance Manor? Why, for heaven’s sake? Slowly, she just shook her head. “I cannot.”
“So you will remain and ruin the poor vicar’s reputation?”
There was a knock on the door. Mary Rose wanted to run to the door and let whoever it was in, quickly, so she would not