Page 33 of The Laird's Dark Obsession

“Did ye mean what ye said?” she whispered to him as they twirled about.

“What did I say?” he questioned in a murmur.

“Yer vows.”

The words jolted something in him—she knew because he flinched.Hunterflinched at her words. It was slight, but theywere too close together for it to go undetected by her. Then, he sighed and swept her around in a close rotation and brought his lips to her ear. “My vows are nae promises of the present.”

Just like that, the heady spell she had been under was broken. All the hope she had been feeling over the course of the last day was nothing but foolish ambition.

Hunter still didn’t love her.

He might lust for her, but she wasn’t so immature as to mistake that for honest affection. A truth sat cold and heavy in her chest: he would never fully abandon his hatred for her. It would forever cast an ominous shadow over their marriage, and no matter efforts she put in, she would never be forgiven for her inaction of the past.

The crowds grew closer as partners began to switch, and as soon as Hunter and Kira’s hands parted to join the others in dance, she slipped away. Knitting her way through the crowd, Kira moved steadily so as not to draw too much attention to herself. Her mind was blank other than the sole objective to hurry back to her bedchamber, longing for solitude. And while she gained some odd glances as she moved down the corridors, no one bothered to stop her. She was the unwanted bride of Galbraith.

Unwanted by the clan, unwanted by her groom.

14

The doors to her bedchamber closed behind her and she hurried into the depths of her room, her breathing ragged and her hands shaking. Her irrational mind blamed the bodice, believing it to be too tight and restricting her air. As she fumbled with the ties and cursed under her breath, tears broke through her resolve. She was sobbing and tugging at her lace bodice and feeling completely hopeless. Kira Galbraith had just been ushered into the world and already she served no purpose. She couldn’t even undo her own bloody bodice with how much her hands trembled.

The doors opened and shut once again. Turning around, she gaped with wide eyes at Hunter standing there. She knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed by him that she had left, but she hadn’t expected him to follow. She quickly pivoted to hide her face from him, wiping at it vigorously to rid herself of the tears.

“Ye left the celebration,” he stated. It wasn’t accusatory or angry but simply a statement.

“Clearly,” she grumbled and sniffled. She didn’t deserve to feel embarrassed in a moment like that, but she couldn’t help it. There she was, trying to have a vulnerable moment alone, and she was confronted by the very man who caused it.

“Why?” he asked. His voice was much too gentle and her walls went up in response. She wasn’t going to be deceived by his sweet ways simply for him to fulfill his lustful desires.

“What’s there to celebrate?” she snapped. “That ye’ve spared my life and nae sent me back to my faither? Well, ye have my thanks for that but I’ll forgo any more dancing and merriment over our nuptials. Ye have appearances to uphold by partaking, and I understand that. I, on the other hand, do nae.”

“Ye do, as my wife,” he challenged, though his tone was gentle.

It was strange to hear him call her that. Wife… But she shook away the thought and paced away from him.

“Yer wife is a social pariah, dinnae think she should trouble herself much with the perception of others,” she muttered.

Sitting on the foot of her bed, she removed her shoes and kicked them to the side. Before she could do anything else to busy herself, she noticed him stalking toward her. Instinctively, she shot up and backed away from him.

She rounded the side of the bed and he was within a stride away from her. His eyes darkened and his face hardened. “Ye’ve been crying,” he said, finally able to get a good look at her.

When he reached out for her face, however, she moved away. He sighed and grabbed her wrist, but she shook him off. “Talk to me,” he urged.

She jutted a finger in his face then, rage and hurt consuming her body and taking control. “Ye dinnae get to do this, Hunter. Ye dinnae get to act like we are husband and wife when we are in name alone. We will never share the same closeness, the same intimacy as any other couple might aspire to because ye’ll always hate me.” Her chest was heaving from emotion and tears stung at her eyes, but she held them back as she glared coldly at him. “Yer loyalty to yer clan is the only thing ye’ll ever hold more dear than yer contempt for me.”

Hunter was silent, but he took steps forward. With each one he made, she retreated. They didn’t stop until she was backed against the wall next to the bed and he towered overhead, his hands placed on the wall on each side of her head to completely close her in.

“I cannae say ye’re wrong… but ye’re nae right either,” he said softly. “I no longer despise ye, Kira. Ye’ve willed it from me with a grace only known by Heaven and with strength I’ve only ever seen on the battlefield. But… to speak on my feelings more than that would be to lie. I dinnae ken what they are. I’ve spent many years now, hollowed out by vengeance and reshaped by wrath.”

There was a pause, his hazel eyes searching hers for a long moment. There were depths to those discs of forest hues that she was getting a glimpse at for the first time. The vulnerable man hid behind the armor he had built around himself.

“I no longer ken what love feels like. I… dinnae ken if I’m even capable of it anymore. But what I will give ye now and alwayshereafter is honesty. I will nae hide what I feel for ye, even if it’s uncomfortable for me.”

Kira swallowed hard and tried to still her heart. She hadn’t expected all that from him, but he was proving day by day that she needed to drop all expectations of his behavior.

“Then what did ye mean earlier, that yer vows are nae a promise of the present?” she asked, her voice a little meek at repeating the exact words that had gutted her so.

“They’re a declaration of what I shall strive to be in the future. Every day.”