Page 72 of The Iron Earl

That was the last thing he would let happen.

He’d have to talk to Domnall when they got back to the castle. Secure his oath to marry Evalyn should anything ever happen to him. He’d been thinking on it for days and he needed to secure the promise from his friend.

Blood still seeped from his knuckles and he wiped his glove against the raw skin, then looked at her. “I won’t go into Stirling to find Mr. Molson.”

“You swear it?”

His head cocked to the side. “All I can promise you is not today. Today he escapes my wrath.”

For a long second she looked to protest, then she nodded.

“Shall we continue up to the castle?” He held out his elbow to her.

Evalyn took it and they started forth on the trail again. The leaves crisp under their boots, the sharp smell of decaying summer held in the air. Frost and snow would be blanketing the land before he blinked.

Halfway to the castle with Evalyn worrying her bottom lip the entire time, her steps slowed and she looked up at him. “Why did you marry me, Lachlan?”

He glanced down at her, his eyebrow lifting. He knew a trap when he heard one. “What do you need to know?”

“Why you decided to marry me, for a start.”

Lachlan shrugged. “I married you because you needed marrying.”

“That was all?”

Evade. Evade at all costs. He nodded. “I needed a wife. One of my choosing. And I like your spirit, Eva. Not to mention you are a beautiful woman.”

Her lips drew inward and she took several more steps in silence, her fingers along his arm tensing.

“Need there be more to it than that?”

“No.” She shook her head.

Ten more steps and her feet stopped on the trail, her hand dropping from the crook of his elbow.

Dammit.

A step past her he halted, closing his eyes for a long breath. He turned back to her.

“Evalyn?”

“If Mr. Molson is the one that has been clearing the Swallowford lands, then he is doing so on my stepfather and the Duke of Wolfbridge’s behalf.” She met his look, her gold-green eyes skewering him. “You know exactly who my stepfather is and you blame him for Jacob’s death don’t you, Lachlan?”

There was no denying it. Not if he was ever to gain the trust in her eyes.

“Yes.”

Her lips drew in for a long moment, pulling so hard against her teeth her skin turned a bright white. She exhaled a puff of breath. “So tell me marrying me had nothing to do with the fact that you’ve always known exactly who I am. Who my stepfather is and what he’s done to these lands. Tell me marrying me had nothing to do with your hatred for him.”

Bloody hell.

He looked up at the grey sky through the barren branches above, hoping for intervention.

None came.

His look dropped to her and he met her piercing gaze. “Yes. It had everything to do with that, Evalyn. Everything.”

{ Chapter 16 }